Why are all gardening jobs for men!?

[daisydee43]

Hi there

Recently qualified as a horticulturalist and looking for a better paid job but all the gardening jobs I've been looking at tell me either that you need to be a handyman too or there's lots of machinery involved (not adverse to try my best as am currently one of two women at work) but I struggle with petrol tools feel really sad and need to be looking in different areas

Um, they're not 'for men' they're for people with a useful and relevant set of skills. Why weren't you aware of this earlier? Go on a course and learn some machinery maintenance skills.

I do sort of see what you're saying but it just sounds as though you were badly briefed at college and hadn't researched what the world of work actually looked like.

I've worked in wildlife conservation and, if you want a job on nature reserves or as a ranger, you should have a chainsaw certificate and be qualified to tow a trailer etc. That's normal and expected, not related to your sex at all.

Or, to be a bit more sympathetic to your pov, what you're saying is you want a specilist job of a sort that only large employers offer, while most jobs currently available are for smaller employers who are combining two roles in one.

So, hold out for what you're trained for (apparently with unrealistic expectations of the job market) or broaden your skills, or get a job doing something else but something that might possibly be attractive to the sort of employer you want to impress, or that you could eventually combine with horticulture in some way.

Your gender stereotyping is irritating though and, I suspect quite anachronistic. How many boys these days are brought up to have 'handyman' skills without having to train as an adult? About 2%? It's not normal these days to spend hours pottering in a shed with your dad. Most men would have exactly the same training needs you have.

Agree with Lottie. When I trained at horticultural college we all had to do a machinery module. The girls were just as good as the boys at hedge cutting, mowing, driving tractors etc and I can do an oil change with the best of them.

Strength is a factor, there is no escaping that. But you can get around it to a large extent by hedge cutting for a short period, switching to weeding for a bit, then back to hedge cutting when you've had a breather. For example.

A lot depends on the sort of job you're looking for and how many gardeners are employed on a particular site. You might be better off looking for work in larger gardens as part of a team. If they are not advertising for gardeners, write to them. Send them your CV. I've been surprisingly successful at finding work that way.

Good luck.

I have boobs and my own chainsaw. I think you maybe need to expand your horizons and get that job you want. I know loads of female horticulturists and gardeners, nothing is holding them back.