I note a lot of car repair and maintenance places are doing the right thing by having female mechanics and featuring a diversity of people in their advertisements.
It’s positive. But I cannot recall having one of these mechanics service my car. It might reflect my city. Has the industry much changed? Have you had a female mechanic?
Yes. Rarely, but yes.
I have never noticed a difference in the quality of the work performed.
I have been disrespected by male mechanics, but never yet by a female one.
Usually I only interact with the office staff, so I only rarely have any idea who actually worked on my cars.
Adverts don’t always reflect reality.
This would be me, and frankly I don’t give a [bleep] how many diversity checkboxes the mechanic ticks off, I care about their competence. As long as they do the job correctly and reasonably efficiently, couldn’t care less about color, plumbing, etc.
About the only situation where I care about a professional’s gender is a strong preference for female medical staff (especially in gynecology). I’m a lot less uncomfortable when dealing with a stranger while less than fully clothed if that stranger is a woman. May be irrational, but that’s my comfort level.
I’ve had female service techs at places like Oil Can Henry’s (or whatever it’s called now). It never even occurred to me that they might be less – or more – competent than their male counterparts.
I now take my car to the dealer for its service and I never see the techs. I drop the car off, fill out the order sheet for the service I’m requesting, then go sit in their waiting room and read a magazine or two until they call me and tell me my car is ready. It could’ve been serviced by androids for all I know.
I agree with this, although I am male. I have never been comfortable with a male healthcare provider or even health aides like the one who takes my vitals before the MD comes in. I don’t know why this is, it’s not a sexual thing I’m certain, I just feel more comfortable around women. IME female healthcare providers have more patience and tend to listen more and interject less, perhaps that’s it.
You probably have a good point, although my husband tends to prefer male medical staff for reasons similar to my preference for female (and I’m female, as I’m sure you guessed from my mention of gynecology). Everyone has their own comfort zone. I can think of no other context where I care about the gender of someone providing me a service, and I never care about skin color or ethnicity (although I do get frustrated if someone’s English is so lacking that we can’t communicate well enough to accomplish the needed task, since I only speak English).
There was a shop a bit south of me that was owned and operated by a woman. I think we went there once, but it wasn’t convenient for us. It went out of business some years ago - no clue why.
Personally I don’t car who fixes my car as long as they’re competent and don’t try to cheat me. I don’t think the shop I use has any women mechanics - can’t say if none have ever applied or if the owner wouldn’t hire one.
There is a female-owed mechanic I’ve used. I don’t know if a woman worked on my car (they have both women and men mechanics), but they did a good job, whoever it was.
I’ve never seen a female mechanic in my 48 years of driving. Not even at the quickie oil change joints.
mmm
Our cars have been serviced by women at the oil change place we use. The last time I was there, a kid (possibly still in his teens?) made some misogynistic remarks to the woman who was helping me. She put him in his place.
Nor have I.
Being generally smaller in stature, could be a plus for a mechanic. But a long reach and strong hands are a real plus IMHO…
A few years back, the primary service manager at the Chrsyler dealer near me (and where I sometimes had my car serviced) was a woman. I don’t know her background, but I would assume that she was originally a mechanic.
But, she’s the only one I can remember ever seeing. Quick oil change places, independent garages, dealership service departments – everyone else I’ve ever interacted with, or seen working, at those places has been male.
Certainly at the oil change places I’ve had plenty of female workers doing work on my car. Almost every visit there is at least one woman in the pit. At the dealership I usually see a few women in the garage, but I have no idea which mechanics work on my car there.
My current car mechanic (a mostly family practice) hired a young woman recently. They appear to be quite glad to have gotten her. I think the next generation coming up is likely to include another, though it’s too soon to be sure she won’t decide to do something else.
I knew a female car mechanic as far back as the 1970’s. I do hope there are more of them now.
I’ve seen lots of service writers at dealerships, tire / general service places, and chain oil change shops that are female. Not very many, if any, mechanics. And no, service writers don’t necessarily start out wrenching. It sure helps IMO though.
At the small independent shop I used most recently for my ordinary cars, the deputy manager and #2 hands-on mechanic was a woman. She was awesome. Smart, skilled, capable, a total home run. Then the landlord sold the land and building to a developer and a 50-year old independent car repair shop disappeared on the ash-heap of history. She’s working for a dealership now, but not of the brand of cars I still drive. 'Tis a pity; she was that good.
Over on the airline side we have vanishingly few female aircraft mechanics. I can’t say I’ve never met one, but it’s close. We’re not an entry level employer, so it’ll be years before we see many get through the pipeline to our level. But the whole industry understands it has a headcount problem and is actively recruiting from “non-traditional” (read “non-white non-male”) sources to get enough bodies to keep the wheels turning.
Nobel-Prize level Understatement
I had to use my local Tires, Plus last week. (Flat tire, needed to be replaced, life is good again.) They had TWO female mechanics, and both of them appeared to be around 40 years old.
I’ve had female technicians at McOil Change before, but I mostly don’t see the technicians where I get my main service, so couldn’t say one way or the other. Then again, I wouldn’t care enough to have noticed.
Pshaw. Next you’ll all be telling me that Katy Perry doesn’t dress up as a piece of cheese or ice cream cake every time she orders from “Skip The Dishes”.