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48 E L EC TR I C AL CONNEC T I ON

AU T UMN 20 1 7

GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN

A

s a child I loved watching my

dad fixing things about the

house; they’re some of my

earliest and fondest memories. I knew

I wanted to follow in his footsteps, as I

too loved using my hands to build and

fix things.

Years later, when it became time

for me to consider a career choice,

I assumed I would enter a career fit

for a woman - a ‘clean profession’ like

administration, nursing, teaching,

retail or child-care. As a teenager, the

distinction between a ’woman’s job‘

and a ’man’s job‘ couldn’t have been

any clearer.

And while we’d like to think the

situation has changed since those days,

the reality is this gender perception of

jobs has prevailed. Indeed, stereotypes

engrained in our children from a young

age have a huge impact on our future

perceptions. A study of teenagers

between 14 and 19 showed that despite

not knowing the responsibilities

involved in a certain job, nor the pay

or lifestyle, they were able to easily

identify ’girl jobs‘ from ’boy jobs’.

It’s no secret that trades are

traditionally thought of as boys’ jobs.

Even today, female apprenticeship

numbers are less than 2% in areas like

construction, electrical, automotive,

carpentry and plumbing. Bearing this

in mind, it really wasn’t much of a

surprise that I didn’t follow my gut and

pursue an electrical apprenticeship

from the get-go.

Looking back on my career, I really

am a prime example of how persuasive

these gender stereotypes can be. Like

many other young girls fresh out of

school, I went straight into nursing. A

hands-on role that involves plenty of

problem-solving, I thought it would be

the perfect fit. But it wasn’t to be – after

just a couple of years I left and moved

onto reception work, before I once again

quit for what I thought was my dream

job, working with pre-school children.

The stereotype that being a tradie

was only for men meant I never really

REBECCAMAIR

REGALES

ELECTRICAL CONNECTION

WITH THE

STORY OF HER JOURNEY AS A

FEMALE ELECTRICIAN.

BEC SPARKY