0:03

Welcome to stuff Mom Never told

0:05

you from house Supports dot com. Hello,

0:12

and welcome to the podcast. I'm Christen and

0:15

I'm Caroline, and today we're talking about

0:17

women mechanics and to

0:20

kick things off, we want to talk about

0:22

a woman named Nancy Boyce

0:26

who is a total

0:28

badass. Yeah. We read this article

0:30

about a Clark College

0:33

Diesel Technician Program graduate

0:35

and reading

0:37

the article, you're like, oh, this is

0:40

just gonna be one of those like softball

0:42

like oh ra ra women articles,

0:45

But no, this this woman, there's nothing softball

0:47

about her. Uh. She

0:50

was Caterpillars or is Caterpillars

0:52

first female field

0:54

mechanic in Alaska, and this article

0:56

touches on all of these incredibly

0:59

difficult circumstances that boys

1:02

has to deal with being a mechanic

1:04

in rural Alaska. Yeah. And the

1:06

reason why she picked Juno

1:09

was because after she graduated

1:11

with like a three nine nine from

1:15

Diesel Tech school, she

1:17

wanted to know what the most

1:20

lucrative Caterpillar

1:23

dealership was and it

1:25

just happened to be in Alaska, probably

1:27

because of how, you know,

1:29

the how difficult it is to service all

1:32

of the equipment in the

1:34

surrounding remote areas. So she was

1:36

like, Okay, I'm going to Alaska.

1:38

She gets the job, and I wish we could just

1:40

read the article allowed so

1:43

that we can fully

1:45

communicate all of the

1:47

lengths that she would have to go to

1:49

to fix generators

1:51

and tug boats and all of these

1:54

crucial pieces of machinery that keep

1:56

these small communities

1:59

running. And of

2:01

course she does touch on the fact that

2:03

she'll show up to do a job and some

2:05

guy will say, oh great, I'm losing thousands of

2:07

dollars today, and they send me a girl, and

2:09

of course they have to apologize and eat their words

2:11

after she does an incredible job

2:14

and a professional job at fixing whatever

2:16

the broken machinery is. And of course she also

2:18

talks to about how you aren't

2:21

always working for money when you

2:23

go to these smaller towns, that sometimes you

2:25

work for food, um

2:27

or even blankets in some cases, with

2:29

people leaving handwritten thank you note saying

2:32

you don't even realize that you just saved my family

2:34

by fixing this generator. Yeah. I think

2:36

one of her most prized gifts

2:39

that she received in exchange was a

2:41

seal butter, which is a delicacy.

2:43

Yeah, all right, I'd work for butter. Well,

2:46

Caroline, if you find a stick of butter

2:48

on your desk in the next few just don't be

2:50

surprised. Is that my bonus? Well, thank

2:52

you gifts for medio. What would

2:54

you do if I loved Margarine on your desk? Though, I'd

2:57

probably like that better considering I

2:59

am super sensitive telactose? Okay,

3:02

noted, there we go. If you're

3:04

going to leave a fat product,

3:07

oh man, what if listeners start sending

3:10

you Margarine? I would think

3:12

that was hysterical. But back

3:14

to boys. So

3:18

because of though the continual harassment

3:21

that she would face on the job, even

3:23

though she would, you know, do her job very well,

3:26

she got going of down and out and

3:28

ended up leaving Caterpillar and

3:31

she'd saved up a bunch of money because she was making

3:33

so much money, and she just traveled

3:35

around Alaska as you

3:37

do, like you do, and um

3:40

ended up after she kind of recharged from

3:42

it, ended up starting her own business,

3:45

Power Tech Generation, and is now doing

3:47

gangbusters and has three employees and can barely

3:50

keep up with all the requests. And

3:52

I feel like she's such a good person

3:55

to kick off this episode

3:57

about women mechanics with because her

4:01

experience touches on so many of the issues we're

4:03

going to talk about in terms of how it's

4:05

the story came out and she was

4:07

the first, so that goes to show how few

4:10

women are in this industry.

4:12

She deals with harassment,

4:15

which is common or at least you know, the equips

4:17

about oh you're a woman, I don't know if you can

4:19

fix things, and in the

4:22

article noted how you

4:25

know she's she's stereotypically pretty,

4:27

which comes up a lot in these these

4:29

articles too, of like, don't worry,

4:32

she's still a woman. She still has that blonde

4:34

hair. Yeah, oh my god, in her noses pierce

4:37

like she is nuts. Totally crap. And

4:40

boys was smart to enter this field because

4:43

diesel service, text and mechanics make

4:46

can make a lot of money. It's

4:48

a field with a super positive

4:51

job outlook. It's growing even

4:53

faster than the regular economy. You can buy a lot

4:56

of butter. You can you're a diesel mechanic, so

4:58

much butter replacement product.

5:01

And we should quickly note the various

5:03

types of mechanics. There's

5:05

the diesel mechanic obviously, like voice.

5:08

There's also aircraft mechanics,

5:10

small engine mechanics, heavy

5:12

vehicle mechanics which fixed, uh who

5:15

fixed like farm equipment and things like that,

5:17

and then auto mechanics, which we're going to focus

5:20

on today. That's right.

5:24

There were about seven forty thousand

5:26

automotive service texts and mechanics

5:29

in the country in the United States of America

5:32

who maintain, inspect and repair

5:34

cars and sometimes frustrate female

5:37

customers because they talked down to

5:39

them. Well this actually no seriously

5:41

like reading for this episode got me real stressed

5:43

out because it's time to take my car

5:45

in for an inspection. And

5:48

it's not that I expect anything massively

5:50

wrong to be a problem,

5:52

however, I just I

5:56

just like cringe when it's time to go to

5:58

either the dealership or a mechanic, and it because

6:01

I don't like to be talked to like

6:03

I'm a ten year old girl. I feel

6:05

your pain. I feel your pain indeed.

6:08

Um, But these

6:10

mechanics do for

6:12

their obviously hashtag

6:15

not all mechanics, sure,

6:17

of course, But while condescension

6:19

is sometimes part of the job, it seems like they

6:22

are well compensated. The median

6:24

salary is a little over thirty seven

6:26

thousand dollars, but they can earn

6:29

up to sixty two dollars.

6:31

But then if you're really specialized,

6:34

you can learn a lot more than that.

6:36

I knew, um Or

6:39

a friend of mine's brother, I want

6:41

to say, he is a Porsche

6:43

specialist mechanic, and that fellow is

6:45

making in the six figs.

6:49

He's he's earning fig bigs.

6:51

Oh my god, your and butters.

6:55

I love this economy. I know everyone's

6:57

so full increasing. So you're talking about how

6:59

we've will haven't totally snapped away from the recession,

7:02

but I believe it's true. Um

7:04

So that's her training. If you want to be an auto

7:07

mechanic, uh, you basically

7:09

have to have the equivalent of a high school

7:11

diploma and go on

7:13

to enroll in training programs at

7:15

like a vocational school or college.

7:18

And of course you get on the job

7:20

training and about two to five years of

7:22

hands on experience before you become

7:25

a full fledged technician.

7:27

But I'm sure you get to wear the awesome coveralls

7:29

the whole time. I know that seems like the

7:31

biggest perk of the job. Not

7:34

the money, not the self respect, not the knowledge

7:36

that you know how to fix something that other people don't.

7:39

It's the clothes, Caroline. You you know

7:41

firsthand that I can have a difficulty,

7:43

shall we say, putting it outfit together? Oh,

7:46

you love a jumpsuit and coveralls combined

7:48

it? Yes, my love of jumpsuits and

7:51

the simplicity just one and done.

7:53

Yeah, that's it, like a ghostbuster. Yes.

7:56

But one aspect of

7:58

this job that I really just hadn't thought about

8:00

before was that it's not just working

8:03

on traditional mechanical systems

8:05

like engines and transmissions and drive

8:07

belts and such, but you also

8:10

have to learn how to work with all of these

8:12

electronic systems because the newer

8:15

cars that are coming out are essentially

8:17

just like computers on wheels.

8:19

Computers on wheels. I know, that's

8:21

exactly what I was going to say, a car today.

8:24

I feel like that it sounds so like a

8:26

car today. Um

8:29

might have more than twenty microprocessors

8:32

running everything from breaking and transmission

8:34

to steering an accident avoidance systems.

8:37

Like I know, my mother has a super fancy

8:39

car and it's got all these bells and whistles and like fifty

8:42

computers, and she doesn't understand

8:45

a single part of it. She barely even like

8:48

she'll get lost. And I'm like, you literally have like

8:50

a cockpit map in

8:52

your car that you could use, and it's just

8:54

it blows your mind she can't do it. And comparatively,

8:56

I feel like my car is just full of old typewriters

9:00

about it. But the

9:02

computerization of cars is

9:05

one kind of selling point that the industry

9:07

has been using to woo women, saying, listen,

9:09

it's not all of this heavy, greasy

9:12

work. It's a lot of computer

9:14

programming as well. And of course

9:16

other important skills

9:19

that tend to be characterized as

9:21

more female friendly traits,

9:23

such as customer service, being

9:25

detail oriented, organized,

9:28

and troubleshooting. Yeah, and

9:30

a lot of when you when you read articles about

9:32

women mechanics, there

9:34

is always that quote about, oh, we love

9:36

hiring women because they are so detail

9:39

oriented and they take their time and make fewer

9:41

mistakes. And I just wonder if that doesn't

9:43

come out of I'm sure it's true. I'm sure people

9:45

aren't making that up, but um,

9:47

I wonder if that comes out of women

9:50

who become mechanics in this male dominated

9:52

field feeling like they have to work twice

9:55

as hard. We tend to encounter that, whether

9:57

it's an academic studies or just anecdote

9:59

or ports from women of when you're

10:02

in one of these male dominated industries,

10:04

you do tend to have to bust your butt to

10:07

prove yourself. Yeah, and on the part

10:09

of the boss, I would bet that there

10:11

is a little bit of an element of surprise.

10:14

And betted in that quote too, of like, I mean,

10:16

she did and so well, look

10:19

at her didn't even mess up. And

10:21

these are also reasons that are cited when

10:24

you read about mechanic shortages.

10:27

There was this USA Today article from a couple of

10:29

years ago, but this is definitely not something that's

10:31

gone away. That was about auto

10:34

dealers and auto tech

10:36

educators who are really worried about

10:39

a shortfall of mechanics,

10:41

saying that it's really hard to attract

10:44

and retain younger folks. Because

10:46

I just heard a thing on NPR

10:48

the other day talking about how maybe

10:50

it was this morning. It was this morning, I know the story

10:52

you're talking about. Okay, Yeah, it feels like it

10:54

was already three years ago, um, from when

10:56

I just rolled out of bed. But they were

10:59

talking about how not only

11:01

younger people, but now it's a trend among older

11:03

folks as well to let their driver's licenses

11:05

lap, especially with so many people

11:07

moving back to urban city centers.

11:10

People are like, well, I don't want the expense

11:12

of a car. And so if you

11:14

have this generation that's giving up driver's

11:17

licenses, they're not as pumped about getting the license

11:19

and driving and learning how to take care of the car.

11:22

They haven't taken auto repair

11:24

or shop classes in high school if their

11:27

schools even offer it, right, and

11:29

maybe they haven't taken the higher level math and

11:31

science that's required for jobs like this. So

11:33

you can imagine that it's hard to sort of

11:36

wu as you said, anyone,

11:38

let alone women to this job. But

11:41

as Nancy Boys wisely

11:44

assumed, I mean, there's there's great job

11:46

security. If you study to become

11:49

an auto tech, chances are you will definitely

11:52

get a job, and you'll be able to keep that job. Yeah,

11:54

I mean it's you know, your local mechanic

11:56

is not going to be outsourced. That job

11:58

is not going to go way. And a lot

12:00

of people that were quoted in articles that we read talk

12:03

about the joy of getting to solve

12:05

challenges and problems that not everybody

12:08

can um. And there's also

12:10

a really large need for master technicians,

12:13

and these people are being asked to do jobs that a

12:15

couple of years ago would

12:17

have required an engineering degree, so there's a

12:19

lot of responsibility. Of course, the

12:21

flip side of that is like, maybe you should

12:23

be raising pay if you want to

12:26

attract more people to this job.

12:28

Well, let's talk then about women,

12:31

because you know, the industry is

12:34

slowly courting more women

12:36

because I mean, there are

12:38

not many of us in that labor

12:40

force. I mean, overall, if we look at all

12:42

of the workers in

12:44

the US, we make up about forty percent

12:47

of those. But if you look just at the automotive

12:49

workforce, we make up But

12:52

then if we narrow

12:55

it down to automotive

12:57

service technicians and mechanics,

12:59

as women made

13:01

up just one eight percent. Yeah,

13:04

and going back to Nancy boys, women

13:07

make up just point five

13:09

percent of diesel engine specialists.

13:12

This is I feel like this is more than male

13:14

dominated, Like what's what's

13:17

the word for, like a step above male dominated?

13:19

It's dudely, it's super deeply.

13:22

And I'm sure that we have lady

13:25

mechanics out there who were just like, oh my god,

13:27

I can't believe you just said that. Yeah,

13:30

that it's like a super dudly professional. Although

13:32

how could you deny it? I mean it's mostly

13:34

men. Yeah, the stats kind of speak for themselves.

13:37

UM and Deloitte

13:40

released their Women at the Wheel Auto

13:42

Industry Report, and it's

13:45

great. We're gonna have a link to it

13:47

over at stuff I've Never told you dot Com in

13:49

the source post for this episode. I highly recommend

13:51

you look at it because it's basically one giant

13:53

infographic. I don't

13:55

know if that's as big a draw for everyone as

13:58

it is for me, but I'm like, oh my, they

14:00

just look at all of the great graphics

14:02

and little stick figures they use. But okay,

14:05

So anyway, Deloitte talked

14:07

to a ton of women in the auto industry,

14:09

not just mechanics but kind of women overall,

14:12

and they asked them how to fix this problem.

14:14

There's so few women mechanics, so

14:18

number one. The biggest thing I felt

14:20

like was cited was creating a more flexible

14:23

work schedule and environment. This was a

14:25

huge factor for the women interviewed.

14:28

They also talked about how important it is to

14:30

develop the workforce early. I mean, Kristen

14:32

and I talked about this in every STEM

14:35

conversation we have, about the

14:37

importance of inspiring and attracting

14:39

people early in their lives,

14:41

kids who might not know that a job is

14:44

available to them. Um, because

14:46

most of the respondents in this Deloit survey

14:48

said that schools are not doing enough to

14:50

encourage girls to pursue automotive careers

14:53

and have a feeling too. For kids growing up, there's a socialization

14:55

factor where Dad might take little

14:59

Jimmy out and show him

15:01

the ropes with a with a family car,

15:03

whereas little Susie might

15:05

just be left inside. Little Susie never

15:07

gets to go to the dealership. She doesn't.

15:09

But of course, another way to

15:12

introduce a huge influx of women

15:14

into the automotive industry would

15:16

be to start World War three. Oh

15:19

lord, oh goodness. No, no, I'm

15:21

not. I'm not advocating for that. No, well,

15:23

we don't need a World War Caroline,

15:26

because even before World

15:29

War One, automotive

15:31

schools for women existed, and

15:34

they denied that learning about auto mechanics

15:36

conflicted with femininity. We have this

15:38

this whole like thing like

15:41

throughout the history of this profession

15:43

where it's like, seriously, ladies, it's okay,

15:45

you can do this kind of work and still

15:49

still be pretty Yeah, with your tiny

15:51

hands and you're your caring nature.

15:54

It can apply just as much to an engine

15:57

as as to your family members.

15:59

And that was something that writer Hamblin

16:01

Rossiter wrote about. He compared

16:04

the job of fixing an engine to caring

16:07

where a big family member like you said and

16:09

assured readers that quote, a woman

16:11

does not spoil her hands or even roughen

16:14

them slightly handling machinery

16:16

if she takes care of them. Yes, to put

16:18

on that lish and where the gloves.

16:21

Where the gloves. Make sure when you're washing

16:23

those dishes, ladies, you use that dish

16:25

detergent that doesn't it's got lotion

16:27

in it or whatever. And sleep with those lotion

16:29

gloves on to keep your hands extra to

16:32

your body and vaselines. And

16:34

then get under the hood. Um,

16:36

but if we do

16:39

drive up to World War One,

16:41

sorry I had to get a mechanic pun in there at some

16:43

point it. Um, they're

16:45

already women showing

16:47

interest in cars, not surprisingly. I

16:49

mean we establish it there these mechanics

16:51

schools, but we also have

16:54

women like Wilma Russi. Yeah,

16:57

n Rusty was

16:59

already own as an expert

17:01

garage mechanic. And she actually

17:03

became the first woman to work as a taxi driver

17:05

in New York. And I love it because anything you read about

17:08

her It's like it goes

17:10

into detail about how she would drive around the

17:12

town in these dresses

17:14

with the leopard print hat

17:16

and the leopard print scarf and cuffs

17:19

on all of this stuff. She was no slouch when

17:21

it came to fashion. But what I think is

17:23

important to mention about that is Russy

17:27

was one of many wealthy upper

17:29

class women who took to driving

17:32

and therefore mechanics, which

17:35

is something you had to know how to do if you were going to drive a

17:37

car, because you know, cars in nine fifteen,

17:39

you had to know how to take care of them when it inevitably

17:42

like crapped out on you on the road. Um.

17:44

But it was driving and touring

17:46

and motoring were huge among

17:49

upper class women because I

17:51

mean, it got you out of the house, It got

17:53

you to see the world kind of. I mean

17:55

the context of this is around this time,

17:58

you have all of these women hopping in of cars,

18:00

whether it was for like promotional things for

18:02

companies or just to show that women could

18:04

do it, hopping into cars and driving a cross

18:06

country or making these long drives just to show

18:09

like, yeah, ladies can do it. But those

18:11

women were largely, as you might imagine,

18:13

the upper class who had the time and money to spare.

18:16

Yeah. In nineteen o nine, just a

18:18

hot back. A few years Alice Hewler

18:20

Ramsey became the first woman to

18:23

drive across the country, and she was also

18:25

a woman of means. Her husband bought

18:27

her a car the year before, and

18:29

the trip was a promotional

18:33

campaign for I think it was called the Maxwell

18:35

Car Company, and I really

18:37

love that. For propriety's sake,

18:40

she brought along her two conservative

18:43

sisters in law, Neddie and Margaret,

18:46

as well as a sixteen year old friend to keep

18:48

things lively. But I mean because

18:51

the I mean, first of all, the interstate

18:54

system was pretty much non existent. They would

18:56

have to follow sometimes like telegraph

18:59

lines just to where they needed to go. But

19:02

throughout their trip they had to fix radiators

19:05

that had overheated blown tires. At

19:07

one point, uh, Ramsey talks

19:09

about how they got stuck in an irrigation

19:12

ditch in Wyoming and she was like,

19:14

Oh, it was no big deal. We just took

19:16

out the block and tackle, hooked it up to a stump

19:18

and pulled the car ride out. Yeah.

19:22

And she would end up though, Ramsey would end up

19:24

making that drive I think thirty times,

19:27

and she was eventually named woman Motorists

19:30

of the Century and so also though

19:32

around the same time that Wilma Rssi

19:35

was mechanick ng all

19:37

over New York City. In nineteen

19:39

sixteen, the Girl Scouts of America initiated

19:42

an automobiling badge, and to

19:44

earn it you had to demonstrate

19:46

not only that you had driving skills, but that

19:49

you had mechanics talent

19:51

and first aid skills. Basically like, are

19:54

you going to be able to put out an engine fire when

19:56

you're driving this automobile?

20:00

Well? And as Ramsey

20:02

had to do, and every successive

20:04

like female driver after that. In

20:07

nineteen six an automotive

20:09

instructor asserted that there was no reason

20:11

to assume men were better

20:13

mechanics than women, but

20:17

the introduction to one of his diagnostic

20:20

exercises included the

20:22

scene setting of quote, you will kindly

20:25

imagine yourself twenty miles

20:27

from home and dinners getting cold

20:31

in the same way as who was it Hamblin

20:33

Rossiter comparing with the engine

20:36

to a sick family member, Hamblin Rossiter,

20:38

whose name sounds like an anagram,

20:41

right like that doesn't that's not a name? Hamblin

20:43

Camblin Rosster also sounds like some

20:46

Silicon Valley mogul who

20:49

invented an app that we all used. You're

20:51

right, You're you're actually right. I agree

20:53

with you now, But I just loved that

20:55

that sexist scene setting

20:57

for his manual is paired with his assertion

21:00

that like, yeah, ladies can totally do this.

21:02

It's fine, Like, ladies, come on,

21:04

do this job. You can totally. You're totally qualified

21:07

and smart enough. It's not a man's job.

21:10

But when I'm teaching you, I

21:12

need to put it in terms you can understand,

21:15

like dinner. And a lot of times

21:17

these kinds of promotional

21:20

events, like women driving cars across

21:22

the country were of

21:24

the angle of well, if a lady can do it,

21:27

anyone care and so yeah, I mean, of course

21:29

there's like some sexism rippling

21:31

throughout it. Yeah, And but at

21:33

this time it is getting more and more common

21:35

to see stories in the popular

21:37

press about lady mechanics filling

21:40

in the gaps as men are going to

21:42

fight in World War One. I mean it was a way

21:44

for women to serve their country and

21:47

make money. I mean it was. It was a great

21:49

opportunity for women who perhaps

21:52

never worked before. Yeah, there was

21:54

um nineteen eighteen article

21:57

we found with a photo caption not

21:59

exactly a woman's job, perhaps,

22:01

but these patriotic sisters stop it

22:03

nothing when they have once entered

22:06

the work, into the work. Yes,

22:08

once they've entered the work. Um

22:10

same year eighteen, there was a handbook

22:13

titled the Care and Management of the Modern

22:15

Motor Car. Uh those specifically

22:18

geared geared toward women. There

22:21

we go, now I'm doing it. And Virginia

22:23

Sharff, who's the author of the book Taking the Wheel,

22:25

Women and the Coming of the Motor Age,

22:28

called this handbooks town patronizing

22:31

and jocular. But the important

22:34

note is that it praised

22:37

these four hundred why did you see

22:39

a auto mechanic grads

22:41

saying that they were just as good as the dudes in

22:43

quote, mastering the mechanical and technical

22:45

details of a car. And they warned professional

22:48

show first to watch out for that influx

22:51

of ladies because you have to keep in mind, You're like, why does

22:53

it matter? Why does chau first care about ladies driving?

22:56

Because chauffeurst were also responsible

22:58

for fixing and maintaining the car.

23:00

I mean, everyone's seen Downton Abbey, right, We

23:02

all know about the chauffeur who

23:05

had to fix the car and then married the daughter

23:07

whoa spoilers. That was way

23:09

back. I was way back. That's we're way past

23:11

that now. But if we look at

23:14

military specific involvement, you've got

23:16

the Motor Core of America that

23:18

was established by the National League of Women's Services

23:20

and the Red Cross to provide transportation

23:23

and ambulatory services to military personnel.

23:25

And this gave women the chance not

23:28

only to learn how to drive and serve their

23:30

country, but also maintain those

23:32

vehicles. And in order to join the

23:34

Motor Core of America, you had to have a show first

23:36

license, a mechanics license

23:38

with a passing grade of at least eighty,

23:41

on top of many hours of training.

23:44

And there were perks. Christian We've already talked about

23:46

the coveralls, right, um. Well,

23:48

one nineteen eighteen New York Times

23:51

reporter loved it too. Uh,

23:53

he wrote, the young women also

23:56

ought to be praised for their spirit of service.

23:58

Of course he's talking about the Motor Core women.

24:02

The conditions of service impose no special

24:04

sacrifice of feminine quality. So there

24:06

it is yet again, which is something

24:08

which is a sentiment we will see repeated now

24:12

today in also that like,

24:14

hey, you can still be a lady lady Nancy

24:16

boys. Yeah, and he says also,

24:19

who can doubt that their uniforms make them even

24:21

more attract Let a win win,

24:24

such a win win, you can be so gorgeous

24:26

as a mechanic. And

24:28

of course, authors Sharf, who we mentioned a second ago, assures

24:31

readers that the uniforms were meant

24:33

to and succeeded in

24:36

minimizing both femininity and individuality.

24:39

For instance, members of the women's

24:41

auxiliary core of the Wax, whether you're a mechanic

24:43

or a truck driver, you would wear these

24:46

khaki green one piece coveralls

24:48

that were just the same as those that the guys

24:51

wore on purpose, like you were

24:53

meant to blend in. There was no nobody

24:55

wanted, like anyone to stand out when it came

24:57

to serving. And like we hinted at a

24:59

few men gets ago, this

25:02

field of mechanic work meant

25:04

different things to different classes

25:06

of women, because I think it was Sharf who pointed

25:08

out that for those wealthier drivers, as you mentioned,

25:10

Caroline, Uh, this offered

25:13

an opportunity to get out of the house

25:15

and kind of shrug off those constraints

25:17

of Victorian femininity. As Scharf put

25:20

it. Whereas for less

25:23

economically privileged women, I mean, this

25:25

was just a job. This was a great opportunity

25:27

to make some money.

25:29

Yeah. And in the interwar years in the nineteen

25:32

twenties, though a lot

25:34

of those volunteer drivers and mechanics from

25:36

wealthy families ended up returning home,

25:39

hundreds of former service women flocked

25:42

to those vocational schools like ones

25:44

that the Knights of Columbus established in Washington,

25:46

d c. For instance, to take

25:49

auto mechanics training. There were so many

25:51

women, and we talked about this, We talked about this in

25:53

so many other episodes, um,

25:56

where so many women didn't want

25:58

to go home, whether it was because

26:00

they needed to support their families or because they've

26:02

just gotten a taste of freedom and independence

26:04

that earning your own money can give you. And all

26:06

of that pretty much happened all over again

26:09

during World War Two. So if we

26:12

hop over to Australia, for instance,

26:14

Hello Australian listeners, the

26:16

National Roads and Motorists Association

26:19

offered lectures on vehicle mechanics

26:22

to women with the aim that they could be ambulance

26:24

drivers. And the

26:26

women in these courses were like, oh

26:29

my gosh, this is so easy.

26:31

So the n r m A

26:34

offered more advanced hands on mechanic

26:37

training. They're like, oh, okay, they can handle this, well,

26:39

let's teach them some more intensive

26:42

skills. And one high scoring

26:44

student, Ms K Broadbent,

26:47

ended up organizing a Women's Auxiliary

26:49

Transport Corps and successfully

26:52

trained more than five women to

26:54

handle trucks, ambulances and motorcycles.

26:57

Amazing. What can happen when you empower and

27:00

educate women? Yeah? Um,

27:03

And of course, during World War Two, even

27:05

Queen Elizabeth will although at this time

27:07

Princess UH served as a

27:09

truck mechanics. She was part of the Women's Auxiliary

27:12

Territorial Service in nineteen five,

27:15

during which time she learned to change wheels,

27:18

she deconstructed and rebuilt engines, and

27:20

she drove ambulances and other cars.

27:22

And there's a great again over at our service post

27:25

on our website. Uh, there's a link

27:27

to this article that has all of these pictures

27:29

of her tinkering with cars. And it's

27:31

fabulous, even if it is a photo op. I don't care,

27:33

don't tell me. I just love it. I love

27:35

to see her like tinkering with engines and stuff.

27:38

And when we hop back to the United

27:40

States. There is a slightly different

27:42

landscape during World War Two than there

27:44

was during World War One, mainly specifically

27:48

in this case because cars were way more common

27:50

at this point, as was the

27:52

knowledge of how to maintain them. So you had all

27:54

these g i s who could repair trucks

27:57

and tanks. They didn't necessarily rely on

27:59

people at the garage. They you know, if something

28:01

terrible happened when they were out in the field,

28:03

they could handle it themselves. But

28:06

at home, of course, we saw the same

28:08

labor shortages. Mechanic

28:11

manpower dropped in

28:13

the US between December nineteen forty nine

28:16

two, and you

28:18

had new car manufacturing that was halted

28:21

in favor of the war efforts. So what

28:23

does that mean. You don't have any men to

28:25

do the car repairs, and you don't have any new

28:28

cars. You can't like buy a new car when you're all

28:30

on craps out, you have to repair the

28:32

one you have, which means that you have this influx

28:34

of women into garages, into

28:37

military garages, so not just the garage

28:39

on the corner, and also just learning to repair their

28:42

own family's car. And car companies

28:44

were directly recruiting women.

28:46

For instance, by three the

28:49

student Aker Corporation declared women

28:52

can and must be employed

28:54

for automotive maintenance service,

28:57

and author Kevin Borg talks

28:59

about the parallel rise of Rosie the Riveter

29:02

and Mary Joe the Mechanic.

29:04

Did he make that up? Because I had never heard that before.

29:06

I hadn't either googled it, and only

29:08

his book came up. Okay, Yeah, and that's fine,

29:11

that's totally fine. No. I wish that she really existed,

29:14

though. Yeah, if only we had artistic

29:17

listeners who could possibly artistically

29:19

interpret what married Joe the Mechanic

29:22

Rosie the Riveter's friend might look

29:24

like, I'm just gonna leave that, leave that right there.

29:27

But Borg discusses

29:29

my new hero, the ninety

29:31

pound Evelyn Mighty Might Rand,

29:34

who attended a Boston trade school

29:36

with forty other ladies and they ended up working

29:38

at an army ordinance shop in Maine, first

29:41

as mechanic helpers, then as

29:43

straight up mechanics. And what's so great about the story

29:46

is they were paid comparably

29:48

to what men made. Uh

29:50

and Rand told BORGU,

29:54

we did all types of work on ten wheeler trucks,

29:56

jeeps, dodge weapon carriers, and staff

29:58

cars. We overhauled engines, tune ups,

30:00

re line breaks, greased vehicles, and whatever

30:03

was written up on the job order by

30:05

the inspector, and

30:07

so Mighty Might she ends up getting

30:09

promoted to the machine shop where she

30:11

overhauled carburetors, generators, distributors,

30:14

on and on and on and worked on breaks.

30:17

And when her shop closed in she

30:20

wasn't sent home. Mighty Might got

30:22

a raise and was transferred to Dow

30:25

Air Base to continue rebuilding and repairing

30:27

ordinance vehicles. But, as

30:30

is the case with so many women,

30:32

whether you're a Rosie or a Mary Joe,

30:35

once the war was over, Rand told

30:37

Borick she was heartbroken because

30:40

she had to return home. Yeah,

30:42

and we'll talk about what happened after

30:45

the war when we come right back from a

30:47

quick break. So,

30:58

due to the g I, a lot

31:01

of men who returned home from the war

31:03

went back into or newly into

31:06

mechanic positions, and it also

31:08

helped them open their own shops.

31:11

So in nineteen fifty, at the end

31:13

of the spike we were talking about in

31:15

Lady Mechanics, more than four thousand

31:18

women auto mechanics were listed in

31:20

the US Census, which was a

31:22

three d increase

31:25

over nineteen forty figures,

31:27

but keep in mind this is still

31:30

not even one per cent of

31:32

the whole pool. Yeah, I mean, it sounds great

31:34

that in nineteen fifty you've got this many

31:36

women working as mechanics, But

31:39

as Kristen said, that was the end

31:41

of the spike, that was it. By nineteen

31:44

sixty, only about twenty three hundred

31:46

women auto mechanics were listed in

31:48

the US Census. But I mean it's not like

31:51

they disappeared. They obviously were still women

31:53

were still employed as mechanics. In Women

31:56

in Technology News interviewed

31:58

Betsy Hoffman, who at the time was the

32:01

chair of the Automotive Technology Department

32:03

at Vermont Technical College. And

32:05

Hoffman was the first woman in the

32:07

United States to hold the Automotive

32:10

Service Excellence L one Advanced

32:12

Engine Performance certification,

32:15

and she this should be a familiar

32:17

refrain got into mechanics because she

32:19

didn't have the money to take her car and had to learn

32:21

the repairs herself. Wanted a stable,

32:24

steady job where she could earn a good paycheck.

32:26

I feel like the theme of this episode

32:28

is really just sisters doing it for themselves.

32:31

Yeah. Absolutely, and Hoffman

32:34

predicted quote enormous opportunities

32:36

for women in the automotive field and fewer

32:38

and fewer obstacles to their success

32:41

in it. Why because of those things that we

32:43

mentioned at the top of the podcast, the fact

32:45

that it's almost

32:47

more mentally challenging

32:49

than physically challenging, with the move toward

32:51

electronic components and

32:54

really light parts, and the fact

32:56

that like even male mechanics,

32:58

as Hoffman pointed out, are going to rely on lifts,

33:01

levers and teamwork to get all

33:03

of this stuff done. It's not like you are individually,

33:06

by hand expected to lift a whole engine.

33:08

And we're also seeing a

33:11

small but notable trend

33:13

of against this was doing it for themselves,

33:16

um such as Patrice

33:18

Banks, who is an ex upont engineer

33:21

who's kind of become the face of

33:23

women getting into the garage and also

33:26

starting their own garages. So

33:28

as she gave a ted talk about this, there are

33:30

all sorts of articles

33:32

profiling her, and the

33:35

gist of it is that she couldn't find

33:37

a female mechanic, so she became

33:39

one. She talked about how fed up she was

33:42

with feeling like what she called an auto

33:44

air head and getting

33:46

scammed by quote,

33:49

the male dominated car care industry.

33:51

So as she was still working as a DuPont

33:54

engineer. She took community

33:56

college classes for two years

33:58

on the side, earned a diploma

34:01

in automotive technology, and

34:03

ended up founding the Girl's Auto

34:05

Clinic, in which I

34:07

believe is in Philadelphia. Yeah,

34:09

I mean, she talks about how she wanted

34:12

to correct the gender imbalance

34:14

in the industry because unfortunately

34:17

Hoffman's predictions never

34:19

came true. That was back. She's

34:22

like, more and more women are going to do this. There's fewer

34:24

and fewer obstacles. We've yet

34:26

to see. It happened, and so Banks's

34:29

goal is to sort of decimate

34:32

that discrepancy. UM.

34:34

Her Girls Auto Clinic organization

34:37

offers free workshops that teach women

34:39

how to learn how to take care of their cars, how

34:41

to talk to a mechanic, and what to do in an emergency.

34:44

UM. She's also in the process in Philadelphia

34:46

of opening an auto shop that's tailored specifically

34:49

to women and staffed by lady mechanics

34:52

and technicians. And it will

34:54

include a nail salon, which at first

34:57

I rolled my eyes at. I will admit

34:59

I of my eyes with that infected to But have

35:03

you ever had to wait at an auto

35:05

shop or a dealership. Absolutely, it's

35:07

obnoxious, and especially if the WiFi spotty

35:09

and you can't do work. I never have

35:11

time to get my nails done. There you go.

35:14

I was like, you know, Banks is onto

35:16

something. But the

35:18

I really part of me like that totally does planned

35:21

all of these narratives about like, well you've

35:23

still got to be girly. Oh you don't worry, you can still

35:25

be girly. But I'm

35:28

I'm once I thought through about like, actually

35:30

I would probably take advantage of that. I unrolled

35:33

my eyes. I'm happy to report

35:35

well. And it reminds me of the

35:38

mechanic shop that's been here in Atlanta for a

35:40

while called my favorite mechanic

35:42

As a woman, I don't

35:44

think that they offer manicures, but

35:47

and I'm fine with that, but I know a number of people who

35:49

go there and get great car care.

35:52

UM. And one thing that we really

35:55

haven't talked too much about in

35:57

this podcast is how women

36:00

do often feel bamboozled in mechanics

36:03

shops. UM. There was a Northwestern

36:07

University study that confirmed this as

36:09

well. It found that auto repair shops

36:12

tend to give women significantly

36:14

higher price quotes than men when

36:18

customers are uninformed about market prices.

