Youth Ability in Skilled Trades: National

Women

 

While women with disabilities are still more likely than their non-disabled counterparts to be poor, the gap between them narrows considerably when they are given the opportunity to participate in the workforce. This suggests that while employment alone will not put women with disabilities on the same economic level as men with disabilities or women without disabilities, it would go a long way toward improving their overall economic situation and making them more independent.

(Fawcett, 2000)

 

• In 2006, over 1 million women 17% of the total female population had disabilities (PALS 2006).

 

• Women aged 15-34 with disabilities encompass 4.7% of the total population of that age group. In fact, females make up the majority of the Canadian population with disabilities. Also in 2001, 54% of those who had a disability were women, whereas females accounted for only 51% of the total population

(Women in Canada; Statistics Canada, 2006).

 

• Women aged 15 to 34 with disabilities are also less likely than women in this age range without disabilities to be employed.

 

• In 2001, 52% of women aged 15 to 34 with disabilities were part of the paid work force, compared with 66% of their counterparts without disabilities

(Women in Canada; Statistics Canada, 2006).

 

• The total number of women participating in these programs, however, has risen in the past decade and a half. In 2002, just over 3,000 women were registered in apprenticeship programs in the 15 predominant trades, up from under 1,000 in 1988.

(Women; Statistics Canada, 2006).