Nasrin Ali

Nasrin Ali thinks it’s strange that by 2021 she has yet to work with another woman on a construction site. An electrical apprentice who has been working industrial and commercial jobs for three years, Ali says time after time she’s the only woman there. As a result, and even though she won’t admit it, Ali is a trailblazer in her field – not only one of the few female electricians in the industry, but also one of the only women of colour as well.

“Going into this, I lacked support from some friends and family because of certain Indo-Fijian cultural norms,” Ali says, adding that people still have rigid views on what masculine and feminine roles are when it comes to career choices.

“There is no reason women can’t do this job,” she says. “I think people have expectations of what a tradesperson should look like, and I don’t fit that image at all. If I was them, I guess I’d be a bit surprised, too. But times are changing, and nothing comes out of a mold these days.” Ali is in the process of completing her construction electrician apprenticeship at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), after which she will be Red Seal certified. She is often the only female in her cohorts at KPU, which she says was intimidating at first, but she credits her instructors – all of whom have been male – with keeping her motivated and helping her find a place in the industry. “I had no confidence in my abilities when I started,” she says. “There were points in my education where I was like, no, I think I’m done, I can’t keep up with the boys. “But my instructors were always encouraging, telling me, ‘You can do this, keep your chin up and be confident in yourself.’ I think that’s what ignited my desire to keep going, because otherwise I don’t think I would have. If they didn’t care enough, I would not have stuck around, because it did get hard at times.” School was one thing, finding a job was something else entirely. Ali recounts one early interview where the employer said to her, “You know, honey, you’re going to get your boots dirty.” “I said, ‘Yeah, I’m aware of that.’ Then he said, ‘Oh, but you’ll get dirt in your nails too.’ I didn’t get that job, and I’m glad I didn’t because if that’s the work culture, there’s a lot of change that still needs to be made in that organization. Since then I’ve had more positive and welcoming experiences.” Before becoming an electrician, Ali studied recreation management, a field she still loves, but found it difficult to make any inroads. “I kept hitting roadblocks and I thought to myself, maybe this is a sign that I need to change what I’m doing,” she says. “Getting into trades was a lofty idea in my head for so long, but I decided to give it a shot and enrolled into the Foundations Electrical program at KPU – I had nothing to lose.” She continued to pursue it because she liked the “finesse” of the trade – the meticulousness of it all. She loves how electricians have the skills to bring light, power and energy into any space and environment.

While she doesn’t feel like she’s representative of any meaningful change in the industry yet, she does hope her example can alter perceptions of what women are capable of doing in their careers. “Just because you haven’t seen someone doing something before doesn’t mean they are not able to, or that they won’t be successful,” she says. She’s also passionate about seeing women and girls lifting each other up. “When we empower one another, we can get to a point where we are confident stepping into positions that can be intimidating or not traditionally held by women,” she says. “Given the opportunity and support, people can achieve anything. I started off not knowing how to use basic hand tools, now I can fabricate and wire motor control panels that are used in the field. I encourage women and girls to challenge the status quo even if it’s scary because we can do hard things.”