The last few decades of the twentieth century were a period of
tremendous change in organized labor and apprenticeship programs in the
United States. Going into the twenty-first century, skilled trade union
apprenticeship programs are in a change, coping with decline in union
membership and pressure to open their ranks to under represented groups.
Insuring inclusion of women and minorities in registered apprenticeship
has been an acknowledged problem among policy makers. Failure to improve
meaningful, representative access in apprenticeship programs,
particularly to women, was cause for the author to perform research
study. The research study was to investigate the experiences of five
women who entered into a skilled trade apprenticeship program that has
been predominantly male oriented. The investigation examined three
components of the apprenticeship program: application and entry,
on-the-job training and working relationships with the journey person.
The significance of the study was to identify: - What barriers do women
describe as restrictive to becoming an accomplished apprentice in a
skilled trades program?- Do women experience discrimination as an
apprentice?- Do women experience inappropriate sexual bias as an
apprentice?- What are the expectations of women entering into an
apprenticeship? The book targets women, educators and business and
industry to recognize the barriers women experience in a skilled trade
apprenticeship program. It also provides the need for future research
