I'm A Female Engineer, And I'm Sick Of Being Told I'm Doing A Man's Job

I'm an apprentice welder and fabricator. I love my job, but I get negative comments from people when I tell them what I do and it needs to stop. Because I'm a female in a male-dominated environment, people say things to me like 'get back in the kitchen' or 'aren't you scared you might break a nail?'
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I'm an apprentice welder and fabricator. I love my job, but I get negative comments from people when I tell them what I do and it needs to stop.

Because I'm a female in a male-dominated environment, people say things to me like 'get back in the kitchen' or 'aren't you scared you might break a nail?'

I get told that I'm 'doing a man's job', which is frustrating. I love my work and I'm good at it, so why should it matter if I'm male or female? I want people to accept that the world has changed and there needs to be equality in the workplace.

When I originally left school at 16, I actually trained to be a nursery nurse. I bowed to societal pressure - I felt like that was what everyone was expecting of me. It's thought of as more of a 'girl's job'. I went along with it, but four months in I knew it wasn't for me.

I had studied GCSE electronics when I was at school and loved it, so I started looking at other courses that would let me build on those skills. I went back to see my old electronics teacher and spoke to him about what I should do.

I enrolled on a BTEC engineering college course and I was the only female in a class of 20 men.

It's also been like that during my apprenticeship - which I started last year. Most of the women in my company work in the office, in areas like human resources.

None of the head supervisors are female - all of them are men. Out of about 600 people who work on the shop floor, there are two women.

I think in a lot of male-dominated industries it can be difficult for women to progress.

Men can apply for top jobs and people will just assume they can do it, but I think women are questioned a lot more during the interview process.

We'll be asked things like - 'why do you think you're strong enough to do this job'. But why should women have to prove that if men don't? We're all human and we should be treated equally.

Women should be able to excel in their careers in the same way men can.

Becoming a welder is one of the best decisions I've ever made. It's challenging and no job is the same as the last one.

I followed my dream and other young people should too. They need to have the confidence instilled in them to be able to cross those barriers and do what they really want to without the fear of judgement from other people.

With Fixers, the charity which gives young people a voice, I have created a film to encourage young people to follow their dreams. If they have a career in mind then they should go for it and not let stereotypes stop them.

I want to share the film in schools and show it to students who are choosing their GCSE options so it can help them make the decisions that are right for them.

For more information about Fixers visit fixers.org.uk.