When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, it wiped out the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people. But one industry thrived by necessity in the aftermath: demolition, debris removal, and construction — the building trades in which men comprise 96 percent of the workforce. By contrast, women, who made up the majority of the tourism and hospitality services that were hit hardest by the storm, saw precipitous drops in employment, and found security in the trades.

Gender inequalities were amplified, demonstrating the importance of women finding security in the trades. Before the storm, many women — particularly Black women and single mothers — were trapped in low-wage jobs, and they didn’t have the necessary resources to get back on their feet post-Katrina. And with child care and school systems wiped out across the region, they also struggled to find a place to send their kids while they looked for work.

Carol Burnett, then-executive director of Moore Community House, a nonprofit in Biloxi, Mississippi, which provided child care to low-income women and single mothers, watched firsthand as this dynamic played out. Her own organization was nearly destroyed in the storm, and she immediately went to work securing funds to rebuild the free child care program, which was funded by Head Start.

Burnett saw a need for better employment opportunities for the single moms who relied on Head Start. In Biloxi alone, thousands of jobs were lost at the casinos and hotels that dot the shore. So when a D.C.-based nonprofit reached out to see whether she would be interested in hosting a job training to help women find security in the trades, she jumped at the opportunity. After all, it wasn’t that there weren’t jobs, it was that they were all going to men.

With a small amount of initial funding, she launched the program and found projects in the neighborhood where the women could find security in the trades through gaining experience in construction and demolitions. Twenty percent of the city had been destroyed by the hurricane, and the houses surrounding Moore Community House were decimated.

Read the full article about women finding security in the trades by Jessica Kutz at The 19th.