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Case studies

Maintenance Worker

Added: 18 February 2008. Last updated: 16 May 2008.

For Veronica Otang, the idea of working in a traditionally male-dominated sector was too much of a challenge to resist – “Theres not many women in construction, so I thought it’d be more challenging, being one woman out of ten men.“

She also liked the idea of helping to show other women that it’s an option they should consider. “I wanted to invite more women to come and see – it’s not only a man’s job. Women can do it as well.“

Veronica’s decision to enter the industry came after ten years as a homemaker, when she started to feel that “everything should move on. I was thinking of going back to work, thinking ‘What do I do?’. And I found I do things very good with my hands.“

This instinct encouraged her to take a year-long Foundation Construction Award qualification at John Laing Training, where she got “a taste of everything in the construction industry“. After 12 weeks of multi-skill training, she was asked to pick her specialism, and chose Carpentry as her first trade. “I did my exams and I came away with a distinction.“

After developing her skills further through Women and Manual Trades’ Upskill programme, Veronica found a job in maintenance, working in a Salvation Army hostel. The role not only gives her the chance to do the kind of hands-on work she loves, but also allows her to encourage other women, as she’d always hoped to. “Im a woman working in a women’s hostel. And these women are coming from different backgrounds, broken down, everything. And seeing a lady doing maintenance, they say ‘You’re a role model. Id like to do this.’ It’s just being there for those women, sticking my head down and doing the job that I love to do.“

So is a career in the trades as testing she hoped it would be? “It is quite challenging, but you get used to it, the environment. You just keep on making sure you know what you went there for – so you can look back and say : “Yes, I did it’. And I’m the first Maintenance Lady in the Salvation Army, so Im a history maker! Thats what my boss calls me “ ‘history maker’!“