Celebrating Women in Construction Week: How One Mom is Thriving in the Trades with Childcare Support

For decades, the construction industry has historically been dominated by men. Women make up only four percent of building trades apprentices in roles such as carpenters, plumbers, and electricians. – but that is changing. As we celebrate Women in Construction Week, we highlight apprentices like Heather Nichols who are leading the change and breaking glass ceilings in the construction industry.

Heather is a first-year apprentice with Operating Engineers Local 3 Journeyman & Apprentice Training Center (OE3 JATC). Her apprenticeship journey highlights the impact of initiatives like the Equal Representation in Construction Grant (ERiCA). Through the ERiCA grant, California continues to ensure that women and underrepresented populations have an equal opportunity to enter and thrive in high-demand construction careers by breaking down barriers. One of the key components of the ERiCA grant is working with construction apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs to offer stipends or reimbursements for childcare to remove barriers, such as childcare costs that disproportionately affect women. “My kids are my inspiration for everything. Getting the support I need helps me get childcare. I’m a single mom, so it has been extremely helpful in getting to work and not having to worry about my kids before and after school because typically the job starts at 7 a.m.,” Heather shared during an interview. 

Located 22 miles southeast of Sacramento, the California OE3 JATC site consists of an 11-½-acre campus, with an additional 1,500 acres devoted to crane, heavy equipment, CDL and a maintenance area, where hands-on training is conducted. Apprentices will specialize in a field or branch of training in the construction industry. Depending on their chosen field, the program will have between 4400 and 8400 on-the-job hours with 560 hours of required in-class training. During this time, apprentices learn their trade by working in the field and periodically return to school to develop new skills. “Being here at the training facility and working with the instructors who have the patience to teach me. If I don’t know what I’m doing, they are very approachable with any questions that I might have about the equipment or what I’m supposed to be doing in general,” Heather says. 

As Heather advances in her apprenticeship, Heather hopes her story will inspire other women to consider the careers in construction and offers simple but powerful advice: “Now is the perfect time. If this is what you want to do, get in now.”

March 2025