Carpenters Training Committee
for Northern California’s
Organized Labor
Mar 2009
Northern California District Coordinator Mary Lieser started out in the program in 1985. When she walked into her first class, she was the only woman there, and there were few people of color. “We now have women in almost every class, and a live mix of people of every color,” she states. She concedes that the number of women in the building trades is not as high as many activists had hoped, but, she points out, “Our women in the program have a higher rate of success than the guys, statistically speaking.” “It’s an excellent program,” she continues. “I didn’t come from a construction background, and I learned enough to be successful in the trade.” Lieser has a background as a fine artist, but she needed a career in which she could make real money, and she didn’t want to work in an office. And as is the case for many in the trade, there was something about the smell and feel of wood that called to her.