Tulloch PriestCo-founder, Gas Engineer Software · Co-founder of Gas Engineer Software

The worries most women have about joining the trade

1 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In this excerpt, the speaker, a female plumber, discusses the limited but growing presence of women in the plumbing trade and addresses common concerns that women entering the field often have. She notes that people notice she is different from the typical plumber and frequently ask if she struggles. She recounts questions from women in college about how she finds the work, acknowledging that some tasks—such as bending 22 mm pipe and lifting heavy items—can be more challenging, but explains practical work‑arounds like using a longer lever and emphasizes that physics makes it manageable. Crucially, she highlights the supportive culture on her job site, describing her coworkers as “good as gold” who are always willing to lend a hand, thereby reassuring that help is readily available. Overall, the speaker frames the worries as normal, offers concrete coping strategies, and underscores the importance of a collaborative workplace for women in the trade.

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So there's not many females in the industry, but there is slowly more and more. I haven't found it really an issue. I mean, a lot of people, like you say, they do see that I'm a little bit different to their average plumber, and they do ask, do you struggle? Is it difficult? Especially like, I've been in college before and they've had people sort of like looking around, looking to do the course, and there's been a few women, they've come up to me and they're like, how do you find it? Like, I'm really worried that I'm going to struggle. I said, to be fair, you, with any job, you find your way. Like, everyone has their own way of doing a job, although it's one task, there's 10 different ways to do it. So there's a few things that I'd struggle with. So bending 22mm pipe, that's a little bit more difficult, but you just get a longer lever. It's simple physics. And sometimes it's difficult lifting all the heavy things, but there's always, there's always someone on site to give you a hand. I'm very lucky, the people that I work with, they're good as gold. If you ask them for a hand, they're more than happy to help.