women plumbers

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M

moony

views on this please.

seen the thread in the main forum.

no offence to women at all just dont think this is the trade for them. mainly due to the dirty heavy work that we come across.

now if anyone here knows of any succesful women plumbers then let me know, or work with them (mark) would be interesting to know the experiences.
 
I dont have a problem with women plumbers in theory. There are two at our place and the older one (late 30's, early 40's) is a complete waste of time (in my opinion). The problem is as i see it is that we used to be local council and this particular plumber was up for re-employment (from some office based job) and with the way political correctness is these days and councils constantly being audited and graded it seems to me that by employing women/ethnic minorities into these jobs is a way of having 'boxes ticked'. This was an apprentice position that could of been taken by some young lad who has just left school and has ambitions of being a plumber (like myself when i was that age).
We also have another young lass who joined as an apprentice at 17 and to be fair could turn out to be a good plumber (time will tell), but it does appear to me that these women are 'molly cuddled' by management and alot of the lads are now refusing to do their call-backs.
The older plumber is (how shall i say it) carrying a bit of weight, and ive been to many houses to change the ball-valve in the loft to be told by the tenant that a women plumber came earlier but couldnt get in the loft.
 
obvious fact is that most women wouldnt be able to hang a boiler or swing too well on a set of 24"stilsons, that said you could employ monkeys or labourers for weight shifting. being a plumber isnt about strength - its about knowledge
i know 2 lady heating engineers that are doing well and employing monkeys for the heavy work. face it when you go to semi retirement you aint gonna be doing them tasks either but your still swear blind your the 2nd best heating engineer in the world (after me) !!
 
Mark Moss said:
I dont have a problem with women plumbers in theory. There are two at our place and the older one (late 30's, early 40's) is a complete waste of time (in my opinion). The problem is as i see it is that we used to be local council and this particular plumber was up for re-employment (from some office based job) and with the way political correctness is these days and councils constantly being audited and graded it seems to me that by employing women/ethnic minorities into these jobs is a way of having 'boxes ticked'. This was an apprentice position that could of been taken by some young lad who has just left school and has ambitions of being a plumber (like myself when i was that age).
We also have another young lass who joined as an apprentice at 17 and to be fair could turn out to be a good plumber (time will tell), but it does appear to me that these women are 'molly cuddled' by management and alot of the lads are now refusing to do their call-backs.
The older plumber is (how shall i say it) carrying a bit of weight, and ive been to many houses to change the ball-valve in the loft to be told by the tenant that a women plumber came earlier but couldnt get in the loft.
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mark doesnt this wind you up that you are getting called in to get up into attic and do that awkward job when she doenst have? shes probably changing a tap washer somewhere....

thats what would wind me up, if she cant get up the bloody attic then she shouldnt be in the job imo.

by the way im 19 stone, and i can get up into any attic - far from being unfit just im a big lad always gone the gym. but yeah it can be awkward but im sure if i can get up there she should be able to.

migoplumber said:
obvious fact is that most women wouldnt be able to hang a boiler or swing too well on a set of 24"stilsons, that said you could employ monkeys or labourers for weight shifting. being a plumber isnt about strength - its about knowledge
i know 2 lady heating engineers that are doing well and employing monkeys for the heavy work. face it when you go to semi retirement you aint gonna be doing them tasks either but your still swear blind your the 2nd best heating engineer in the world (after me) !!
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true but like most of us we started by doing the monkey work!! where were they or were they put through the easy, light work and ended up with the same status as us lot who go through the 4 yr apprenticeship of lugging everything everywhere!
 
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Like i said i dont have any problem with a girl wanting to be a plumber, if thats what shes wanted to do since the age of 14 or 15 because her dad or granddad or uncle was a plumber. Thats fine by me and with the right training (i.e working in the real world with proper plumbers) there is a gap in the market for women plumbers.
What gets my gripe is that some 'mature' woman can get an apprenticeship over some young lad who goes all out to get an apprenticeship and cant get one, because the 'mature' woman gets it.
I tell you now the mature woman plumber wouldnt stand a chance of holding down a plumbing job away from our place, yet the younger girl who left school wanting to be a plumber has definite potential in some areas.
 
