The Manly Trades: No Soft Touch

Abstract

If Bridgebuilders was a somewhat quality scheme, it was typical of Mode A in one respect: it was failing to get young women opportunities in male manual trades. Market forces prevailed, and the untrammelled market has only stereotyped openings for women. If gender innovation was occurring at all in YTS it was likely to be in the more sheltered environment of Mode B’s community projects and training workshops. To see what was happening I spent a month with a fairly typical B1 scheme, Pond Close Training Workshop. Its name, a relic from London’s rustic past, had a ring of irony in these leafless inner-city streets.

I don’t think I ever thought about metal work. I never thought I could do it or nothing. To see it — you’ve never done it before, you think ‘Let me have a go at that!’ Angie.