International Women's Day | News

This year, International Women’s Day calls us to #choosetochallenge.

Sadly, gender bias and inequality still needs to be challenged and changed in our society. Stereotypes also exist and we all need to do our bit to break them so they don’t create a barrier or ceiling for our aspirations or hold our children back from achieving and pursuing what they want to do.

Jenny, pictured, is one of our colleagues who we’ve looked up to ever since she joined us as a Gas Engineer apprentice in 2006 aged 16.

When she was a child, Jenny’s dad was a joiner and she often helped him out with different jobs at home. It opened her eyes to different career possibilities.

Jenny went on to do an apprenticeship with us in gas engineering, before taking-up a permanent role doing repairs and then as part of our servicing team. She installed boilers and heating systems, did gas related repairs and carried out gas safety checks to keep tenants safe.

Jenny was motivated early in her career by working alongside a female engineer in what’s traditionally seen as a male dominated profession, and Jenny went on to win several trade awards.

After years of working hard, job shadowing and building her confidence, Jenny successfully applied to become a permanent Gas Supervisor with us last year.

Jenny said: “I’ve always been quite stubborn and pushed myself, and I’ve never let the fact I’m a woman stop me from doing anything.

“I’ve also completely renovated my new house recently. Being able to fit my own heating, cooker, bathroom etc. was really handy, but I also feel quite proud that I’m able to do it myself.

“Sometimes people don’t believe me when I say I’m a gas engineer. When they realise I’m being serious, they think it’s amazing.”

“I’d recommend having a trade no matter your age, gender or starting point. In my experience, as long as you’re willing to work hard then you’ll get respect from others and they’ll always be there if needed.”

Did you know ...?

• On our leadership team, six of our 11 directors are women. Across the Bolton at Home Group more widely, four women make-up our management team at our Starts with you social enterprise subsidiary (www.startswithyou.org.uk) and five of the seven senior management leads at Arcon are female (www.arcon.org.uk).

• The ‘We Are Women’ series of webinars celebrate strength and amplify women's voices across Greater Manchester. If you missed the weekly sessions, and want good vibes and inspiration, you can catch-up on them via this link on Facebook: www.facebook.com/watch/382501245162486/270754717949532.    

Jobs shouldn’t be gender stereotyped. We encourage you to apply for any of our vacancies if you’re interested and if you feel you have the right skills and experiences to match the role. View our current vacancies here: www.boltonathome.org.uk/jobs.

We’d love to hear from you if want to give a shout-out to women who’ve achieved special things, supported communities during the pandemic or made a difference to people’s lives in other ways. Please let us know at news@boltonathome.org.uk.  

From challenge comes change, so let's all #choosetochallenge. #IWD2021