That's shitty. I wonder if some women go into male-oriented trades figuring they'll get a "pass" for shitty work due to being female. I've seen quite a few men in healthcare who seem to have the same attitude... they figure because they're rare in the industry, they'll get a pass for being mediocre. Often times they do get a pass for fuck ups that would get a female employee written up, but then they eventually seriously fuck up and then get fired. The normal hard-working dudes get promoted pretty quickly, though.
I'll bet there are women out there who could do the smaller-scale jobs that require precision and not so much bulk strength, but they are steered towards other types of work early in life-- or they just become hobby artists. The type of women who'd be good at those kinds of things are the types who love their creative hobbies, are nitpick-y about details, and would be mortified at the though of leaving a job half-assed.
My dad was one of those house-flippers-by-hobby and often recruited his multiple children, including daughters, into his shenanigans. We girls were excellent at the stuff that didn't require bulk strength. He didn't encourage us to go into trades, though-- my brothers went that route.
$18 an hour for a foreman? Jesus. People get paid more to wipe old people's asses in the old age home where I live.