It’s all well and good that young men can crowd into the trades, and prepare to train for the 100,000 jobs that PM Carney promises will be up for grabs in the next five years.  But we know who those jobs are for.  Today more than 1.6 million Canadians work in the construction industry.  Just over 81,000 Canadians draw a paycheque from working for the 600 or so private companies that manufacture weapons, armaments, bombs, armoured vehicles, and ammunition. What’s your guess for the number of women employed in these jobs – be it in construction or  the arms producers.

In construction, only 13.6% are women– mostly in office roles.  In NS, barely 3% of onsite construction workers are female.  In the war industries, only 27% are female—and 17% in the higher paid STEM or professional jobs.  

“Hell No to NATO’s 5%! Cut Military Spending and Fund a Green, Care Economy”

Canadian Voice of Women for Peace

Why are there so few women in these industries? I would like to say it’s because most women refuse to support war.  Indeed as many pundits have stated over the years, women tend to treat war seriously – as the killing machine it is.  For example in 2010, the Québec Women’s Federation (QWF) produced an antiwar ad on YouTube. The  shows a fictional mother and daughter packing the girl’s duffel bag.  The mother says her son was killed in Afghanistan’s war; another son came home with psychological problems – now she despairs because her third child, her daughter, has enlisted. They pack a rifle and a bra.  The mother says,  

“If I had known that in giving them life I was going to supply cannon fodder, maybe I wouldn’t have had any children,”

As if to emphasize the QWF’s opposition to war, earlier that same year– 2010 — the organization took the stand to oppose Israeli apartheid (this was 16 years ago!) and endorse BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli-made products and services. 

Likewise, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace in coalition with other peace groups—typically female-led–  rallied on Parliament Hill in the wake of Carney’s announcements about ramping up pro-war production  Their rallying cry was “Hell No to NATO’s 5%! Cut Military Spending and Fund a Green, Care Economy”.

We know why women, typically, do not support war.  It has to do with caring for other adults, teens and children – that’s what a lot of women do without reserve.  Never mind war, let’s talk about manufacturing ammunition, guns – even crossbows.  We know these are weapons that kill women who are wives, girlfriends or even acquaintances.  From October 2024 to March 2025 seven women in Nova Scotia were killed by their male partners (or former partners). 

And that doesn’t begin to account for the murders of 13 NS women (and 8 men) – all shot to death in a weekend by one gunman in Portapique in 2020.  

I’d like to think women typically don’t choose to build war toys – or go to war.  

But the real reason women tend not to work in the war industry, and in construction, is that the workplaces are unfriendly, even hostile, to women.  It is a combination of shift work (that creates major problems for finding childcare), differential pay between typical men’s vs women’s jobs, poor working conditions, sexual harassment and sometimes violence at work.   Politicians and policy makers have created report after report about Canada’s armed forces as black holes for sexism, and sexual assault of women in the forces.  Between 2015 and 2022, there were three major external reports (including 2022’s report by former Supreme Court Justice Louis Arbour) that examined women’s situation in the Canadian armed forces. 

“There is overwhelming evidence that women are often the target of stereotypes and bias in the workplace…

Ontario’s Skilled Trade College

Yet the PM insists that Canada’s future lies in manufacturing weapons, LAV’s, rifles, ammunition, and drones.  These are built to be sold to the US, to Israel, and to every dirty regime that wants to make war –often on its own people.  The weapons will  also be off-loaded onto Canada’s military that has to “ramp up” for our role in NATO.

The PM’s sister plan is to ramp up and train Canadians for jobs in construction, and in the trades. He says 100,000 workers will be needed in the next five years to build houses, apartment buildings, roads and exploit development in the mines.  Women are not very attracted to these jobs.  In fact 70.8% of women leave the trades during the first two years of their apprenticeships  There is the sexism, the misogyny, the nasty comments, the relentless disrespect that permeates men in the trades.  All well documented.

As Ontario’s Skilled Trades College site claims, stereotypes and biases 

“…are the biggest culprits as to why there are still few women in trades. There is overwhelming evidence that women are often the target of stereotypes and bias in the workplace. It doesn’t help that some employers don’t do enough to eliminate this bias, as women in trades may be assigned lower-skilled roles or get fewer opportunities.” 

So what are women to do?

A recent check on the Indeed job site told me what was out there for women.  Of course these jobs are also available to men – but how many men would settle for earning $18 an hour to be a tour guide at the NS Legislature?  How many men want to earn $25 an hour for clerical and reception work at the province’s Dept of Justice Victims’ Services office.  Women – especially if they are young – can usually land minimum wage work as servers in bars and restaurants.  Tim Hortons pays minimum wage in NS, $16.75 an hour, plus up to 25 cents extra.   Then there are tips. 

Women who work full time in child care earn about $21 an hour—and they require a one or two year ECE certificate.  That works out to $38,000  per year.  With two more years at university and a Bachelor of Education degree, beginning school teachers earn nearly $57,000 a year to start, with the possibility of earning $70-$90,000 after 5 years in the job. Clerical work in lawyers’ and accountants’ offices pays $20-$23 per hour.  Construction offices pay $20/hour for office help.  Home support workers that cook and clean for disabled/elderly clients in their homes earn between $19 and $22.00 an hour or $34-$40,000 a year.  

In Nova Scotia, the Living Wage is $27.60 an hour – for Halifax it is $29.40. 

In NS, continuing care assistants (CCAs) in nursing homes earn $18.77 per hour. 88% are women.

Now we come to the 3,100 people, 88% female, who work as continuing care assistants personal care workers, therapeutic workers, housekeepers and dietary aides in long term care.  They earn from $18.77 to $25.70 per hour, after a six month course at the community college.  The lower figure – the $18.77 quoted in news articles about the ongoing strike – is only 63% of the Living Wage.  Members of CUPE  (Canadian Union of Public Employees) have been on strike for more than a month at 34 nursing homes throughout NS. This is a huge strike.  And there is a lot riding on it.  

Why support CUPE workers?

The premier insists that the negotiations are over and done – that CUPE workers should accept the wage settlement that the other unions in long term care have already agreed to.  If CUPE workers get what they need – the government would have to increase pay for all CCAs.  That is what Tim Houston is afraid of.  He does not want to boost the pay for all the care workers in the province. Though the union’s demand is a fair $30 per hour – it is just 60 cents more than the Living Wage.  

Think of what care workers do – for elderly, for disabled, for mentally ill people in residential care.  Now let’s think about the jobs for the boys.  Let’s note that the average tradesman in NS earns $67,000 or about $40/hour.  Even a mid-apprentice earns $30-35 per hour. 

We had better support the CUPE workers – after all many of us will end our days in long term care, and we will want physical therapy, we’ll need bathing and toileting and we’ll want decent food.  We can’t get those services without paying for them. 

So much for jobs for the boys.  What will really count by 2030– when 25% of Nova Scotia’s population is over age 65– is the caring economy.  Not the arms race. 

Image at the top and below: CUPE members and supporters rally outside the St. Vincent’s Nursing Home on Windsor Street in Halifax on Apr. 10, 2026. (credit: Ryan Taplin /Chronicle Herald)