Carpentry has always been a male-dominated profession, particularly in the N.W.T. According to Statistics Canada's latest household survey numbers, from 2011, there are 250 carpenters in the territory. None of those, however, are listed as female.

Despite the data, there are a small number of female carpenters and apprentices determined to break down the gender gap.

Carpentry apprentices and those looking for work aren't included in Statistics Canada's survey. Though there's a column for self-employed carpenters, they might have been classified differently in the survey.

Cat McGurk is working her first summer as a carpenter's apprentice. The 21-year-old is helping out her father, who runs Diversified Construction in Yellowknife.

McGurk's been interested in being a carpenter since she was a young girl. She grew up going to job sites and working with wood.

"When I was first asking my dad about it and asking him if he'd be willing to let me work with him, he said, 'You really got to think about it because you know, women aren't really well accepted in this trade, as far as trades go,'" she said.

"I can sort of see why a lot of people are deterred from the trade because it's the culture of masculinity that our society breeds is really inherent and really obvious in carpentry."

"It can be really exhausting. I find that it's more emotionally exhausting to be at work than it is physically exhausting. I go home at the end of the day tired, but I don't feel like I am overworked myself."

McGurk works with a small crew, all of whom are older men, including her dad. She says they have been supportive this summer and eager to help her learn. She says she's impressed them with her attention to detail.

Dealing with discrimination

In order to start a carpentry apprentice program in the N.W.T., a carpentry firm must be willing to hire an apprentice on.

CBC News talked to one apprentice hopeful who says she was being discriminated by carpenters in Yellowknife because she was a woman. She was told she would not be able to do the job because she was not strong enough. She did not want to publicly speak out about it.

All the females CBC News spoke to say they have experienced some form of discrimination because they are females, much of it relating to the physical aspect of the job.

Dawn Brigham is a self employed carpenter in Yellowknife. She's been making a living as a carpenter for the past 10 years and has experienced this discrimination from her male counterparts in the past.

McGurk shows off some of the screws she uses on site. She's one of the few females working as a carpenter in the territory. (Haydn Watters/CBC)

"You are always going to have what I call 'Dinosaur Brains' and it's not just trades...There will always be the older way of thinking out there," she said.

"If that is the attitude of the employer, you don't particularly want to be working for that employer anyway cause that's just the beginning of his way of thinking."

'Either you can do the job or you can't do the job'

CBC News reached out to several carpentry companies in Yellowknife and asked about their experiences with females in the trade.

Ron Kungl runs RK Contracting and has worked in the carpentry field for 25 years. During that time, he's never met a female carpenter.

"I've seen a few female electricians. I think that's about the closest I've come to seeing any women in the trades," he said.

Kungl doesn't know why more women aren't joining the trades.

"It can be physically demanding but... I've seen a lot more able bodied women than I've seen men at times. So I don't think it's something that should stop them."

Brian Legge of Legge Carpentry agrees it is more difficult for women to succeed as a carpenter. He too has not worked with any female carpenters.

"It's harder grunt work, you know what I mean? And, yeah, [there's] vulgar language around job sites and stuff like that."

Niels Konge runs Konge Construction and is a Yellowknife city councillor. "I probably get like one out of every 200 people who come through my door looking for a job might be a woman and it’s probably even lower than that." (CBC)

Niels Konge, who runs Konge Construction and is a Yellowknife city councilor, says he's had a few women try to get through the apprenticeship probation period, but none of them made it.

He says one of the women lasted a year, and then that "went to hell." He says this woman was looking for "special accommodations."

"Either you can do the job or you can't do the job and that became a point of friction," he said.

Konge says about one in every 200 people who come to him looking for a job are women. He says he has recently taken on a new female apprentice.

"It's a physically demanding job, you know, so traditionally women are not as big or as strong as men," he said.

"When you have to start packing, you know, sheets of plywood or drywall around, it tends to be very physically demanding… a lot of women just can't seem to be able to do that part of the job."

Despite this, McGurk is determined to make it work. She plans to go to school for the carpentry apprenticeship program.

"The plan is to keep going... I want to keep going."

Are you a non-male working in a male-dominated trade? We want to hear about some of the challenges you face and how you deal with them. Please share your stories with haydn.watters@cbc.ca.