I was rejected from 120 plumbing jobs because I’m a woman – I have to work twice as hard and listen to sexist jokes
A WOMAN has revealed that she was rejected from 120 jobs because of her gender.
Aimee Stanton said she suffered countless setbacks despite chasing her job applications via email and phone calls.
The self-proclaimed “lady tradie”, who lives in Australia, told 9Honey that the challenges didn’t stop after she was accepted for a plumbing apprenticeship.
“You do have to prove yourself [as a woman]… at the start it was one of the hardest things I have ever gone through,” Aimee said.
She recalled often being the only woman on job sites and overhearing sexist jokes and comments in the male-dominated workplace.
Aimee said: “There would be days that I would go cry in the job site toilet, or in the TAFE toilet just because… there’s always someone that takes it too far.
“It makes you feel quite isolated.
“I’ve been through those scenarios so many times before where you just feel like you shouldn’t be there and you’re like, ‘What am I doing?'”
Aimee said people would assume she’s only on the job site because her dad owns the company or that she’s there to do admin.
She revealed that misconceptions continued to be made even when she was wearing a high-vis jacket and carrying tools as a fully qualified plumber.
The craftswoman reached out to other women in trades through groups such as Empowered Women In Trade. EWIT supports women and non-binary people in skilled trade careers.
Aimee admitted that she found it hard to speak up on plumbing job sites because she didn’t want to put a “target” on herself.
She believes there is now less sexism and there has been a shift in attitudes compared to when she started her career.
However, she has decided to transition from being a plumber to building tiny homes after 10 years as a tradie.
Aimee (@aimeekatestanton) has racked up over 28,000 Instagram followers on an account she started to provide a community for people in the trade industry.
Aimee said: “There’s going to be so many struggles and failures, but there’s also going to be so much positivity that comes out of it as well. And all you can do is give it a crack.”