I was recently saddened to hear that a building estimator my dad and I used to submit quotes to passed away a couple of weeks ago. My last memory of dealing with this estimator was a few years ago. My dad had hooked up his water tanks and didn’t charge him for doing the work. The estimator asked me what could he give my dad as a gift to say thank you. At the time, dad had just built his new house and I knew he’d be wanting to get some new appliances so I suggested a Harvey Norman voucher which was exactly what was given.
He was one of the few estimators that would email or call my dad to say thank you for the delivery of his Christmas Basket that we would deliver to all the project managers and estimators we had done work with over the year. And despite his age, he always spoke sincerely on the phone to me, unlike the manager of the company he worked for.
You see, I found age to be a huge factor in the way men dealt with me in person as an apprentice. The younger the male was, the more open they were to having a girl work onsite. The senior male workers were more set in their ways believing that a woman’s place of work should be behind a desk or in the kitchen.
I laughed this week when I took a picture of a Big W catalogue that had included a female model in their hi-vis work wear section. I had one smartie comment on the picture I uploaded on Facebook ‘Glad there’s a woman there too, someone will have to make sandwiches for those guys.’ HAHA. I didn’t take offense to it because it’s the same old same old dig. Interestingly the guy that made the comment wasn’t a senior so he contradicted my theory about age.
In an ever changing world, everyone needs to open their mind to new possibilities in the workplace. The digs and old ideals are lame and out of date. Honestly guys, if you are reading my blog today and still believe a woman shouldn’t be on a construction site you need to get your head out of 1950 and into the current year of 2014.
On the flipside, I love seeing a man have a go in a career that has traditionally been done by females.
At the end of the day, as long as we are all aspiring to do a job we love, no matter what gender dominates it’s workforce, we should let the gender digs slide.
Do you agree? Or do jobs have a gender?
I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for I blog on Tuesdays.
