Why are there so few women in our trade?

[480sparky]

In all my years as an electrician, I have actually only met two female electricians. One in my second-year apprentice class, and another on a job site. I know there's some ladies that post here, but I'll be willing to bet good money that the ratio of male-to-female members here is most likely very close to what is out there working on the daily grind.

Seems to me that if (roughly) half the population is female, there would be more working in the craft than what actually is. I'm curious if anyone has any insight as to why there are so few women in this trade?

And please, let's keep the discussion professional, and refrain from any degrading or dispairaging remarks. If it gets out of line, mods... lock it up!

 

[byourdesky]

I worked on a small job where there was two female electricians already doing some other stuff (they were not employed by the company I was).....we finished before them so I never got to see their work but they seemed nice enough....maybe a mother-daughter outfit is what they looked like

 

[ultramegabob]

I have known about 5 female electricians from my area, I think it just isnt a type of trade that most women are attracted too, It must take a special woman:wink:

 

[ultramegabob]

two of the women I know of did residential and commercial, the others were employed in a factory.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I have know 3 women with licenses in this area and have met 4 others who worked in the trade. My wife use to help me years ago.

As to why, I would prefer to have a woman answer that.

Why are men less likely to be elementary school teachers???? I bet there are many questions similar to this that can be asked.

 

[petersonra]

while its not PC to say so, its certainly a fact of life that some professions are better suited to one gender or the other. its not an absolute, but its very clearly a fact.

 

[ishium 80439]

I personally met a female electrician. Plumbers, painters, trim carpenters maybe a few others but never an electrician. I think part of it is that it is looked at as a boys club. On this forum we try to keep it professional, but anyone who has ever been on a job site knows that it is akin to a locker room at times. In my experience there are few women who are willing to tolerate that. Add to this that there are some some bona fide strength requirements (hauling rigid, digging ditches etc) and that cuts down even more (I know that this not an absolute but in general males are stronger than females). Then of course there is the societal issue that women just don't do this kind of work. I'm sure there is a degree of sexism that makes much tougher for a woman to get taken seriously for doing the same work.

Just a few thoughts that lept to the front of my head.

 

[LittleD]

I am a substation operator/mechanic (apprentice) for a public utility. I am the first in my area but more & more women are entering the field.

I never thought I'd be doing ANYTHING like this. However, I am physically fit and very willing to learn & to work hard. The money is great, the hours are long & working outdoors can be very hard. Especially winters in New England.

I work with some wonderful men, I feel blessed! That has made my job so much more pleasurably and I give the guys alot of credit for accepting me & adjusting to having a female around. I have to admit, I am very easy going and not about to ask them to change their ways for me! We get along great. The boss says if you want to bring life into an old dog, bring in a young pup. LOL, I guess I'm the young pup!

I think it takes a special kind of women to enter this field & I think the attitude of men is changing as well. No reason why a woman can't be strong & hard working and still maintain her femininity (sp?).

I didn't come into this department expecting the men to change for me and I think because of that, they have accepted me and they enjoy having me around.

 

[boyle78]

My supervisor is a woman....she is great at what she does and is one heck of an electrician. She owned her own business for a dozen years and had to give it up for one reason or another. She never backs down from a job in fear of failing....the more difficult the better. It's funny how other electricians take her input as little as they should and I have learned a tremendous amount from her. I think it is a shame that more women like her aren't in the trade...but it just seems that way.

 

[G & G Electric]

I've worked with 5 or 6 women since I've been in the trade. A couple of them could every bit hang with a guy when running conduit. One was a controls tech, and the others were green. I don't personally have a problem with it, but I have to say that a lot of what they have to endure on a jobsite, like all the sexual innuendos, is BS. If you won't make comments like that to a male co-worker, don't make them to a female co-worker. A few of them honestly want to make good in the trade, but get treated like crap so they move on.

 

[jeremysterling]

Congrats LittleD, for being employed by a POCO. You have a great attitude. I hope you do well and enjoy your work. Your title includes mechanic, and I feel that is the determiner of who makes this a career.

I get dry, chapped hands and bleeding cuticles from cramming my hands in switch box sized holes in sheetrock. Years ago I had a girlfriend who talked me into a manicure. The next day after work, my nails looked hammered (good pun, huh?). Good money wasted.

I've met 3 or 4 licensed journey(wo)men electricians and about the same number of female apprentices. They were all fair electricians.

Male brains have greater spatial awareness that, in general, allow us to function superbly in mechanical fields. Testosterone, present in larger amounts in males, gives males, on average, greater strength and stamina to perform mechanical tasks. I would think that female electricians get electrocuted less often, although there was a post a few months back regarding a female electrician killed on the job by electricity. The rewards and dangers are there for everyone.

