Even as a kid, Petrina Valentine loved cars.
The engines, the transmission systems, the polished bodies — everything about them fascinated her.
“It started when I was really young,” the 19-year-old Shubenacadie native said Thursday as she stood over a welding table, a protective visor strapped to her head. “I even remember watching my Dad change his brakes.”
Today, Valentine is on track to becoming a fully accredited mechanic through a program at the Nova Scotia Community College. She’s one of about a half-dozen women in her class poised to enter a trade traditionally dominated by the opposite sex.
“The guys are very nice, and treat you as one of their own,” she said of the men milling around her. “We’ve had to weld exhaust pipes, take a whole engine apart, cooling lubrications — everything.”
Women like Valentine are few and far between in Nova Scotia — making up only about five per cent of all non-traditional tradespersons in the province. On Thursday, the federal government announced $431,000 in new funding for Women Unlimited — a program that is attempting to improve those statistics.
“Using this money, we’ll be expanding Women Unlimited into Cape Breton,” said Nan Armour, executive director of the Hypatia Association, which runs the program.
“It’s tough being a woman in a classroom if you’re the only one there, so we try to provide some support.”
That support comes in many forms, including mentorships, one-on-one job counselling, and help for women once they enter the workforce as electricians, plumbers, welders, mechanics or even architectural drafters.
“It’s nice to have somebody helping us,” said Valentine, who hopes to one day open her own auto body shop and staff it with other women working in specialty trades. “I came here for a test drive last year, and there were only two or three other girls. Now we’re eight or nine … it’s great.”
