:: rawblogXport ::

:: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 ::

Trading Occupations By Rachel Armstrong, Edinburgh Evening News, UK
WOMEN IN TRADES
A woman working in a manual trade such as carpentry or plumbing used to be almost unheard of.

But the Know Your Place campaign by the Equal Opportunities Commission is trying to change all this.

A shortage in the number of builders, plumbers and carpenters, among other profession, means employers need to recruit more women to these male-dominated sectors.

While they often pay better than female-dominated jobs such as childcare, how many women are going to be tempted?

Caroline Armstrong, from the Woman and Manual Trades Organisation rejects the argument that women don’t want to get their hands dirty.

“A lot of ’traditional’ careers such as nursing entail getting your hands dirty and there would be few mothers who keep themselves clean and tidy all day.

“Fears about strength put more women off. You do need to be able to lift tools and materials but the reality of the modern-day workplace is that everyone should be observing health and safety rules.

“Modern trades are more about skill and judgement than brute strength – nursing includes heavy work like lifting patients.

“Women currently working in manual trades are dispelling the myths about their jobs every day.”

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