 

[iaov]

One of the smartest people I have ever met in my life was a girl named Tanya who was in an instumentation class with me.She was drop dead good looking and brilliant. Guys would delibertly mess up the I/P's, the P/I's, the controllers,and the power supplies at her lab station and she would have it all back up and running in about 3 minutes, She was good!! She worked in a paper mill and unfortunately, her mill, like the one I worked at, was a cess pool of mental illness. The good old boys in her shop were intimidated by both her looks and her brains and she evetually got fed up and left the electrical field entirely and last I heard she was in med school. I'm not sure why there are not more woman in this field but I'm sure that Tanyas story probably is not unique. My experience has been that most woman realy don't give a s..t as to why electricity works and that probably explains why there are not more of them in our proffesion. I just asked asked my wife this question and she says woman don't want to break a finger nail!!

 

[ceb58]

I worked around a woman on a job site once that was a welder. If you were a man and a welder you had better bring your A game. She could weld up the crack of dawn. I ask her one day why she got into welding. She told me she was a single mother and welding payed her about three times what she could make doing factory work or something you would expect seeing a woman doing. She said it was hard getting used to working on the job sites but was determined to make it. She wasn't going to depend on any one but her self.

 

[Cow]

I've only seen two woman electricians in our area.

I just finished my apprenticeship a few months back, and I never saw one woman in it. I'm told there was one on the list but the local electrical contractors were afraid to hire her due to potential sexual harassment suits. Don't know if it was true or not....

Honestly, I would have no problem working with one, especially if they had the attitude LittleD has!

 

[tonyou812]

while its not PC to say so, its certainly a fact of life that some professions are better suited to one gender or the other. its not an absolute, but its very clearly a fact.

I think thats very true and dont feel that its not PC to say so. Its just a fact. Woman are just not built for certain things. Even when I worked in Kitchens as a cook there were many many times that a woman would ask if I could help them lift a big stock pot or 60 pound bag of flour or sugar.
And in all my time in the trades I have yet to see a woman in any facet of construction work. And when Ive seen them on road crews there usually the ones holding the "slow down sign".
Now im not saying that they cant do it only that Ive never seen them do it. Plus im so sick of being politically correct because its in Moda to do so. Facts are facts and theres nothing wrong with that.
With that said there are just as many carears that you dont see many men do. Like nursing. My wife is a nurse and every time I look at her paycheck and short work week I wonder why the hell im not doing that as well. If I could have done it all over again I would have gone that route and been an ER nurse. Oh yea and woman can make babies men cant, so they got a BIG one on us.

 

[George Stolz]

I've only worked with two women in my experience. They both were as proficient as men in the trade, IMO. Granted, they were mostly assigned trim duties (which suited one of them, the other didn't really care either way.)

Sometimes, when I can't feel my fingers and my toes, I often wonder why there are so many people in the trade.

There was a fairly interesting article in EC&M Magazine (here) that delved into some of the benefits and drawbacks to being the female owner of an electrical contracting shop. I think it was worth a read.

 

[tonyou812]

I am a substation operator/mechanic (apprentice) for a public utility. I am the first in my area but more & more women are entering the field.

I never thought I'd be doing ANYTHING like this. However, I am physically fit and very willing to learn & to work hard. The money is great, the hours are long & working outdoors can be very hard. Especially winters in New England.

I work with some wonderful men, I feel blessed! That has made my job so much more pleasurably and I give the guys alot of credit for accepting me & adjusting to having a female around. I have to admit, I am very easy going and not about to ask them to change their ways for me! We get along great. The boss says if you want to bring life into an old dog, bring in a young pup. LOL, I guess I'm the young pup!

I think it takes a special kind of women to enter this field & I think the attitude of men is changing as well. No reason why a woman can't be strong & hard working and still maintain her femininity (sp?).

I didn't come into this department expecting the men to change for me and I think because of that, they have accepted me and they enjoy having me around.

I dont think there is one guy in here that would have a problem working with woman, its just that many of us never see them doing it. I personally would have no problem hiring a woman but its not a field that appeals to them.

 

[cadpoint]

I'm going to go with the fact that as a vocation and in generally it is not stressed in general, in the past or even now, and this electrical field was not even introduced to woman.

The women, I have had the pleasure to work with have always be knowledgeable and were never shy of the work!

I don't know what it is, from what I've read here we ain't got our stuff together anyways, price, business-wise, or add anything you can relate to!

They might not get a Prince, but you do have to be charming! :grin:
The fair sex is not going to settle for less!

 

[quogueelectric]

In all my years as an electrician, I have actually only met two female electricians. One in my second-year apprentice class, and another on a job site. I know there's some ladies that post here, but I'll be willing to bet good money that the ratio of male-to-female members here is most likely very close to what is out there working on the daily grind.

Seems to me that if (roughly) half the population is female, there would be more working in the craft than what actually is. I'm curious if anyone has any insight as to why there are so few women in this trade?

And please, let's keep the discussion professional, and refrain from any degrading or dispairaging remarks. If it gets out of line, mods... lock it up!

I wouldnt touch this question with a tenfoot stick of 5" rigid.

 

[Minuteman]

The few lady electricians that I have known have acquired a certain toughness about themselves. Not to say that they lost their feminineness, just that they develop a thicker skin. All could handle themselves on and off the job.

I have known some male electricians that do just what they have to to get by until payday. Minimum effort. No initiative, no drive. But every female sparky I have met has their head on straight and does above average work.