7 March 2025
Saturday 8th March not only marks International Women’s Day but also marks the end of Women in Construction Week 2025. To celebrate, we caught up with Emma Parslow. Emma is an apprentice gas engineer, working within Whitehead’s maintenance team and studying part time at Coleg Gwent.
“I always knew I wasn’t suited to a sit down job, I did engineering and design technology in school and knew I loved working hands on. So, I pursued a career like that, I was on the railways as a track woman leaving school but that wasn’t stable enough. Then I searched for another apprenticeship and I happened to get an interview to do plumbing & heating so I just went for it, and this is where I am now!
My job currently is either doing small reactive plumbing, like toilets, heating issues and minor repairs. Or I’ll be with one of our engineers learning how to work with gas and work on boilers, working towards my getting my gas qualification.
I like how every day is different with my job, different places, different types of jobs and meeting new people. Also, it brings me a lot of joy that I get to use my problem-solving skills to figure stuff out and get things working again.
I wouldn’t say there’s anything I dislike apart from the odd late finishes but that’s the nature of my job, I know what I signed up for!
I would 100% recommend women to think about getting jobs like mine. Don’t get me wrong, it’s scary at first but it’s so rewarding seeing yourself excel at a career that is labelled a man’s job. If I can do it any woman can do it. People are always pleasantly surprised to see me turn up to fix their leaks and voice that more women are needed, and I agree”
Photo Credit: Coleg Gwent
