Why aren't there more women in construction trades?
I really don't know.Pay is MUCH better than your average undereducated chick-type job in retail.
You get stronger.
You can get a great tan.
Men really dig it. In 1981, my then-partner & I painted a formal ballroom-type space in a very popular bar in Los Gatos, CA. It took us about a week, and each evening after we got done we'd slide on down to the bar to have a few drinks and listen to the band. Daubed with paint, wearing baggy whites, no makeup and messy hair, we got hit on ten times more often than the made-up Barbie Valley girl chicks. It was almost tedious trying to repel unwanted advances.
Does anyone remember those crinkly silk dresses popular back then, that you were supposed to twist up and tie in a knot in between washings? I had a turquoise one, a mini-dress tank style thing. I kept it behind the seat of my 1964 Ford F250 (oil bath, low geared, 292, three on the tree, if you don't know what I mean you are too young!) pickup truck. Along with some high strappy shoes and a mascara wand. Black, L'Oreal, because I am worth it.
Anyhow, so I'd be all ready for anything. :)
Oh, did I mention 20-something rough carpenters in faded denim shorts, shirtless with a tan, muscles, glinting chest hair and a toolbelt....?
And you learn cool skills in construction.
And you can get some serious muscle without trudging off to a gym.
Chicks dig it too.
You get to go all different places for work, instead of the same old same old every day.
I already mentioned sweat-glistened tanned carpenters in shorts and work boots, didn't I....?
Anyhow, why don't more women do this, at least for a summer or in between other jobs? Sure, if you have a JD or MBA or experience in something else you love, do that, of course. But without degrees and experience in other fields, why do so many women restrict their opportunities to low paid, boring clerking type jobs? And then bitch about discrimination - something largely absent, at least in the trades.
I am a really lousy feminist, by the way - absolutely un-PC.
posted by Carina @ 6:53 PM
7 Comments:
i am jackie of all trades mistress of none..i have worked as a prop maker at paramount stuidio in hollywood, a roofer, painter, bartender, waitress, worked in paint stores, home improvement stores, hardware stores, lumber companies, and book stores...i have worked on my own car since i was 24 years old..i taught my daugher and granddaughters to change oil, tires, etc...said if a guy could do it, they could do it..when they would whine i would ask them if they had ever seen a guy change the plugs in a car and they said yes, and i said, did at any time did he whip out his dick to help him with the job?(after much ewwwing and gross they said no) said. well until you do..anything a guy can do..you can do....
Hey you GO!
"...did at any time did he whip out his dick to help him with the job?"
Bwahahaha!!!
That line has never occured to me. Brilliant.
I went to get my oil changed on my car and an attractive woman did it for me. While not construction, I loved it. The smears of oil here and there on her face made her even more cute for some odd reason. I was ready to throw he onto the hood of my car and........
Well that's not very gentlemanly of me but you get the picture. Right?
Hahaha!
Naughty, naughty Ricardo. :)
Just being a typical male ;-)
Ha. You're the best kind of feminist.
I've had no trouble with the guys on the various trade jobs I've worked:
Clerk in the GC trailer,
CADwalla in the office,
Representative of the Electrical Contractor in co-ordination meetings.
I think I've been lucky, but sometimes you make your luck, you know?
You have to have a sense of humor, the ability to say without rancor 'this is the line, you've crossed it, now get back over there and we will be fine,' and you have to give the gents who have trouble with it a blind eye...
lie Maurice who tried and Tried and TRIED to get a rise out of me and even went so far as totally dropping his drawers while bending over on a finish concrete job. Nothing I hadn't seen before, I just walked on...
'like Maurice'
sigh. Stupid fingers.
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