Building workplaces where women thrive

Part 2 of a 2-part series

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the structural challenges facing women in welding apprenticeship and employment: underrepresentation, declining completion rates, and a gender pay gap that is wider than the national average. The data tell us that if Canada needs more skilled tradespeople, we cannot afford to lose women who might otherwise have followed that path.

Meaningful, systemic change requires leadership. It requires investment into programs that support women’s success. It also requires significant changes to policies, culture, and accountability, embedded into how an organization operates.

In this article, we’ll explore what it looks like when an organization takes steps to treat inclusion as part of its workforce strategy.

Supporting women entering the trade

One critical element in promoting inclusion is the intentional creation of programs that address common barriers to entry. Through the CWB Foundation’s Women of Steel™ program, women and girls are introduced to welding in environments designed to build both technical competence and confidence. Participants gain hands-on experience, exposure to industry pathways, and connection to a community that reflects and nurtures their potential.

Programs like this matter because they address what’s missing for women who are interested in welding or any other skilled trade: lack of exposure, lack of representation, and lack of encouragement. When women see themselves in the trade and understand the pathway forward, entry becomes more realistic and achievable.

“Having representation in the classroom and at leadership tables shows that welding is a viable, respected career path for women,” said Susan Crowley, Executive Director, CWB Welding Foundation. “Technical skills get you in the door, but a support network is what helps people stay. Women entering welding often don't have that built-in community, and without it, the skilled trades can feel isolating. Through Women of Steel and our broader programming, we work to build those connections early, linking participants with mentors and peers who can support them throughout their careers.”

Representation throughout the welding ecosystem

Entry is only the first step, and the shop floor is only one of many options. Women in welding are not only apprentices or entry-level workers. They’re also inspectors, educators, certification specialists, engineers, managers, and executives. This is the case throughout the welding industry as a whole, and also at the CWB Group, an organization with a 75-year history of empowering the welding and joining community.

At CWB, women work both in the field and behind the scenes, in a variety of advanced technical and decision-making roles. By being there, they reshape expectations about who belongs in the trade or in the boardroom. The more visible women are throughout the welding ecosystem, the easier it is for the next generation to imagine themselves there.

Changing culture for good

Programs create the opportunity for entry, but culture determines whether people will stay. At the CWB Group, workforce inclusion is grounded in the REALL values framework -- Respect, Excellence, Accountability, Learning, and Leadership -- which shapes external service delivery as well as internal operations.

Stating core values is one thing; putting those values into practice is another. In its expression of the value of respect, CWB actively supports diversity -- which includes support for the diverse needs of women in its workforce. CWB operates under a remote-first work model, which encourages flexibility in how and where work is completed. For many women, especially those balancing caregiving responsibilities with work, that flexibility enables career progression.

Workforce data from a recent internal review show meaningful progress. At the CWB Group, women now represent 42% of employees and 42% of managers, representing increases of 9% and 6% respectively from the previous year. Promotions in fiscal year 2025 were evenly split between men and women. Data also show that female turnover has not been disproportionately high and has actually declined in the most recent fiscal year. (Source: CWB Group internal review data)

This review suggests that inclusive efforts are seeing some success, although more work remains. The Executive Leadership Team at CWB remains majority male, and representation at the most senior levels is not equal between men and women. But CWB is committed to sustaining their efforts over time and tracking success.

Beyond initiatives geared explicitly to supporting gender equity, CWB has also implemented pay transparency practices, benchmarked compensation against market standards, and clarified advancement pathways. These steps reduce the structural drift that often contributes to pay gaps and stalled careers.

Leadership that demonstrates accountability

External recognition can reinforce internal commitment, as it has with the CWB Group. In 2025, CWB was recognized by Human Resources Director (HRD) Canada as a Best Place to Work, a title it also held in 2024. HRD Canada also recognized CWB as a 2025 Excellence Awardee for Flexible Work Strategies and Diversity & Inclusion.

Individual leaders within the organization have also received kudos for advancing inclusive leadership and strategic workforce development. In one recent example, Laura Blythe, CWB’s Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Human Resources Officer, was named one of HRD Canada’s Elite Women for 2025.

Blythe reflected that it can be uncomfortable to share one’s own triumphs, but doing so can help promote different pathways to success: “Celebrating our accomplishment isn’t arrogance; it’s visibility. It’s a way to acknowledge the hard work, the late nights, the resilience, the journey, and the people who supported us along the way. It’s also a way to show others, especially those who might not see themselves reflected in leadership, that it is possible.”

These recognitions reflect deliberate actions behind the scenes that promote equity and inclusion in the welding and joining ecosystem: supportive policy decisions, structured promotion pathways, and accountability at senior levels.

Representation also matters in governance. Women make up one-quarter of CWB’s Board of Directors and three of the eight members of the CWB Foundation Board. In both organizations, the Board Chair is a woman. Board-level visibility like this reinforces that workforce inclusion is embedded in organizational oversight and strategy.

Where industry can make a difference

Employers have a role to play in supporting equity. Pay transparency, salary benchmarking, and structured promotion criteria are some of the tools available. Employers can also audit assignments and the demographics of higher-paying specializations to see where women might find themselves cut out of advancement pathways. Even if immediately increasing pay across the board isn’t realistic, incremental corrections and planned review cycles can close gaps gradually. The goal should be to reduce bias and ambiguity over time and with transparency.

If Canada’s skilled trades sector is to meet future labour demands, then the entire sector needs to think about gender in workforce design. Barriers to women’s success in the industry crop up throughout the professional journey -- from awareness, entry, and training to attraction, retention, and advancement. These elements are interconnected. They can either be where inequities are retrenched and compounded, or where barriers are addressed and pathways are smoothed.

Organizations throughout the industry can take steps to strengthen inclusion -- and all can benefit from it as well.