Case Study

Julie

Qualifications - Completed City & Guilds 214 Mechanical Engineering Systems Maintenance Competency, Part 2 in Summer 1998.

Work - Julie works at K.J. Thermosets, as a craft level trainee in mechanical maintenance engineering.

School - Julie was at Tong Comprehensive School.

She chose Double Award Science amongst her options in Year 10. At one stage she wanted to study Motor Vehicle Technology but was told that there were no places left. (The course was filled by male students). Julie did school based work experience in the engineering department at the Royal Mail.

Influences - Julie is aware of wanting to work in engineering since being a very young child. Her father took her to air shows, and her interests included making models of aircraft and passing tools to her father when he worked on the family car. She says she "liked getting dirty".

Julie particularly wanted to be a mechanic in the Forces and, from the age of 13, an aircraft mechanic with the RAF. (She chose Double Award Science on the recommendation of an RAF Careers Information Officer). She became a member of the Air Training Corps during her last three years at school, but on finding that there were no vacancies in the RAF at the time, applied and gained acceptance for officer training as a mechanic in the Army. However, for various reasons Julie decided not to join the Forces but to look for civilian employment instead.

Julie says that her family and friends have always encouraged her in her ambition to enter engineering. As well as her parents and sister, this has included an uncle who is an engineer at Lucas Aerospace, and , more recently, her husband.

Work History - Julie was taken on Credit Funded Training with City Training Services. (She also had an offer of a place at Bradford Training Association (BTAL). She experienced some problems at placement interviews, before going to Thermosets. On occasions she was offered clerical and reception work, even though she had applied for engineering. She says that employers would say, "I’ve got a job in the office", to which she would reply," I’m not interested in the office", at which point they would insist, " I’ll show it you anyway". Another employer informed City Training Services that she had failed to attend an interview, but her father, who supported her by taking her to interviews, verified that she had attended. She was also asked inappropriate questions such as whether or not she was interested in boys, if she had a boyfriend, and if she was on the pill. She was asked if she was strong and could lift, and if she minded getting her hands dirty and knows that these questions were not posed to the previous male candidate. Perhaps fortunately, she did not get this particular placement.

College - Julie also experienced problems on first coming to college. She says the first couple of month were hard as she was the only women in a class of thirty, and it was difficult to socialise. The boys tended to talk about engines and football and other topics on which she felt she could not contribute. They called her a swot, and initially made "wise cracks" like "cookery is on the next corridor". It was difficult in class, as a result, because the students had to work on the machines in pairs. However, Julie said that later on she "got on really well". Her advice to other women entering SECT was "you’ve got to prove that you can do it. In fact, you’ve got to be twice as good as a man. But go for it. Don’t take any adverse comments".

Top