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WEYMOUTH, UK — With hot pink seats and a pink pipe carrier, Jennie Jones’s plumbing van is a distinctive and familiar sight in Weymouth, a seaside town in Dorset in southern England.
For the last eight years, she has run her own plumbing and heating company. This came after four years of study, and an apprenticeship with a local housing company. She is now a fully-qualified Gas Safe engineer.
Before retraining at the age of 38, Jennie was a journalist. She wrote arts pages for a series of magazines and newspapers, including eight years working for the Daily Telegraph in Sydney.
After her two daughters were born, she moved back to the UK. It was just after the credit crash (or the Great Recession as it was known in the US). Lots of journalists were facing redundancy, or long hours and low pay. Jones wanted more for her family—a reliable income with the option of self-employment. Plumbing could offer her this.
But she never stopped writing. Throughout her plumbing career, she kept notes. And these formed the backbone of her insightful new book: Pipe Dream, Chasing A Man’s Job.
Pipe Dreams
It's no secret there is a skills shortage in the construction industry—especially among plumbers and gas engineers. The workforce is aging, and not enough young people are coming into the industry to replace those who are retiring.
There is also growing demand from home-owners for female plumbers. Surveys have found that—given the choice—a significant number of older and female householders would prefer a female tradesperson. The main reasons were that they would feel more comfortable inviting another woman into their homes. And they felt the women would be more trustworthy, and would tidy up after themselves.
Numbers of women within the industry are still very small—an estimated one in 300 gas engineers in the UK is female. But there are talented women out there, who could be a huge asset to the industry.
So, how to support women into this industry and help them succeed?
Jennie Jones shares some of the issues and challenges faced by women in her new autobiography. She’s achieved things she never thought possible. She’s met people from all walks of life. Every day has been unique. But Jones has also faced workplace injury, childcare issues, sexism, stress and exhaustion, and more.
These experiences are shared in her new book: Pipe Dream, Chasing a Man’s Job. Jones hopes through the book to share a simple message: if she can succeed as a plumber, then others can too.
Pipe Dream, Chasing a Man’s Job will be available on Amazon as either a paperback or e-book starting November 15th, 2024.