Our Vision: We elevate tradeswomen: women as equal and construction trades as honorable work. Our Mission: Build the North American representation in the global network of tradeswomen advocating for themselves.
Join your International Trades Sisters for our Quarterly zoom meet-ups. This quarters an international speaker is Dr Rosa Schiano-Phan from the ProBE center of the University of Westminster ,London UK
Dr. Schiano-Phan, an architect researcher, will share her research on women in the building industry can build better and help in the reduction of the performance gap and carbon emissions from the lifecycle of buildings (design, construction and operation)
This article out of Nepal hits on all the major points when talking about the gender wage gap: people do not think women are strong enough to do skilled labor – instead only given opportunity to perform manual labor for less pay; laws that are not enforced, etc. Read on to hear some research supported ways (transparency, accountability, etc) this injustice can change!
In March, TBB was honored to speak at the California Union Women Stronger Together Conference held in Los Angles.Five members, representing each of our delegations, shared their experiences to an audience of 500 union women and allies. We discussed the history of TBB and a brief summary of our 4 delegations, and our TBB alumni reflected on how the delegations have impacted them and why they believe in the work of building international tradeswomen networks.
TBB Member Kristine Byers, Red Seal carpenter out of Alberta, Canada, wrote a great article for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters union paper about the Philippines delegation, check it out!
We honor another of our sisters Tiffany Thompson who recently passed away. 😢
Tiffany was a part of the TBB 2022 delegation to London, UK. She was a powerful voice in the Oregon trades community – empowering women to rise and thrive. She was a great addition to the London delegation and a big part of the Best Practices workshop.
Tiffany championed cultural awareness, equity, equality, and the radical belief in the power of being your true self. We will miss you, Tiffany.
Amy was a part of the TBB 2022 delegation to London, UK. She was a strong advocate working to help women enter union trades in the Boston, MA area as well as a great addition to the London delegation. Sharing her passion and highlighting the good work being done in the New England area, Amy worked to have people feel included and heard while advocating for women to have a space as a trade-worker. Amy will be missed.
Thank you to the Hege & Johanna for sharing the history of Fellesforbundet and its current work supporting women in construction and to all of the sisters that added to a fruitful conversation at today meet-up.
Below is the link to the recording: Passcode: 8j$kbmy4
Please join us on the 1st of the 2025 International Tradeswomen meet-up – this Sunday, March 23rd.
We will have speakers from Fellesforbundet (The United Federation of Trade Unions) in Norway sharing about their history and current work.
Fellesforbundet is the largest trade union organizing the private sector in Norway, with 170 000 members – organizing employees in industry, construction, hotels and restaurants, transport, automotive and many other industries.
As a first year carpenter apprentice, I hungered for connections with other women in construction, a deeper understanding of my new way of life, and ultimately a tradeswomen community. This drive eventually led me to Susan Moir and learning about Tradeswomen Building Bridges’ original trip to India. Unfortunately, life didn’t allow me to join them on that transformative journey of a lifetime. However, in 2018, I got to experience my first international tradeswomen trip as a delegate with Sisters in the Building Trades. The trip was multifaceted. During this trip, our small delegation interacted with Filipina welders, plumbers, and carpenters both on and off the job. We visited a few job sites of our sisters (of which the welding sites were particularly informative to me) and also toured the national vocational training school, known as TESDA. Our travels culminated in hosting several hundred tradeswomen at the Manila Tradeswomen Gathering, a one-day conference connecting the Pinay Tradeswomen, Association of Women Workers in the Construction Industry (AWWCI), National Union of Building and Construction Workers (NUBCW), Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), government agencies, and local unions. It was a fantastic first trip to The Philippines establishing friendships that have continued all these years later!
In 2019, my friend and fellow delegate, Amber McCoy, and I returned to vacation and reconnect with the Filipina tradeswomen. It was on that return trip that we learned that AWWCI and other like minded organizations had successfully lobbied the government to pass Republic Act 11210, the 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law. This law not only significantly increased the timeframe of paid leave for women but also gave men or alternate caregivers seven days of paid leave. This was amazing news and quite inspirational to me given America’s bastion of severely limited paid maternity and paternity leave! We also learned more about local community organizing done by unions. Those conversations sparked a desire to have a Tradeswomen Building Bridges delegation come in the future to learn organizing strategies and expand the circle of friendship.
And so, a few years of dreaming and planning took place to bring that desire into reality in 2024. This trip was both extremely intense and extremely rewarding! I led Logistics with a team of three amazing women (Lori, Diana, and Myra) who helped make each day an overwhelming success for our delegates and Filipina sisters. Over twenty women learned new carpentry and plumbing skills, eagerly devouring new knowledge and practical skills. Daily each participant grew in self confidence beaming at the end of the week with their completed hands-on project. What I noticed most is how bright a light shines when you empower your fellow sister and make a difference in telling her that she can! This yearning to be better both personally and professionally is a common thread in all three of my trips. Here’s to humbly improving 1% every day, rising above, and enjoying strong, supportive communities wherever we are in the world!
Join your International Trades Sisters for our Quarterly zoom meet-ups. This year we will future an international speaker at the start of each call and continue to check in and catch up with the tradeswomen organizing and campaigns across the globe.
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/register/CPi97HOQRSuPF6PFJG7JkQ
will share her research on women in the building industry can build better and help in the reduction of the performance gap and carbon emissions from the lifecycle of buildings
(design, construction and operation)
Tradeswomen Building Bridges: the North American Network of Women Working in the Construction Trades 