I had a young 18 year old as an apprentice (cant call em loveslaves as apparantly its sexist) But compared to other loveslaves I have had she was excellent, and hard working, The only problem was at 20 she became pregnant and packed in (nothing to do with me).

Compared to other loveslaves I would definatley have no hesitations in using a female again. Very willing to learn and worked harder than most to prove herself against any bloke on the job.

Last year I took on a 3rd year loveslave who to be honest I wouldnt trust to put a hose pipe together, soon got shot of him.
 
see the 18 year old woman apprentice does sound appealing - but i would never in a million years employ a woman over a bloke in this trade, but if i was managing a beauty salon i would employ all girls...

does this make a person sexist ?

i wouldnt use a rabbit to go hunting as it wouldnt get the job done as good as a lurcher. silly example but i think we have places in society that we suit better than others.
 
i wish i was a nail technician, if your putting it that way qplumb.
 
haha yea suppose there would be plus points - couldnt handle the bitchiness though - i like a easy life you dont get that with a room full of women.
 
There is a local female plumber my way she is very busy and her work is good and respected amongst the other plumbers good for her I say.
 
Winston - good for you Squire. The other remarks here are not only Neanderthal but illegal processes. Like it or not (and I remain neutral here - simply objective as an employer) discrimination in the workplace is illegal.
 
bcp said:
Winston - good for you Squire. The other remarks here are not only Neanderthal but illegal processes. Like it or not (and I remain neutral here - simply objective as an employer) discrimination in the workplace is illegal.
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Think you need to re-read mate, there are no neanderthal or discriminative remarks in this thread. There is nothing illegal about having an opinion.
 
bcp said:
Winston - good for you Squire. The other remarks here are not only Neanderthal but illegal processes. Like it or not (and I remain neutral here - simply objective as an employer) discrimination in the workplace is illegal.
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neanderthal ? and illegal ?

my views are neither mate. imo if you got 1000 women off the street and a 1000 men, a higher percentage of the men would be able to do the work involved in my day to day job than the women. discrimination in the work place needs to be looked at in a sensible approach... to many campaigners jumping on the bandwagon demanding equal rights when it suits. not enough common sense imo.

so if a 5ft tall lady turned up for the job, fully qualified through college, and a 6ft bloke turned up same qualifications turned up, i know who i would employ, now am i being discriminating? or simply looking after myself and my business?

also if a 6ft women turned up and a short bloke, i would still employ the bloke mainly due to it being a male dominated work force i work with and it would just be a bloody minefield with the other lads. Is this discriminatiing or just the fact that i want to employ somneone who has a higher chance imo of living thorugh the crap that this job throws at them.

i dunno am i old fashioned ???
 
I agree with most of the comments here its, take out the humour and a lot whether of or not you'd employ a female plumber is down to ability. If they're good employ them if they're not then don't.

I accept that there are a lot of things women do better than me and I do a lot of things better than women. Its a fact, not sexism. I was on a riot squad (in a previous career) in the old bill. I was next to a woman, who was built like an ox! she took the bricks and petrol bombs with me when we moved towards the crowd I could hear her laughing under the flame proofs, she said "don't you love this"

I've been barracaded in a house trying to get out with a young lady whilst being punched and kicked, the bloke on the outside made no attempt to get into help us....... I wish my riot squad woman was with me that day.....

Ability over sex (ha ha, just wrote sex) everytime......
 
Hmm!

Seems to me whoor what ever can do the job taking into account allfactors wins the day. Few years time may be robots doing it or they will make it so simple anybody can do it.
 
i did my training along with a woman 15years ago...didn't think she'd make it as half way through the course she got up the duff...low and behold 5 years later i bumped into her after getting a job with the local council and she was more than holding her own. and now she is actually a lecturer at south birmingham college.
whilst slightly off topic i also know a women sparky and she is spot on!
 
Nothing wrong with anybody who can do the job properly. Women should get the same pay as men doing the same job. Then employers can decide on a fair basis who they want to hire.

Alan Sugar reckons though, privately employers will prefer men rather than woman, simply because of the maternity leave.
 
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