To think women working in construction may not be taken seriously

[dashoflime78]

More of a straw poll sort of question....

Would you trust a female landscaper/ construction worker? Say you wanted a new driveway or some hard landscaping in your garden and a woman arrived to quote on the work what would you think?

The possession of a vagina doesn't make anyone less trustworthy, or less likely to be able to put in a driveway or a rockery.

Wouldn't bother me.

I'd assume they may need to employ some extra workers or need more machinery based on lack of comparative muscle mass if it were a landscape gardener or someone putting fencing etc up but otherwise as long as the jobs done well at a good price rock on

I am a female construction professional (architect) and know many female tradespeople including my former plumber MIL.
Some people prefer female trades as they are less intimidated by them, feel happier letting them into their homes (esp the elderly & other women) and find them easier to talk to. My MIL was never short of clients when she was working.
Personally I employ people due to their capabilities and personality rather than their gender.

Dh works in construction with plenty of women.

If they were any good of course i'd hire them.

I worked in construction for years. I never felt like women weren't taken seriously... And I never came across a woman on site who didn't seem capable. They all took their jobs very seriously, perhaps because of stereotypes! So I would have absolutely no problem and may even prefer a woman.

I'm in construction and do lots of estimating and pricing. Even worse for the perception of trust in women - I live and work in the Middle East

Never once had an issue.

I'd hire the cheapest, male or female. Either way they know more about making a driveway than me.

I would clutch at my pearls and positively faint...onto my er, fainting couch!

No, Im all for encouraging more women into construction. My secret fantasy is to be a mechanic actually

What a sad OP. it wouldn't occur to me go think anything other than 'the person is here'.

Er, yes, if they were qualified.

In fact, along the lines of Helen's post, I might think them more capable. DP works in a specialized construction field, very physically demanding, which has very few women. Every female he has ever met in the field have been among the best, highly qualified and capable, likely because they do have to work against stereotypes.

We were having work done recently. A woman and two men quoted. It never occurred to me to give a crap about their gender until you asked. We hired one of the men in the end because he was cheap and had good ideas. Not because he showed me his penis.

Another construction professional here. Yup we're a minority but similar vein to others, i generally find anyone in any profession who is a minority tends to be better on average. They're there because they really want to do it; a lot of people fall into certain professions and may just see it as a way of paying the bills.

Though, OP, i have to ask why wouldn't you trust them?

I'm also intrigued by your use of the term trust as opposed to questioning their competence, not sure if this is what you meant?

I would go with the person with the best credentials. Wouldn't bother me if they had a penis or vagina

I know quite a few women who have had issues with tradesmen being patronising and sexist towards them when doing work in their houses & gardens. A lot of people would prefer to employ a woman for this reason - I would think a lot of women who work in the trades would capitalise on this.

But if we're talking about the average situation, where everyone is being professional, then it wouldn't matter. I'd take the cheapest or whatever would be best for me - eg work planned to complete within a short time period etc.

Female civil engineer here. Thanks for your vote of confidence OP. Don't make any plans to visit S or W Yorkshire please. One of my inferior schemes might collapse on you.

I've been working since the early 90s. You are the only person to have ever expressed doubt over my ability.

I spent 14 years in civil engineering. I led teams of men, many after leaving the army, perfectly capably. I used to be hired in to get projects back on track and when I was off sick with tonsillitis one winter, they hired three guys to cover my work.

I was once doing a talk to schools, with a builder. The schools playground was having to be relaid because the builders hadn't checked the groundwater levels before building it and it was flooding regularly.

The kids asked what the difference between a builder and a civil engineer was. I got them to look out the window and said, if an engineer had been hired before they built their playground, they wouldn't be rebuilding it as we would have checked the groundwater, soil and what else was underground before we even ordered any materials in. It got a wry smile from the builder, who was representing the company who built it in the first place.

As a single parent to a disabled child, I'd feel more comfortable with another woman in my home than a stereotypical male builder complete with arsecrack jeans, innuendos, attempts to rip me off financially etc. Not all men are like that, but enough are to make it a nightmare hiring tradesmen. A woman that I could leave in the house, while I popped to the shops with DS appeals much more.

I feel 10X more like that when it comes to tradesmen in my elderly mother's house.

garage mechanics often take the mick out of young pretty women for some reason, so I'd imagine many women in the 20's would actively choose a female mechanic.

I am a female landscaper.
No client ever turned me away for not being a bloke, what a strange thought.

And times when my landscaping team were all-female, clients were positively thrilled about it.
We were considered to be more careful, to work clean and considerately.

Of all the sexist stereotypes I have heard, trustworthiness of landscape gardeners based on gender has never come up!

I will probably be flamed here but I would PREFER to use a female contractor over a male one for reasons expressed above.

I would use the same trick I use when I'm deciding if a toy is suitable for a girl / boy.

Are they going to install the patio with their genitals? If the answer to this is no, and we can only hope it is, then proceed to employ the person you feel is best suited to the job.

I work in the Middle East in oil and gas, spend a lot of time on onshore rigs and manage a large team of Asian and Qatari men. Never once had an issue with my gender.