Unclogging the
gender divide

>>The macho world of plumbing doesn’t
intimidate journey(wo)man

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Jennifer Bourgoin

Age: 29

Occupation: Plumber

Bio: This fun-lovin’ Longueuil gal decided it was time to get a handle on the plumbing racket after spending five years in telemarketing and “getting really, really, tired of it.” Perusing the numerous Canada Manpower programs available to her, Jennifer weighed how much education was required against the kind of money she could expect to earn unclogging people’s shitters and “immediately a light bulb went off in my head and I went, ‘Hell yeah, I’m going to be a plumber.’” So, 16 months of English-language plumbing school later, Jennifer emerged as a bona fide apprentice plumber and has been working in the field ever since, just recently completing the 8,000 work hours required for her to move on up to the next level, journeyman plumber. “And I just love it! Every day is a new challenge, and that’s what keeps me going. I get into the zone, Zen-like, and face my workday. And yeah, it’s really great!”

What she knew about plumbing before becoming a plumber: “Absolutely nothing.”

What a first-year apprentice plumber earns: Roughly $15 an hour, “but every year you apprentice, the rate goes up by about three or four dollars. I make about $26 an hour now. It’s totally awesome—and the benefits are great too! We also get 12 per cent vacation pay. I just wish I’d known more about vocational school back when I was in high school, because if they’d have given us more information about it then, well, I could have started making $26 an hour, like, 10 years ago. But they made it seem like vocational education was only for losers and slackers—and that’s totally not the case, you know.”

Has she come across any other female plumbers since getting into the biz? No.

Does she experience much condescension from her male co-workers? Not especially. “There’ve been a couple of macho plumbers I’ve come across who won’t let me lift anything heavier than, say, five pounds, which is annoying, but not that bad. There was this one guy though, an elevator mechanic working with me at Concordia University, who felt I should be embarrassed for working because it meant there was some poor unemployed plumber sitting at home unable to feed his family. He kept asking why I didn’t sit at home or work in an office filing my nails all day like girls are supposed to do. That was almost four years ago and I’m still as insulted by it today as I was then. Jesus, I could have slugged him. But that was just this one jerk, most people have been great.”

Is there anything she can’t do as well as a plumber with a penis? “Well, obviously I’m not as strong. But the work security norms say nobody is supposed to lift anything heavier than 50 pounds anyway, and I can lift 50 pounds, no problem. So the answer is no, there’s no difference.”

Does she keep her ass crack and cleavage exposed when she goes out at night, or is showing off her sexy lady plumber’s crack strictly a work thing? “Neither. Long live coveralls.”

Last book read: Punish the Sinners, by John Saul.

Musical preferences: Pearl Jam, Metallica, les Cowboys Fringants.

Words of wisdom: “When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net