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Fair gives women a view of trades photo by Drew Fleming Betty Cecil,13 daughter of a heavy-equipment operator, drills a screw into her soon-to-be toolbox at the Women in Trades Fair Saturday at Rogue Community College. The fair's goal was to encourage women to try their hand at trades that might earn them more money than other, more traditional professions -- field such as carpentry, plumbing and mechanics. By John Darling for the Mail Tribune WHITE CITY -- Julie Nishimuta of Eagle Point won her social science degree from San Jose State University six months ago and hasn't found a job yet. The Women in Trades Fair Saturday may have changed that, as Nishimuta fixes her hopes on a career in carpentry or computer maintenance. "I'm finding out the pay in trades in much better than in traditional women's jobs. That's the big draw," she said. "Women are brought up to be nurturing and caring and end up in jobs like nursing and teaching, when in our hearts we might want to be a carpenter or plumber." Hundreds of women packed the fair, held in Medford and sponsored by Rogue Community College. They took workshops on wiring, carpentry, plumbing, auto mechanics, surveying and other trades -- many of them touching a cordless drill and building something for the first time in their lives, said Jennifer van Datta, of Talent, the only woman graduate of Willamette Carpenter Training Center in White City in its 22 years. Women attending the carpentry class got to build their own toolboxes out of precut plywood, screwing them together with cordless drills. "One woman told me this was the first thing she'd built since she made a wooden airplane in kindergarten," said van Datta. "She was thrilled." Julie Rodocker, of Grants Pass, got to wire an electric junction box. "It was very enlightening. My house needs rewiring and it made me want to go into being an electrician or doing construction. I've wanted to do it since I was 10 and watched them build my grandma's house." Her friend Julie Kroplin, also of Grants Pass, said she was impressed by the $27-per-hour journeyman electrician's pay. "I'm not afraid of electricity now," she added. "They made it simple, interesting and fun." Pay dominates the talk of life in the trades, with most jobs topping out at around $25-$30 an hour and apprenticeships at about half that. Most apprenticeships are flexible enough to allow study in the trades at RCC at the same time, said Rodocker, who is considering RCC's one- and two-year electronics technician course. "Women just want to make more money," said Deanna Ross, of Central Point, as she brushed sealer on her new toolbox. "We want to break the old stereotypes. We're tired of being low man on the totem pole." "Most of the world's pretty receptive to women working where they want," said Nishimuta, "but a lot of women are afraid to jump into the trades. It takes guts." "It's lonely," admitted carpenter van Datta. "There aren't a lot of other women to work with. It's still a male-dominated culture and a woman has to fit into that. It's hard because a lot of guys aren't used to working with women and have preconceived notions about what women should and shouldn't do. But after a while, most of them accept you." The trades offer much more opportunity to women now than 20 years ago when Terrie Moxley, electrical coordinator at the Oregon Department of Transportation, started. "You still run into the few who call and ask for the man in charge, but I just tell women not to be intimidated. Just get motivated and commit your time and energy to it." Women usually aren't as physically strong as men, she said, but two factors are increasingly working in their favor: Women are learning how to work smarter, asking for help when they need it, and building materials and tools are getting lighter and easier to use. "We try to show women it doesn't take a big, burly guy anymore," said Jim Wilson, a teacher at the Willamette Carpenter Training Center. Eighteen-wheel trucks, with automatic shift and power steering, are much easier to drive now, he said. Studs in building construction are now made of lightweight metals and are installed not by hammering but with a light cordless screw gun, he said. Cement forms, which used to be weighty 4-by-8 plywood, are now mostly Styrofoam, he added. "We're after the most important skill, which is not strength, but knowledge," he said. For information on training opportunities, call RCC at 772-7698. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA