Women are good at technology!
From: SONJA PRINZ
In everyday life, we see almost only men on construction sites and at the machines.
Machines and tools are built for men's hands, and women's hands are smaller! The same applies to workwear. Clothing designed for men is sold several sizes smaller than women's clothing. Female anatomy is completely ignored! This is especially dangerous with safety clothing. For example, if a bulletproof vest doesn't fit a woman properly, becoming more like a crop top, because the manufacturer didn't consider breasts, it can be dangerous.
Try searching for "tools for women's hands" on the internet. Like an insult, the pink tool jumps out at you, bearing little resemblance to a woman's hand size and instead perpetuating sexist narratives.
Or try searching for “female tradespeople’s clothing”! You’ll usually come across fashionable accessories, such as dungarees, that resemble work clothes, presented by busty women with very small waists – but they aren’t functional.
So, if we search for "functional workwear for women," we quickly end up with nurses and cooks. If there were workwear specifically for the education sector, this area would certainly also be included in the search for "functional workwear for women.".
Far more women still work in the education sector, and mostly part-time! This is because we do most of the care work (see also gender care gap).
We are a group of 12 women from diverse backgrounds. Our organization is active in transcultural children's and youth education; we work as employees, freelancers, and volunteers. We have a lovely office in Berlin Friedrichshain with four rooms where we offer extracurricular education and empowerment programs.
“If we were to expand it into a family café,” we thought, “we could generate some extra income.” Project work is always risky; it’s often difficult to pay rent and staff on time. A few regular earnings would definitely make things easier. And we’d have our own super cozy and inclusive meeting place—something we’ve dreamed of for so many years.
To get the health department on board with our idea, we needed a water connection in the front room, two sinks in the counter area, washable surfaces, etc. And the carpeting in the front rooms had to go.
We had already received quite a few offers – from professionals and from friends of friends.
Men came and looked at it thoughtfully. Their purchase price had risen steadily with the coronavirus crisis. They always had enough orders and set the prices. They didn't have to do high-quality work, nor did they have to meet deadlines! They explained to us at length what they were doing, how difficult it was, and how expensive the building materials had become due to the crisis.
It was so clear that each of us understood: we had to take the renovation into our own hands. No matter how tired we are of the pandemic, the Our children's school problems, the constant absence due to illness and the Stress at family courts Complaints won't help us here! Just do it!
In the project “Together We Are Strong,” we were able to develop the idea into a concept and diligently searched for funding. Our project “Women Can Do Technology” was read, discussed, and rejected. Only the Everyday Heroines Foundation„ I found it worthy of support. We scaled back our financial plan to the bare minimum and launched our empowerment project, in which each of us, mostly single mothers, would learn how to use the most important tools and machines.
Every day we started with a leisurely breakfast. Over meals, we discussed everything. We planned the coming days, our tasks, and brainstormed solutions to difficulties and anxieties. We shared our experiences at the hardware store, with the machinery, and generally, our experiences interacting with the male-dominated construction industry.
In a group consisting entirely of women, we were all encouraged to overcome our inhibitions. There were no convenient gender-based excuses like, “I can’t do that! I’m not a man. I’ll call my son, he’ll do it! It’s too difficult…“ We all had something we couldn’t do and wanted to learn it ourselves. We motivated each other, were curious, and tried to master every challenge that arose. And there were plenty of challenges!
The water pipes had to be moved from the adjacent bathroom to the front room; the property management insisted that professionals should lay the pipes.
The cheapest offer: 1500 euros. So we commissioned the Jesse Company, to install the water supply to the front room. To do this, they tore up the tiles behind the toilet in the adjoining bathroom and disappeared. After numerous calls from several colleagues and the threat of hiring another company to complete the job, two of them laid water pipes to the front room a week later. This took another week. Once the pipes were in place, the tradesmen quietly left the site on Friday with all their tools.
On Monday, we received a quote from the Jesse company. They wanted to charge an additional €1200 to restore the bathroom to its original condition! The mistake was ours; unfortunately, we hadn't read the contract thoroughly enough. We were outraged by their audacity in demanding such exorbitant prices and decided as a team to do the work ourselves. With the knowledge of the experienced women, supplemented by online tutorials, €60 in material costs, and a week's work, we retiled the bathroom, reinstalled the toilet, and reattached all the light switches.
It was really difficult to find the right tiles. Not all the DIY stores had them in stock. Tiles are heavy, only one woman in the group had a car, and she could only drive two days a week. So we hauled the tiles and other materials with a shopping cart.
Once the tiles were in place and we were screwing on the toilet, two tiles broke and we had to repeat the process.
Cutting the tiles to size was also very challenging. None of us had enough experience cutting tiles to apply the right pressure to the cheapest tile cutter from the hardware store. Some tiles broke.
At the same time, we also laid tiles in the counter area. Every woman had the opportunity to familiarize herself with cutting, gluing, and grouting tiles.
How proud and relieved we all were when the tiles were still hanging securely on the wall the next day!
We ripped out the old carpet from the two front rooms to lay a PVC floor. That was strenuous and dusty.
Manuel, from Reencontro Familiar, Manuel, from our local branch, saw our posts and cautiously asked if he, as a man, could help. We were painting our seminar room and were very grateful for his offer. The ceiling was out of our reach. Manuel is a tall and sensitive man. He traveled from Hamburg and painted our ceiling. We ate together before he drove back.
In the nearby hardware store The two of us found the perfect PVC flooring. But the employee didn't take us seriously and explained that we couldn't transport it ourselves. Because of its size, it wouldn't fit in a car and it would be too heavy; we certainly couldn't carry it. It would take at least three strong men. After explaining this in detail, he offered to organize transport through the hardware store. We were discouraged; the transport costs were almost €100. That was too expensive for us.
We left the hardware store and discussed the problem as a group.
The hardware store had a trolley that could be borrowed, and it was frequently borrowed! On the third day at the store, the trolley was finally free, and we bought the PVC flooring. At first carefully, but then without any problems, the three of us carried the large roll (we could easily have managed it with two people) and placed both rolls on the trolley.
It was fun to push the bike along uneven paths in the park, over curbs and streets, in the first rays of sunshine, defying the hardware store employee, indeed the entire society.
A woman from our group had experience laying PVC flooring and was supposed to lead the process. Unfortunately, she was often ill, so we had to improvise a lot, and while the floor wasn't laid perfectly, it was certainly presentable.
At the same time, we built the counter from partially recycled wood that we found on the street and hauled together.
We found a cheap sink with a hand basin on eBay classifieds, as well as a stove and a dishwasher, both of which were broken.
It was a fantastic and very challenging project. We not only identified discriminatory structures and discussed how to deal with them, but we all gained self-esteem and no longer feel quite so helpless when something breaks at home. The association has the right tools that we can borrow. There are also women with practical skills in the association whom we can ask for help.
We wear our 'blue-collar' trousers, a gift from the project, with pride, even though we were only able to procure a few pairs of trousers (only up to size 42!!!) that were actually made for women.
Here you can view the images from the project:
