Edited by: Tanya Olckers – Submitted by BluLever Education
Plumbing Africa thanks BluLever Education for providing coverage of their ongoing Women on Tools campaign, which aims to change the narrative about women in the trades by sharing the success stories of the female apprentices.
Maketa Mphuthi, BluLever apprentice.
Maketa Mphuthi decided right at the start that she was going to make a difference in the plumbing industry. Here is her story in her own words:
“My journey into plumbing has been so interesting and exciting. When I first came into plumbing, I just wanted to explore because I’m a handy woman by nature. What inspired me to choose plumbing was that I enjoy doing manual and hard labour, as well as getting my hands dirty.
“Another reason was when I was listening to the radio, I heard that there is a shortage of women in the plumbing industry, and I reckoned that I would enjoy being in a male-dominated industry. My initial feeling was constantly worrying about how men would receive me when it was time to go to work with them since most of them are not used to the idea of women being plumbers.
“I cannot say that there were challenges I faced, but there are stereotypes about plumbing, such as the belief that plumbing is for men and that I would be working with faeces. At the beginning I also had doubts, but I quickly let them go because I knew what I wanted. Where I am placed, we are treated equally with our male counterparts.
“The most rewarding aspect is that the love I have for plumbing makes me eager to wake up in the morning and go to work. Even when I’m working, I don’t feel like I’m working, but I am having fun and exploring many things that I never knew about plumbing. I look forward to each and every new day to find out what it is that I’m going to learn on each of those days respectively.
“My advice to women is that if it’s something that you really love, go for it and make the most out of it. You will enjoy it and forget that you are a woman in a male-dominated industry.”