36:20

And I've noticed that in my personal experience

36:23

as well. If I go in clearly not

36:25

really knowing what's wrong, I

36:27

will get all sorts of diagnostic

36:30

problems and suggestions. But if

36:32

I go in knowing exactly

36:35

what I need, then that's

36:37

I mean, that's it. It's kind of like if you show some knowledge

36:40

and you show what's up, then it

36:43

seems like you tend to get less pushback.

36:45

Yeah, and and you see that in comments

36:47

about on these types of articles, people being

36:50

like man or woman, if you don't know anything,

36:52

you'll probably be taken advantage of. And

36:54

I hate that that's the case. Why can you not

36:56

just go into an auto dealership

36:59

or mechanics up and be

37:02

treated honestly no matter who

37:04

you are or what you know. Wouldn't that be nice? That'd

37:06

be so nice. But that's the kind of stuff

37:08

that these women are pushing back against.

37:10

There's also um Julia Johnson

37:13

who started the Heart Wrenchers Auto

37:15

Club in San Francisco in and

37:18

they do free car repairs for low income

37:20

folks. They teach Girl Scouts and other

37:22

kids basic auto maintenance, and they

37:24

generally just work to support and inspire

37:26

other women to not only take care of

37:29

their cars themselves, but get into the industry.

37:31

I love it. I love that kind of work.

37:33

And this is something that's not just happening

37:37

in the US if we go over to

37:39

Nigeria. Sandra Aguabar

37:42

started the Lady Mechanic Initiative,

37:44

which has seen more than seven hundred women

37:47

across five states graduates since

37:49

two thousand four, and of spring, more

37:51

than three hundred women were on the waiting

37:54

list to take the two year

37:56

program. Yeah, this woman is amazing.

37:58

So Aguabar fruits women

38:01

who are in pretty risky situations.

38:03

She visits brothel, she visits

38:06

poor areas where there's a lot of drug

38:08

activity. UM. At least a

38:10

dozen of the women enrolled in her program

38:12

in were former sex workers,

38:14

and they're working alongside

38:16

or learning alongside former lawyers,

38:19

engineers, university grads. It's not like

38:21

this is some charity. She's

38:23

honestly just trying to support

38:25

all types of women and give them more

38:28

opportunities. There's this great

38:31

video that will post to on

38:33

our site where Agraware is telling an interviewer

38:36

why not start empowering women

38:38

to be mechanics. UM. She started

38:40

with just a handful of women and

38:43

now she's got

38:45

this train and pay program,

38:48

So a lot of the women that she trained

38:50

are now at other garages,

38:53

their own garages, and they get paid

38:55

to train other ladies through

38:57

this initiative. So it's this whole

39:00

network of women supporting

39:02

women. As Aguabor says, I

39:04

really believe when you train a woman

39:06

in this work, you give something to the whole

39:09

community. And those Nigerian communities

39:12

need that kind of work

39:14

because they tend to have harsh

39:16

road conditions, lots of older

39:19

cars, and countless generators that

39:21

are keeping things humming despite

39:23

the shaky electrical grid, which kind of hearkens

39:26

back to Nancy Boyce in her work in

39:28

those remote areas in

39:30

Alaska. And I also love this quote

39:32

from Winifred act Fure,

39:35

who at the time was wearing a bright red T

39:37

shirt and reading I fixed cars,

39:40

and she says, in Nigeria, this job isn't

39:42

common for women, so if you do it well,

39:45

people will really admire you.

39:47

And she goes on to say how our bosses treat

39:49

her well, but they also kind of like to flaunt her

39:52

in front of customers because quote,

39:54

it's good business to have a female

39:56

mechanic. Yeah. I loved so In this video

39:59

that I was watching that was interviewing all

40:01

of these women who work with Aguabar. They

40:03

were going out into the community to

40:06

try to drum up interest in

40:08

this alternative life, like

40:10

here you have the chance to have this

40:12

job, make more money, have a more steady income.

40:15

And these women mechanics were so

40:17

freaking enthusiastic. I loved it. They were like

40:20

going up to people's houses being like, lady

40:23

mechanics were awesome, you should

40:25

join us, and they just go onto the next house. That was

40:27

basically like a lady mechanic pep rally,

40:29

a traveling lady mechanic pep rally.

40:32

I imagine them like pumping wrenches

40:34

in the air excitedly. Yeah, that would

40:36

be amazing. They should make a float, like

40:38

a wrench float to a company.

40:40

They're excited, lady mechanic parade.

40:43

Yes, And I have a feeling though, um,

40:45

they also have access to a lot of wheels probably

40:48

yeah, something too, something

40:50

tells me that would be the case. Or maybe just drive a

40:52

car around. Yeah,

40:56

but I don't know. I feel like a parade is more effective.

40:58

Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. Got a lot of ideas.

41:01

Okay, we can be a consultant for

41:03

for marketing more parades um.

41:06

But it's also not just happening in

41:08

Nigeria. There have also been stories

41:11

about this in Senegal, where

41:13

women own and run shops, including

41:16

FEMS Auto Chickory Mechanic

41:19

and F two F two Mercedes,

41:21

which was founded by two cousins both

41:23

named for two as you might imagine,

41:26

who trained for seven years and saved

41:28

up to open their own shop. And

41:30

I love it. They said that we were the only two with

41:32

enough courage because the rest got married.

41:35

Yeah, and they ended up so they had to sort of

41:37

squad. They were like shop squatters

41:40

where they did their auto mechanic

41:42

work. But they didn't have to worry about

41:44

that anymore because they got a visit in two

41:46

thousand and seven from the Senegal's

41:49

president at the time, and

41:51

so Fato Silla, one of the cousins,

41:54

said, women in the street would laugh at me when

41:56

they saw me walk by my mechanics jumpsuit.

41:59

Now they don't off anymore, oh

42:01

man. But it's interesting though that

42:03

at two and for two Mercedes,

42:06

they don't actually have any female mechanics

42:08

on their staff. They own and run the shop.

