Empowering Women & Girls in a Woodworking Class

In Sept 2021 HHWT started a woodworking class for women with women volunteers helping to teach the class. The project was successful in enrolling women for the first time in our Have Hammer Will Travel A.C woodworking school history. 

These students are enjoying the class and feeling empowered by learning to use woodworking tools. It appears next semester Jan 2022 we will have a waiting list for the women's classes. . .The new application for the class consisted of a page where the applicant was asked to write a short essay regarding their interest learning. woodworking. 

Let’s face it: In this culture, it’s much more likely for men to be comfortable with tools and carpentry than women. But given the chance to learn, women can be just as proficient as men when it comes to manifesting their own creative building ideas. Since backgrounds and learning styles are likely different. They needed a female-oriented space, just for themselves! 

This class is intended to respond to that need. It will get women up-to-speed on basic carpentry skills, including working with wood, planning, and designing simple projects, and using hand and power tools safely and effectively.

Our theme from day one is women’s empowerment. To begin, we have an orientation and overview of the class. Then we’ll move into the bulk of the day: Tools! We’ll cover tool choices, their ergonomic use, and safety. Each tool will be introduced and demonstrated in detail. The women get a chance to try it themselves (with plenty of guidance and support). Whether they are building a birdhouse, bathroom shelves, or a cabinet, having the right tools, and using them safely and properly, makes all the difference. 

They might be asking themselves. Can I really learn to build on my own in a one-year woodworking class? And we’re here to tell you that, yes, it’s possible! In one long year you can get comfortable with tools, understand how to work with wood, and learn how to plan out and design your own simple carpentry projects. We’ve seen it happen time and again, with many satisfied students.

Of course, people spend lifetimes perfecting their woodworking skills, especially those who build houses or do fine finish work like cabinetry or furniture making. It’s not realistic to learn to do these high-level kinds of projects in a yearlong workshop. However, you can take the first steps that every carpenter and fine woodworker once took. And you’ll leave with life skills and the ability to turn your basic ideas into reality, right away. 

The women’s woodworking classes will continue in 2022. The fund raised were allocated to the expenses of the class, wood, tools, supplies etc.

Giving Tuesday on Nov 30, 2021,  hopefully will raise the needed funds to keep the class functioning in 2022. Thank you for partnering with HHWT and your continued support.