FITTING THOUGHT 1
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South African women in plumbing
Happy Women’ s Month!
This August, the country celebrates Women’ s Month and Women’ s Day, to pay tribute to the more than 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956, in protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women. 1
While women still represent a small percentage of South Africa ' s plumbing workforce( 2023 statistics showed that women presented only 5.4 % of plumbers and artisans in South Africa), their presence is steadily growing.
Women entering the industry do, however, face unique challenges – one of the most common being battling and overcoming outdated perceptions. I have heard it from most( if not all) women plumbers I have spoken to – each with a different story about a customer who either refused to let her do the work or made their discomfort clear. The outcomes differed: her company refused to do the work unless she was allowed to work as well, she did most of the work herself to prove the customer wrong, or she simply put her head down and got the job done. Through each story I have been told, one single inspiring pattern rings true from these ladies: utter resilience.
While it is sad that women still have to put in extra work to earn the trust of some customers, a female plumber that I recently interviewed said something that stuck with me. While talking about her experiences with these distrustful customers that each women plumber has come across at least once in their career, she said that there is a strength that women plumbers carry – some customers, specifically elderly customers and women, feel more safe and comfortable with a female plumber in their homes doing the work.
And that flipped a switch.
Because we so often focus on the challenges that women face( and that list of challenges is not short) that sometimes we forget to shine a spotlight on the advantages of being a women plumber.
So, this Women’ s Month, I would like highlight three of those advantages that I have noticed: 1. There are more mentors for young women coming into the industry. I recently experienced this at an event, where a student plumber came up to me and asked if I knew any women in the industry that could give her some guidance about what to expect with plumbing as a career, and what the day-to-day job would look like because she had no idea what to expect. Luckily, I knew just the person, and I reached out to see if they would be willing to chat to her – she, of course, didn’ t hesitate to say yes.
2. The difficult customers exist, but so do the ones who would prefer to have a woman plumber. Breaking the stigma of women on the job has come a long way, and although it still has a long journey ahead, enough of it has been broken that some customers would prefer to hire a woman plumber.
3. There is more pride to be earned and celebrated as a woman in the industry. From all of the stories I have heard from women about that‘ one customer’ who was distrustful and made it known, 90 % of those stories ended in the woman feeling immense pride because they did the job they knew how to do, to the best of their abilities, and – in some cases – even managed to change that customer’ s perception of women in the industry. These challenging cases are opportunities to prove to others, and yourself, your capabilities and strengths.
This month marks a year since I started writing for Plumbing Africa, and I hope that this time next year, I will have a list of advantages too long to fill this one page. PA
Happy Women’ s Month.
Megan
References: 1. www. gov. za
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August 2026 Volume 32 I Number 06 www. plumbingafrica. co. za