42:11

But you need an advanced degree to work

42:13

on luxury cars, and

42:15

so there is that deeper issue

42:18

of when you get people access to

42:20

education, then they can

42:22

have those higher paying jobs. And that's true globally

42:25

true. That's not just in Senegal. Yeah,

42:27

I mean, and we see this dotted around

42:29

Europe as well. For instance, in

42:32

France, the garage Only Girls

42:34

opened in spring for

42:36

the same reason we

42:39

keep reiterating of women being tired of

42:41

feeling uncomfortable and getting

42:43

ripped off, although some have criticized

42:46

this as essentially like capitalizing

42:48

on feminism. Um. Then

42:50

also though, if we pop over to England,

42:53

Carolines Cars Hey shot

42:56

for you as an all lady garage

42:58

started by Caroline Lake, and

43:00

it was interesting to see that the criticism

43:03

of like trying to capitalize on

43:05

feminism, which I thought was interesting, um,

43:09

mainly because I

43:11

don't know, I think it's fine

43:13

for women to want to not only

43:15

be their own business

43:17

owner, run their own business,

43:19

but also to make fellow ladies comfortable.

43:22

Yeah, because it's an issue A lot have experienced

43:25

this and why not set up

43:28

a safe space. But it's just so funny. You see

43:30

comments on all of these articles from guys

43:32

who are saying, like, uh

43:34

oh, this isn't so innocent. They're

43:36

not just trying to help people. They're

43:39

they're just capitalizing. They see a business

43:41

opportunity and it's like, well, wait, yeah, of course,

43:43

yeah

43:45

yeah, I I don't I don't feel like that's

43:47

a really valid criticism. Not surprisingly,

43:50

but um, if you fair

43:53

listeners, want to find your own lady

43:55

mechanic in your town, there's this

43:57

website Women Auto

44:00

A U T O no dot

44:02

com which lists auto shops

44:04

and free workshops that feature

44:06

women and and you know what,

44:09

if there are any women mechanics

44:12

listening, if you want to shout

44:15

out your h place of

44:17

business to us, let us know because

44:19

we could create our own sminty archive of

44:22

of lady auto shops as well. Where where

44:24

are places that are friendly

44:27

to lady customers? Um?

44:29

So yeah, I mean with that, listeners,

44:31

we want to hear from you on this issue.

44:34

As a customer, have you ever

44:36

experienced what Caroline and I have talked

44:38

about of feeling ripped off

44:40

and talked down to? And

44:43

for mechanics, what have

44:45

you noticed or experienced about

44:47

the gender dynamics in garages?

44:50

Mom Stuff at house Stuffworks dot com is our email

44:52

address. You can also tweet us at mom Stuff,

44:54

podcasts and messages on Facebook, and we've

44:56

got a couple of messages to share with

44:58

you when we come right back from a quick

45:00

break. Well,

45:05

I have a letter here from Matthew

45:08

in response to our episode

45:10

on Polly Murray.

45:12

Uh, he says, I just finished listening to your podcast on

45:14

Polly Murray, in which you rightly bring attention

45:17

to her many admirable accomplishments. However,

45:20

Murray was not the first to come up with the underlying

45:22

concepts behind intersectionality. Rather,

45:24

as Eric McDuffie has written, a group of black

45:27

women associated with the Communist Party,

45:29

including Grace P. Campbell, Louise Thompson,

45:31

Patterson Esther Cooper Johnson, and Claudia

45:34

Jones, first discussed these concepts

45:36

during the nine and twenties and thirties as the triple

45:39

oppression or super exploitation

45:41

of Black women. As Louise Thompson

45:44

wrote in nineteen thirty six, over

45:46

the whole land, Negro women meet this triple

45:48

exploitation as workers, as

45:50

women, and as Negroes. Like

45:52

Murray, these women challenged gender

45:55

as well as racial norms and understood that

45:57

these, as well as class were related

45:59

issues. Since you asked for unsung

46:01

trailblazers, these women left to mind.

46:04

The stories of these women are documented in Eric

46:06

McDuffie's books So Journeying for Freedom,

46:08

Black Women, American Communism,

46:11

and the Making of Black Left Feminism.

46:13

Well, thank you so much, Matthew. We

46:16

love, of course we love hearing about trailblazers,

46:19

So thank you so much for filling us in on these amazing

46:21

women. And I've got a letter here from

46:23

Rachin on our Ver Coast Veins

46:25

episode and Machine Rites. I

46:27

was recently guided to your podcast

46:29

after Kristen's peace on Stuff you Should Know on

46:32

her trip to the Great Wall of China and have since

46:34

been mining your back catalog with relish

46:37

your latest episode on Ver Coast Veins

46:40

hit a nerve or vein. I grew

46:42

up observing my mother's and grandmother's veinous

46:44

issues with trepidation and developed my first

46:46

vericast vein along with my first pregnancy.

46:50

They reduced between pregnancies, but would

46:52

re emerge at their previous full term

46:54

ferocity with subsequent pregnancies

46:57

and degenerate from there to term for

47:00

babies, and seven years later, my legs

47:02

are a train wreck, but along with stretch

47:04

marks, sagging skin and breast potoss

47:07

my word for the day. Cheers, ladies. I've

47:09

come to accept them as part of my changing

47:12

body. I have considered surgical

47:14

treatment, but with four children to care for, I

47:16

can't afford the recovery time. One

47:18

small point that I took issue with was your assertion

47:21

that pregnant women should put their feet up.

47:23

Elevating the niece above the belly in the last

47:25

ten weeks of pregnancy can lead to the baby

47:27

stargazing, which is faced up

47:30

or op presentation, which can lead to

47:32

a longer and more painful labor and

47:34

a greater risk of intervention. Personally,

47:37

I would rather have a timely, intervention free

47:39

birth at home and lumpy legs

47:42

just one of the crummy decisions of parenting.

47:45

So thanks for your insight, Rachen, and

47:47

thanks to everybody who's written into us. Mom stuff

47:49

at how stuffworks dot Com is our email address,

47:52

and frillnks all of our social media as well as

47:54

all of our blogs, videos and podcasts

47:56

with our sources. So you can learn more

47:58

about lady mechanics. Head on over to

48:00

stuff Mom Never Told You dot

48:03

com

48:06

for more on this and thousands of other topics.

48:08

Because it how stuff works dot com,