Respect to all – vital to the survival of our hobby
Welcome to the March EIM as we all continue to navigate our way through lockdown. I hope you are making the best of it in your workshops – I’ve certainly been creating more swarf than for a very long time in recent weeks. It’s not a happy subject that I address this month – I was very shocked to read on social media the totally justified disgust expressed by the head of one of our major suppliers, who has recently taken over the company in question and is working very hard to progress it in very difficult times. It seems a model engineer had been quite abusive on the phone simply because the voice that answered when he rang the company was female. The fact that this female has built engines of her own and knows what she is talking about apparently cut no ice with this particular dinosaur.
It continues to anger me that such attitudes remain in this day and age, though I’m glad to say they are among a rapidly shrinking minority. I’ve seen it myself – my daughter Megan’s day job involves creating exquisite cakes but she’s also a steam enthusiast and followed me onto a Welshpool & Llanfair footplate. Following her first trips a couple of drivers commented that Megan was so good with a shovel that they’d be happy to go out on the line with her without the fireman training her! Despite this an ‘enthusiast’ she was talking to one day felt it necessary to comment that the footplate was no place for a woman. I’m glad to say that Megan put his comments on her Facebook page and got thousands of supportive replies from across the world – many suggesting extra uses for her fireman’s shovel...
No-one’s capability should ever by judged by their gender. Megan for example is quite good with a welding torch, whereas I’ve never picked one up and wouldn’t know where to start. There are many capable female model engineers, though not enough and such attitudes won’t help grow the hobby when we need all the newcomers we can get, male and female...
This month we start another interesting series with another young engineer, learning his way by building and putting right a kit bought secondhand. Kits are an interesting subject in an age when many don’t have the time or patience to build completely from scratch – we hope to look further into this part of the hobby later in the year.