KENT, Wash. —

The Western States Regional Council of Carpenters union (WSRCC) has launched a new program at the Kent training center focused on recruiting more women into the trade.

The Bridging Outstanding Opportunities with Tradeswoman Skills (BOOTS) program originated in Los Angeles then expanded to Portland in 2024. It’s a four-week pre-apprenticeship class exclusively for women that lays the framework for entering the carpentry trade.

Dani Ferris has been a carpenter for ten years and teaches the new all-women class in Kent. She said she’s witnessed firsthand the lack of women and female role models in the trades.

“Now, we’re being able to set these women up so that the future generations, they will be able to come in and they’ll see somebody who looks like them, they’ll see somebody in roles of success and leadership. Then they’ll know hey, I can do this, I got this,” said Ferris.

A WSRCC spokesperson said in the union, women make up 3.23% of the membership. In Washington state, women make up about 7% of the carpentry workforce.

Ferris said it’s a hard but rewarding job. She’s proud to have a hands-on job that has high impact.

“I love being able to wake up every morning, go in, put in an honest days work, see the progress of what I’m doing every day. Then be able to leave and come back and drive down the street, look at all the things I touched, and be like ‘I did that,’” she said.

New apprentices in Washington start at $37 an hour, then increase to $61.54 an hour when they become journeymen.

The first cohort of women in the BOOTS program is started in March, but Ferris said this will be a regular, ongoing program for women moving forward.

For more information, visit the BOOTS website.