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At the end of the day, workwear has to let us do
our job. LAURA MULKEEN The Welder “When I was leaving school, I had a half-baked notion that I’d like to do something practical, but I wasn’t entirely sure. While I’m not knocking any of the adults in my life at that time, whenever you’re uncertain of what [career] you want, you tend to be pushed down a ‘safer’ path. I wound up doing a degree in events management, as I’d already gotten experience in putting on a few gigs. I followed it with a masters and spent the guts of ten years running events. I absolutely loved the last place I worked, the people were great, but with something like events management – and this goes for many careers – the end result isn’t a physically-tangible finished product. I spent much of my 20s with a touch of imposter syndrome, worrying if I was doing the job right. The welding process is much more straightforward: when you go in and weld, you’re either good or bad at it. “I moved from Dublin to Donegal the week I turned 30. I couldn’t find any events work here, which gave me a wee bit of time out to decide what I wanted to do next. Both my husband and I were interested in blacksmithing, so we did a day-long course and thought, ‘to hell with it, let’s make a coal forge!’ We built one in a shipping container beside the house and continued to hone our skills in that space. While I was still out of work, I spotted a fantastic, basic welding course twenty minutes from our home. I thought it would be a nice side project to pair with the blacksmithing, and I found out I was pretty good at welding, as well as absolutely loving the craft. That set me on the path I’m currently on. “At the minute, I’ve just about wrapped my last, full-time welding course with Donegal ETB – they’ve been a brilliant crowd, and I’ve basically become their poster child for diversity! I’m now being put into the big, bad working world, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m really hopeful. In terms of employment prospects for women welders, there seem to be two ends of the spectrum. Not too long ago, a few welders I know were approached about doing a test for an employer who, I was told, would not be hiring women. It upset me hearing these things, being so close to finishing full-time education, and it gave me the fear of being told, ‘yeah love, thanks but no thanks’. On the other end, after completing a welding course last year I did a work placement for a fairly forwardthinking company, who placed real importance on hiring female tradies. “It’s been incredible to connect with WITNI. Jen is an absolute powerhouse, I have so much respect for what she’s doing. I live on the northwestern coast of Donegal, as far up as you can go and, on certain days especially, the gender issue can pile on top of you and make you feel like an alien within your craft; you end up asking yourself why you’re even bothering. Because of that, it’s so good just to know that the network is always there, even if you can’t get to an event. There’s always someone to talk to [about these topics], so you know you’re not insane or imagining things! It brings serious reassurance. “I live in a pair of Snickers padded workwear trousers. It sort of has to be those, seeing as I’m pear-shaped – I couldn’t fit in male work clothes. Myself and another trainee were down at the RDS with our instructor a few weeks ago, for Ireland Skills Live: we were running a virtual reality welder, and [the course centre] wanted to get us new gear for it. My instructor suggested we pick up some workwear in Letterkenny, and I replied that while I appreciated the gesture, we wouldn’t find anything for women. Still, he wanted to persevere, and the experience was a serious eye-opener for him: he could’ve kitted out the other male trainee in the first, second, third or fourth shop, but there wasn’t a trace of womenswear. “I wear MIG gloves when I’m melding, which are made from thick leather – I always have to stuff my little fingers in beside my other ones, because they’re huge! They’re like big bear claws on me. There’s a company called Lincoln Electric that make a lot of fantastic welding gear. They’ve done a great collaboration with Jessi Combs over in the States, creating a collection of smaller women’s jackets and welding gloves. At the end of the day, workwear has to let us do our job.” ➝ 28