Comment on From breadwinners to bystanders: The death spiral of the American working man
Taco2112@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Interesting article and you and another commenter already touched on the “Boo Hoo Poor Men” theme so I’ll skip that.
The part that struck me was that he only mentioned blue collar work as job that men can be proud of and not as another avenue for helping to fix the problem. I myself have a degree but moved to blue collar work a few years after college. It wasn’t a move I was thrilled to make but I found something that interests me and pursued it. I now make as much or more than many of my contemporaries with plenty of room for advancement because of my degree.
A few times I’ve mentioned this, I’ve had people comment on the fact that you ruin your body and health in some of those jobs. That’s only if you have a boss that doesn’t care about OSHA and the other regulatory bodies. I work around lead paint all day, every day and my blood lead levels have decreased over the last eight years. Proper training and a boss who wants to do things the right way and it’s less dangerous than getting behind the wheel of a car. If you work in the trades and feel unsafe or like you are being exposed to hazards regularly, then find a new company or start your own. Once you have to tools and the knowledge, it doesn’t take much to start doing work on your own.
Seleni@lemmy.world 1 week ago
They may be desperate for people, but how does your industry treat women? I was wanting to get into trade, but they all seem filled with sexist assholes, and good money and fun work or not, there’s only so much sexist bullshit I’m willing to put up with.
Taco2112@lemmy.world 1 week ago
It’s depends on the company and location. You’re correct there’s a lot of sexist morons out there, they exist in every industry and trade work definitely has more of that than say, IT. But, larger companies, especially in metropolitan areas seem to be better working environment for women in trade work.
I work in a very niche trade, historic buildings specifically, and I’ve found this area of expertise to be very open to women. The first company I worked for was in WV and half the company was women, including my foreperson. I went to a trade school to learn how to do this and over half of my classmates were women. I live in Colorado currently and there was a story on NPR yesterday of an expo focused on getting women into trade work.
Obviously, this is anecdotal but from my experience and perspective, there’s never been a better time for women to get into trade work. I don’t think anyone should have to deal with the sexist assholes and as I mentioned in my original post, once someone has the knowledge and the tools, they can start their own thing. Either go into business for themselves or start a company and keep the misogynists out.