Women Carpenters: Bridging gender gaps through education 2021-2022
The project allowed Warch(ée) to establish itself the carpentry workshop through training and following up with 30 women throughout the different levels of carpentry skills. Warch(ée) purchased and established the major machines and equipment needed (wood hand and power tools, as well as specialized machinery) and lead on the training of women. This training allowed the apprentices to fabricate planting tables to be donated them to vulnerable communities in Beirut and opening a community day that helped more than 300 women to repair their furniture (upcycling & recycling) with Warchée’s apprentices and tools. Through this project, Warchée established its own collection of wooden modular items that will be launched on its E-catalogue.
The project included LGBTQI+ communities and allowed the preparation for a fully inclusive workplace with migrant workers and refugees (planned for the next project).
Warch(ée) also built a clientele of local businesses, individuals and non-profits who now support the organization’s self-sustainability by purchasing products and services.
From October 2017 until August 2020, Warchée lobbied with construction companies, and with universities, in trying to adapt the work system and the workplace that results from a traditional education system without regard for any gender equity. We worked and filmed women in the field, as role models in 30 cities, to encourage women in the Middle East to engage in jobs linked to the city (from crafts to architecture) which they do not do today largely for cultural reasons. This film project resulted in a short educational video.
Warchée’s founders and committee directors lectured on the subject in Beirut, Paris, Melle, Dubai, Milan, and Munich. Warchée was featured in Archdaily (as one of the only 6 NGOs worldwide that tackles the issue of women in the construction fields) as well as in the Daily star, D’a, L’Orient le jour, Inhabitat, revista Trama, L’officiel, WA magazine and more.
