Working in a man’s world

“I’ve always been interested in cars. When I was a kid, my Dad would work on an old
car that stood in our garage, and whenever I had time, I’d join him. At first he just let
me watch. But when I got older he allowed me to work on the car, too. And it was
great, we had so much fun! My little brother wasn’t interested in cars at all. So my
Dad was glad that at least one of his children liked the same things he did. And after
school, when I had to decide what I wanted to do, he was happy about my choice to
become a car mechanic.”

20-year old Chris is talking about her job as a car mechanic. She says that she really
enjoys the work. “I’ve got a great boss and good colleagues. Everybody here likes to
come in the mornings. Our working place has a great atmosphere.” Chris knows
about what she is doing, and people see that she knows about cars and how to
repair them. Yet still, she often faces problems with customers, because Chris is a
girl.

“They tell my boss that they don’t believe a girl can do the job right. And then they
ask for a different car mechanic to repair their car. But my boss just smiles about the
whole thing and tells them that I’m the only mechanic free at the moment. So if they
want their car repaired, they need to accept me as a car mechanic. Most of the
customers do, but we also had some that left without a word and found another
garage.”

In the future Chris wants to own her own car garage. But not so soon, because she
believes that she still has to learn a lot from her boss and older colleagues. But one
thing her work has helped her with is to believe in herself. “When I was at school I
was shy. But being a girl and working as a car mechanic has made me strong. I don’t
care what the people say, I love my work. And I’ve always believed that I’d be a good
car mechanic, which I am.”