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Three dynamic women who have staked out successful careers in the manufacturing industry will inspire your female students to explore new career pathways.Female role models help get this career on the radar of women and girls because they’re able to see someone who looks like them on the job. The video reveals the personal experiences and insights of successful women working in this field. Manufacturing and related industries employ millions of people. Increasing numbers of women are establishing rewarding careers in the traditionally male-dominated manufacturing field. |
Career Options for Women -- Manufacturing:
This 24-minute video features profiles of three women with successful careers in manufacturing:
- Marnie Zimmerman, an instrumentation technician who repairs circuit boards for air conditioning systems
- Kristina Bouchard, a machine operator for an aerospace company
- Darlene Fitzgerald, a horticulturalist who manages a large production staff
Additional information from co-workers and supervisors supplements each job profile.
Meet the role models featured in the Manufacturing video:
Marnie: Instrumentation Technician
Marnie Zimmerman is a Service Technologist at Delta Controls, a company that designs and manufactures heating, ventilation and air conditioning control systems (commonly referred to as HVACR). Her job is to repair the circuit boards that come back in from the field.
Marnie attended the Faculty of Science at Simon Fraser University (SFU) for her first year of post secondary education. She then left SFU to register for a two year technical program at a technology institute.
The most satisfying part of the job for Marnie is doing her job quickly and efficiently. This results in customers that are happy with their service. The job can be challenging though, especially if there are a large number of items to be fixed. “Explore all your options, a technical career can be just as challenging and satisfying as an academic career.”
In the future, Marnie plans to back to school for a bachelor of technology degree or engineering degree. Then, she can design systems rather than just repair them.
Kristina: Machine Operator
Kristina Bouchard is a machine operator for Aerospace Hemmingford. The company manufactures aircraft engine components. Kristina's job is to machine various materials (metals). This includes drilling precise holes, taking excess material off by milling methods, lathe work, assembly work and doing set-ups on machines.
In addition to carpentry and construction, Kristina also has a certification from Pratt & Whitney to weld. She says that while her job is not physically demanding, it is mentally challenging. Kristina learns something new every day. Kristina and her co-workers are always inventing better ways to complete certain jobs and set-ups. If she ever had to leave the company, she believes that she would have many opportunities. Kristina could be a machine operator for another company, a full-time welder, or simply go back to carpentry school. In the future, she hopes to become a tool room foreperson even though the job appears to be very stressful.
When asked if she would recommend other women to enter the field, Kristina replied, "Yes - because it can be a lot of fun. Also, the sooner we women advance in these fields, the less we will be stereotyped."
Darlene: Horticulturalist
Darlene Fitzgerald is a horticulturist. Her job involves deciding what is to be planted and when. She oversees the planting, soil testing, scheduling of watering and fertilizing, and monitoring of pruning and twisting. In addition, she supervises staff and troubleshoots problems. Her stock management duties also include the computer tracking of cuttings and the trials of new plants and ideas.
Darlene thinks her interest in horticulture started in second grade when her mom encouraged her to grow a School Garden and enter her vegetables and flowers in the local Agri-Fair. In college the instructor of her first horticultural course showed her the many diverse opportunities available in the horticultural industry.
After graduating from high school, Darlene enrolled in part-time general studies at the local college while working full time. She completed courses in Psychology, Computers, Criminology, and Business. Darlene liked business and computers, but knew she'd hate working behind a desk all day. After taking a few horticulture courses, she realized horticulture was the perfect mix.
Video details:
Run time: 24 minutes total, including three segments of approximately 8 minutes each.
Format: DVD. Closed-captioned.
Year: 2006
Note: Videos are interspersed with Canadian salary and labor statistics, which are similar to the numbers in the United States.
Policies: There is a no-return policy on these videos.
Grade level: Middle School, High School, Two-Year College, Four-Year University
