By Jessica Zimmerman

The inaugural Women in Skilled Careers (WISC) Summit took place at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, & Simulation Center (VMASC) on Thursday, June 8, 2023. The Hampton Roads Workforce Council, in partnership with WHRO Public Media and support from GEICO, hosted this summit to explore issues that women face in their jobs due to workplace cultures, predominantly composed of, supporting, and promoting men.

In partnership with WHRO, the Hampton Roads Workforce Council launched the first iteration of the WISC program in 2019 as a barrier-breaking initiative to address the challenges that women face when entering or remaining in the workforce. Almost 100 women and allies attended this year’s summit, participating in conversations focused on creating awareness of the challenges that women face while enrolling in trade programs and working in skilled careers, like welding or pipefitting. Participants also explored issues, strategies, and solutions that could improve the gender divide in Virginia’s workforce participation rates.

Dr. Latitia D. McCane, Director for Education for The Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding, served as the keynote speaker for the Summit. In this position, Dr. McCane is responsible for overall leadership, vision and strategic direction of craft training, academic delivery, student services, accreditation, and recruitment for a student body of 800 in addition to staff and faculty.

During the keynote, Dr. McCane talked about some tools to use when the women go back into their workspaces or to further their education. “Number one, exposures. It’s very important that we expose young women to skilled trades. Number two, we have to remove the barriers for women, whether it be childcare, financial, we have to provide the financial resources and we also have to be sisterly in how we operate with one another,” Dr. McCane said.

Created in 2019, WISC is a 12-week program that helps train women in six tracks: marine coating, marine electrical, maritime welding, outside machinist, sheet metal fabrication, and pipefitting, for a pipeline of skilled workers for the ship repair industry. The program targets women in general; women who are veterans and military spouses; women affected by homelessness, domestic violence, and/or human trafficking; and women earning at or below the federal poverty line.

Digital Ship, part of VMASC, served as one of the sponsors of this inaugural summit. VMASC is looking forward to future collaborations with HRWC, WISC and WHRO.