Since I began welding professionally, I have met many people who tell me I'm the first/only female welder they know. I often don't know what to do with this comment and have to resist getting crass in my response since it seems so obvious to me that my biological sex should have nothing to do with my ability to weld. I.e. It's hard to resist bluntly pointing out that men don't use their penis' to weld. I'll say this if I think I can get a laugh without offending sensibilities- it's an efficient way to put it- but it's usually inappropriate.
However, it is fair that there aren't a lot of us to meet. A friend in class asked me the other night to guess what percentage of welders in the US were women. I though about female enrollment in my welding classes (often I'm the only one, sometimes there's two of us and on rare occation three) and guessed maybe 15%. Not a lot, but there have to be more female welders than, say, Bigfoot sightings, right? He googled it from his smartphone and came up with 6%. I've done a little skimming research since then and the numbers I can find go as low as 2% and not above 6%. More skimming research tells me there's around 400 Bigfoot sightings a year. Not sure how this breaks down in percentages to compare, but from my layperson's perspective I did anticipate more female welders and fewer Bigfoot sightings.
It's occurred to me lately that I'm also just about the only first/only female welder I know. I'm nearly through the Associates Degree program in Welding Technology at Grand Rapids Community College, and I did meet two other women in the program who are working in the field but haven't maintained contact with either of them. I'm involved in arts circles and did my BFA in sculpture, so I do know many women who can weld, but it's not their field of focus. So I guess I'm my own "only woman welder I know". This means I don't get another woman's perspective when I have experiences that are related to my gender. This means that the men in my field don't have much experience working with women who weld and don't know what that environment is like from a woman's point of view. This also means that many people outside of the industry don't have any example of a woman welder or what her experience would be like (unless Flashdance is really good on this point- I haven't seen it yet). However, I haven't met anyone who thinks I can't do it- that my gender would negatively affect my abilities- so the imagination is there.
I'm setting up this blog with the idea that I can be the woman welder you know, dear reader. My dream audience is men in welding/manufacturing who want to understand their fellow workers perspective; women in welding/manufacturing (or who are thinking of entering the field) who would like more stories to think about and might find my experiences to be supportive; and those outside the field who are curious about gendered issues, labor issues or are simply seeking to broaden their worldview. My dream blog will hopefully give these dream audiences what they're looking for. To keep the stories mine as much as possible, I'm not going to use the real names of the other people involved and I'm not going to name the company I work for. Not that this would be super hard to figure out if someone really wanted to, but I'm looking to share stories and I wouldn't want it to turn into gossip or seem unprofessional of me. It'll be truthful on my part, but it will be the truth as told from my specific perspective. I'll also make sure to see Flashdance at some point and write a review, and I'll keep an eye out for Bigfoot.
As a former Pittsburgher, I have 2 comments on Flashdance. !. The place she danced in was the Strip District, which was the former foundry area of town. This is where the 20 inch Rodman guns were cast. That is 20 inch bore, multiple to, cast iron, black powder, muzzle loading cannon. 2. Her apartment was on the South Side, an iron working area since the 1850's, and a major glass production area before that.
ReplyDeleteI suspect there might be a few female welders in Pittsburgh.