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by Nick Drew  |  Mon 08 Mar 2021

Women Making a Difference #IWD2021

Today is International Women’s Day, a day when in the words of the good people behind this initiative, we celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the world, while also putting out a call to accelerate women’s equality too.

Women Making a Difference #IWD2021

For me personally, I thought it would be a great day to celebrate women in the construction plant and machinery sector and I hereby present some of my favourite machine industry females from Instagram.

First up, there can be no greater ambassador for women in construction, than Missy Guerrero Scherber, who works tirelessly to promote women in the industry, while also helping to run the Minnesota based family business with husband Trevor, being a mother and also a brand ambassador for Caterpillar, among many other things. But we know from experience that this is what women do, so often they are the great driving force behind many businesses and great men.

So often through her account @missyscherber she is promoting the good work women are doing in construction and constantly raising the profile of other females in the industry, which is great to see.

Alexandra Smith aka @thelittleoperator who hails from New Hampshire in the USA is another young woman who is forging ahead with a career as a heavy equipment operator for her father’s septic tank installation business. Alexandra is also an active member “The Crew Collab” a collective of like-minded women who work in construction, the aim of the group is to highlight and promote the industry as great career choice for women, in what is often seen as a male dominated line of work.

Amy Underwood (25) aka @the_digger_girl, hails from the west coast of Scotland and has been in and around plant and machinery for most of her life. She has been working for her father’s business, John Underwood Plant Hire Contractor Ltd since leaving school, but even before leaving school she could often be found operating a piece of equipment to help her dad out during the school holidays, or even on the odd occasion skip off school for a day or two.

Talking about being a woman in the construction sector Amy said, “It’s difficult being a girl in a man dominated industry, for example I originally wanted to be a mechanic and went round literally every garage in town, and not one single person was interested. Hopefully with more girls getting into it, it will change the prospective of others and make it normal. I’ve been very lucky with my dad and having all the opportunities I’ve had so far, he’s my biggest supporter and above all else my best friend”.

Since we last featured Amy on this blog, she has amassed over 29k followers on Instagram, and has been featured on podcast’s and video interviews and even taken part in an operator’s video competition.

Another inspirational Scottish woman who we have featured previously on the blog, is Mo Duncan (28) who hails from East Ayrshire originally but, who moved down under to Australia back in 2016.

Mo who is known on Instagram as @theweelassieoperator is another woman who has grown up around diggers, as her father has a long-established plant hire business back home in Scotland, called RS Duncan Plant Hire.

“I first got into operating when I was a little girl thanks to my Dad, with the digger business back home, he was always needing a helping hand with the machines and around the farm, so it’s kind of in my blood” said Mo.

Talking about her decision to move down under Mo said, “I really didn’t plan on staying down here, but I loved the weather and the working/lifestyle balance which offers far more opportunities out here, I just haven’t left” she said.

Mo actively promotes the construction equipment industry and what she gets up to on a daily basis on her various social media platforms, and definitely brings a little bit of Aussie sunshine to all out lives!

Another UK female operator is Lana Edwards aka @tracklass1 on Instagram, who documents her daily life as an excavator operator with her own style of in cab view videos. Lana says being accepted as a female in a male dominated industry can be tough, but she has a lot of passion for the industry and has been featured in a number of magazine articles in recent years.

Checkout this inspirational video from Caterpillar featuring an all female paving crew who have made the job thier own in America. 

Of course, this blog post is only a quick snap shot of the women in the construction industry, there are many more around the world, especially in the big mines in Sweden, Canada, Australia and the United States just to name a few.

But this blog is aimed to be a celebration of women in construction, and a hope that more will join the industry in years to come, we definitely need them to join us!

 

 

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