The world needs more girl plumbers
Donation protected
I always thought that loving your job was so important and the everything else work related would fall into place after that. I found that while I truly liked my job while I was working on a degree, I wasn't all that enthused about the degree itself. What job would I have after? What new opportunities would it bring? So I sat down and thought about what I wanted to spend hours doing, where I wanted to be in life. I knew I loved being outdoors and working with my hands. I've always been mechanically inclined and I love seeing tangible results. At the end of the day, feeling exhausted from physically working is so satisfying compared to having just sat at a desk, indoors all day.
Armed with this knowledge of myself I decided a trade would be something I could incorporate all my wants into, so I looked into the few offered locally and I decided plumbing hit on all the things that enthused me about a job. Learning new things, working hard, seeing tangible results, using my mechanical aptitude in a way that would finally be worthwhile.
I contacted the local schools and was told one would be a 6 mos to a 1 yr wait. That was another year of life missed, not moving forward in life, just stagnating. The other program was eager to sign me up and made me feel that I'd made the right choice. That was just the beginning. To qualify for the program you need to have a company hire you and become your sponsor. Then you attend classes for one night a week for 4 yrs. Fantastic! On the job training while being paid to learn and when the program ended I'd be a journeyman.
I soon discovered no one wanted to hire a female as an apprentice. I was told I needed years of experience to be an apprentice, that it was dirty work, that they'd already hired everyone. I sent out a call through social media to find any plumber I could. I found one, so I started working for more hours, and more pay than my seasonal job, things looked to be on track. That fell through. I went back and contacted every plumber in my schools membership. None would even let me interview. I was in jeopardy of being dropped from the program. No sponsor, no training and no job. I had the top grades and loved the program. The guys were great and some even took it upon themselves to use the breaks in class to teach me things they were learning at work. Finally 3 months into the program I found a company willing to take me on.
No pay, but now I'd be getting the training everyone else was. Most the companies pay for the schooling, mine isn't even paying me, let alone the schooling. The company isn't a member, so my fees are higher than almost everyone else. I pay 3900+ a year while member companies pay 1900. Not being paid makes it hard to cover my school fees. I have tried so hard to get into the program, then stay in the program. There were 29 apprentices when we started, one was dropped and let go from his company, there are now 28 of us, 27 men and 1 female. I want to make it to year 4, become a journeyman, send my son to college and dream big, by possibly even starting my own company.
Why can't there be more women plumbers? Why can there be women in service professions like the military, and law enforcement but when they try to learn a trade there is not much help. Only one percent of plumbers are female. The last female that was in the apprenticeship program was 3 yrs ago. It shouldn't be so hard to break into a job field.
Armed with this knowledge of myself I decided a trade would be something I could incorporate all my wants into, so I looked into the few offered locally and I decided plumbing hit on all the things that enthused me about a job. Learning new things, working hard, seeing tangible results, using my mechanical aptitude in a way that would finally be worthwhile.
I contacted the local schools and was told one would be a 6 mos to a 1 yr wait. That was another year of life missed, not moving forward in life, just stagnating. The other program was eager to sign me up and made me feel that I'd made the right choice. That was just the beginning. To qualify for the program you need to have a company hire you and become your sponsor. Then you attend classes for one night a week for 4 yrs. Fantastic! On the job training while being paid to learn and when the program ended I'd be a journeyman.
I soon discovered no one wanted to hire a female as an apprentice. I was told I needed years of experience to be an apprentice, that it was dirty work, that they'd already hired everyone. I sent out a call through social media to find any plumber I could. I found one, so I started working for more hours, and more pay than my seasonal job, things looked to be on track. That fell through. I went back and contacted every plumber in my schools membership. None would even let me interview. I was in jeopardy of being dropped from the program. No sponsor, no training and no job. I had the top grades and loved the program. The guys were great and some even took it upon themselves to use the breaks in class to teach me things they were learning at work. Finally 3 months into the program I found a company willing to take me on.
No pay, but now I'd be getting the training everyone else was. Most the companies pay for the schooling, mine isn't even paying me, let alone the schooling. The company isn't a member, so my fees are higher than almost everyone else. I pay 3900+ a year while member companies pay 1900. Not being paid makes it hard to cover my school fees. I have tried so hard to get into the program, then stay in the program. There were 29 apprentices when we started, one was dropped and let go from his company, there are now 28 of us, 27 men and 1 female. I want to make it to year 4, become a journeyman, send my son to college and dream big, by possibly even starting my own company.
Why can't there be more women plumbers? Why can there be women in service professions like the military, and law enforcement but when they try to learn a trade there is not much help. Only one percent of plumbers are female. The last female that was in the apprenticeship program was 3 yrs ago. It shouldn't be so hard to break into a job field.
Organizer
Amber Lovin
Organizer
Santee, CA