Gateway Workshop Promotes Gender-Neutral Job Training

Gateway Community & Technical College is putting a gender lens on job training in a workshop today at the Boone Campus in Florence.

Presented by Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) and Gateway's Raise the Floor program, the workshop will train participants in strategic approaches to recruiting women, gender-neutral assessment techniques, and training that can prepare women to be competitive candidates.

Our purpose is to help workforce agency staff, local job training providers, community and women's organizations how to include women in non-traditional jobs, said Carissa Schutzman, Gateway dean of Workforce Solutions. Our region is facing a shortage of skilled workers, and women are an under-utilized resource that can help solve this problem. The workshop is intended to show job gatekeepers how to recruit and prepare women to work in non-traditional jobs, such as manufacturing.

Lauren Sugerman, director of women and work projects for Wider Opportunities for Women, is the workshop leader. She is an expert on equal opportunity, occupational segregation by gender, non-traditional career awareness and training, and pre-apprenticeship training program development, Schutzman said.

Based in Washington, D.C., WOW works nationally to build pathways to economic security and equal opportunity for women, families and elders. Gateway's Raise the Floor program promotes advanced manufacturing careers for women and recruits and trains women to participate fully in manufacturing jobs.

For more information about Raise the Floor and its training opportunities to prepare women for well-paying production jobs where they can make a difference for their families and their community, contact Schutzman at Carissa.schutzman@kctcs.eduor (859) 442-1706.