Manufacturing symposium held to celebrate women in the workforce

ABINGDON, Va. (WJHL) — The Southwest Virginia Alliance for Manufacturing held a Women in Manufacturing Symposium on Friday to celebrate the contributions of women to the region’s manufacturing base.

Lennie Gail Mitcham with The Southwest Virginia Alliance for Manufacturing said about 30% of the manufacturing workforce are women in Southwest Virginia, and the event aims to increase that.

“That’s what we’re doing here today,” Mitcham said. “We’re celebrating women. We’re celebrating women that are already in manufacturing. We’re encouraging women who might be interested in careers in manufacturing to pursue those careers.”

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The event featured a discussion with women from companies across the region who work in the field.

“A lot of the time, women aren’t aware of the opportunities that they have to succeed in a career in manufacturing, and that’s what we’re trying to do today,” Mitcham said. “We’re showing people today not only are there jobs, but we want we want you females, women. We want you to take those jobs because we know that you can succeed at them.”

Several middle school, high school and college students attended the symposium.

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“We have people who work with the Virginia Employment Commission, who work with the general population to help them find jobs,” Mitcham said. “It’s important to have those folks here so that when they’re placing people in jobs, they can say, you need to work for manufacturing.”

For more information on manufacturing careers in the area, click here.

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