| 1 | 1 | | Cathy Daniels has been working as a motor mechanic for 12 months now. 'When I |
| 2 | | came for my job interview here, I was told immediately that I'd got the job, and my boss |
| 3 | | took me out onto the floor to meet the workers. You should have seen their faces! My boss |
| 4 | | had to go outside to laugh. |
| 2 | 5 | | The work's fascinating. It's great to have something broken and be able to fix it. You |
| 6 | | feel like you're making something come to life. |
| 3 | 7 | | Nobody outside of work has really made much comment about me being in a |
| 8 | | traditionally male job. They've been very supportive. My dad thought it was great! He's |
| 9 | | delighted that he's got someone to look after his car.' |
| | | |
| 4 | 10 | | Kim and Gina are fully trained, experienced carpenters. At the moment, they're |
| 11 | | working on an all-female building site in London. |
| 5 | 12 | | Kim: 'I like the job because of the variety. We can be fixing a broken door in a house |
| 13 | | one day, putting up shelves in a shop the next, or doing work like this on a building site. |
| 14 | | It's great not going to work at the same location every day.' |
| 6 | 15 | | Gina: 'Comments have been made to me about my job being a so-called |
| 16 | | traditionally male job, but it's nothing I can't handle. There was once a guy who was being |
| 17 | | really picky about my work. It annoyed me, because I knew what I was doing. There have |
| 18 | | been very few of those occasions, though, and when they occur I've learnt how to deal with |
| 19 | | them. |
| 7 | 20 | | The best part of our work has to be the satisfaction you get from seeing your work |
| 21 | | done. We can be driving down a road and see a door we fitted or a number of houses we |
| 22 | | fixed windows into.' |
| 8 | 23 | | Kim: 'The best advice we could give to girls thinking of moving into this line of work |
| 24 | | is not to think of it as a male career. Here on this building site we have female bricklayers, |
| 25 | | plumbers, electricians and roofers.' |
| | | |
| 9 | 26 | | Fiona McFarlane is training to get her Commercial Pilot's Licence after working as |
| 27 | | an air-hostess. 'I've wanted to fly ever since I can remember, but really never considered |
| 28 | | being a pilot. When I went to my careers adviser at school I was more or less encouraged |
| 29 | | to be an air-hostess straight away. I don't know how things are now, but then girls were |
| 30 | | encouraged to enter strictly female careers. |
| 10 | 31 | | I joined an airline as an air-hostess when I was 21 and had a fabulous time. But |
| 32 | | somewhere in my mind I knew I wanted to be flying the aircraft myself rather than just |
| 33 | | serving tea. I talked about it to all the pilots on the airline and they were extremely |
| 34 | | encouraging. I haven't come across one bit of sexism or discrimination. |
| 11 | 35 | | My first solo flight happened after 15 hours of flying with an instructor. It was |
| 36 | | amazing - like the first time you drive a car on your own. I hope to go on and get a job |
| 37 | | working with my old airline. |
| 12 | 38 | | I'd advise any girl to go for this career. What other job is there with such a great |
| 39 | | view from the office?!' |
| | | |
| | | from 'Just Seventeen', November 20, 1991 |
