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International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate progress, but it should also be a moment of honesty about the work still ahead. Advancing opportunity for women in the skilled trades cannot be confined to one day on the calendar.

For generations, construction has been one of the most important drivers of economic growth in Canada. The homes our families live in, the transit systems that connect our cities, the energy infrastructure that powers our communities and the public works that support daily life all begin with the skilled hands of construction workers.

And increasingly, more women are choosing careers in the skilled trades.

Across Canada, more women are entering construction than ever before. Today, women account for roughly seven per cent of the construction trades workforce, and that number continues to grow as more women pursue apprenticeships and careers in the industry.

That progress is accelerating. Over the past decade, female apprenticeship registrations in Canada have more than doubled, with women now representing approximately 14 per cent of all new apprenticeship registrations nationwide.

These numbers matter, not as talking points, but as evidence of real progress taking place across the industry, particularly here in Ontario.

Women in construction are labourers, operators, supervisors, project managers and leaders. They rise before sunrise, work through every season, and help build the infrastructure that will support our communities and economy for generations.

It reflects a meaningful shift in an industry that has long been central to Canada’s prosperity.

And let’s be clear, women are not on construction sites to check a box or satisfy a statistic.

They are there because they belong.

��������ion demands skill, discipline, resilience and teamwork. Those qualities have nothing to do with gender and everything to do with commitment to the craft. Every day, women across the industry are proving they can do the job, do it well and raise the standard for everyone around them.

But progress of this kind does not happen by chance.

It happens when industry, governments, labour and community partners work together to remove barriers and open doors that were too often closed in the past.

For generations, outdated attitudes and structural barriers forced many women to choose between building a family life, if they wanted one, or building a career in construction. Too often, bias pushed women out of the industry rather than supporting them to succeed.

While the momentum for change has never been stronger, some of those barriers still remain.

That is why mentorship programs, targeted recruitment and inclusive training environments matter. They help ensure women entering the trades are supported, respected and given a fair opportunity to succeed.

LiUNA is proud to play a role in that progress. Through industry-leading training programs, apprenticeship pathways and outreach initiatives that encourage women to pursue careers and advance in construction, we are working to ensure opportunity in this industry is available to anyone willing to work hard and build a future.

Canada is facing a defining moment of nation-building. We must build more homes, expand transit systems, modernize our energy grid and deliver the infrastructure required to support a growing population and a competitive economy.

Meeting that challenge will require the full strength of our skilled trades workforce.

Women will be essential to that future.

Encouraging more women to pursue careers in construction is not simply about fairness. It is about strengthening our workforce, expanding economic opportunity and ensuring Canada has the skilled workers required to build the infrastructure of tomorrow.

The message to young women considering the trades is simple: there is a place for you here.

LiUNA membership delivers pay equity, stable careers, comprehensive health and pension benefits, and the retirement security every worker deserves. The value of a career in the trades goes even further. It is the pride of building something bigger than ourselves, the homes, transit systems, energy networks and infrastructure that communities rely on every day.

For many workers, it is the opportunity to help shape the places where people live, work and raise their families for generations to come. And it is the quiet pride of a mother, daughter, sister or friend pointing to a project and saying, “I built that.”

This International Women’s Day, we celebrate the women already leading the way in our industry, those who show up every day with skill, grit and determination.

And we recommit to ensuring the next generation of women who want to build their future in construction will have every opportunity to do so.

Because when women build, communities grow stronger and the future we are building becomes one that truly includes everyone.

Joseph Mancinelli is the LiUNA International vice-president and Canadian director. Send Industry Perspectives Op-Ed comments and column ideas to editor@dailycommercialnews.com.