The skilled trades remain overwhelmingly male-dominated in B.C., but women are making gradual gains. Here’s what the data tells us.
- The proportion of women in “trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations” (as defined by Statistics Canada) is increasing, but slowly, from 5.9% in 1987 to 8.3% in 2022. In B.C., women’s share of trades employment grew slightly faster, from 5.8% to 8.7% over the same period.
- As of 2024, 218,200 women worked in Canada’s construction industry, accounting for 13.6% of the national industry workforce. Women tend to be clustered in administration and management, however, and occupy just 4% of skilled trades positions.
- There are 10,134 women in construction trades in B.C., representing 5.3% of the provincial industry workforce as of October 2025. Though small, this proportion is higher than the national average and reflects a year-over-year increase of 600 workers.
- At the start of construction in 2019, LNG Canada By January 2020, 252 women were working on the site, for a total share of 21% of the project workforce.
- Tradeswomen often have to make do with ill-fitting personal protective equipment designed for men. 58% report using PPE that is the wrong size at least some of the time, 28% don’t wear all the required PPE at work because of fit and 38% use a workaround to make their PPE fit.
- The B.C. government forecasts 83,000 new trades job openings over the next decade.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Government of B.C., B.C. Construction Association, LNG Canada, BuildForce Canada, Canadian Standards Association
