The Women Tackling The Woeful Diversity In Plumbing

Leah Robson was hard at work at her customer's house, setting up the heating. The customer in question was moving in, a single man with his own place.

Again and again, someone working for the removals firm passed Robson as she toiled and asked, "Where do you want this, then?"

Three times she found herself having to explain: "It's not my house, I'm not married to the man who's moving in, I'm just fixing the heating."

Today, Ms Robson runs Your Energy Your Way, a firm that specialises in renewables, heat pumps, plumbing and similar services. She and other women in the industry argue that in 2023 the workforce behind many building trades should be far more diverse - and far too many people still assume that a woman couldn't be a plumber.

According to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the proportion of women plumbers is tiny, though the ONS estimates that their number grew from 2,700 (1.9%) in 2021 to 3,500 (2.4%) in 2022.

"Even 2.4% is woeful, isn't it?" says Ms Robson. There is a similar proportion of women working in other building trades.

The ONS cautions that its data is only an estimate, and is based on extrapolated results from a nationwide survey. Respondents included people who described themselves as plumbers or heating engineers.

A government report published in January suggested that 5% of employees across 687 heating and cooling businesses were female, but the report noted: "The sector may be slightly less diverse than these numbers imply."

The Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers' Federation (SNIPEF) has said it wants to see women making up 10% of all apprentices in the trade.

"I worked for 17 years without meeting another woman. Then I started to look for them," says Hattie Hasan, founder of Stopcocks Women Plumbers, a plumbing company.

She and Ms Robson point out the value of social media in connecting women in the trade around the country - from Facebook groups to TikTok - as well as in-person events such as those run by Stopcocks. The company also has a register of 750 women tradespeople in the UK, including 100 plumbers.

Employers sometimes assume that including women in their advertising or claiming to be equal opportunities is enough but it isn't, argues Ms Hasan.

To actually encourage women into a job, plumbing companies should consider how to cater to their needs - from menopause support, flexible working for single parents, separate toilets and personal protective equipment that fits women correctly, which keeps them safe from dust and other hazards at work.

"Some women we've spoken to have been told they have to buy their own clothes because it's more expensive for the company to buy it for them," says Ms Hasan.

Women might find that working as a plumber is slightly easier at present if they are self-employed, suggests Ms Hasan, as that allows them to manage various commitments besides work on their own terms. She notes that she was forced to set up as self-employed trader herself, years ago, despite approaching multiple companies seeking work.

Sovay Berriman is a self-employed plumber in Cornwall. She uses the business name "Plumbmaid", which she explains is not about being a maid in a subservient sense, but rather it is a reference to Cornish slang, where calling a woman "some maid" is a colloquial way of giving her especially high praise.

"A lot of male customers as well find it a relief," she says, of being a woman in the industry. "They're just like, 'Oh, great!' - they're not having to be a bloke."

While some are very supportive, Sovay Berriman has, like Ms Robson, faced her share of prejudice and says that the industry must work to push back against assumptions that tradespeople are, by default, men.

She adds that she would be cautious about ascribing any particular attributes to either men or women in the industry, to avoid perpetuating stereotypes. It's not as if all women are better communicators than men, for instance.

However, she points out that she feels her own skills have served her well. "I have found that customers are open to how I explain things," she says.

"I don't know if that's about my gender but I do think potentially that's something that's more ingrained in society - that women are good at [communication]."

Given the shortage of plumbers and heating system installers in the UK, having an industry dominated by white men is a real problem - it means, by definition, that there are huge resources of "untapped talent" out there, says Vivien Kizilcec, consumer research manager at Energy Systems Catapult, a government-funded research group.

Today, plumbing and heating are high tech trades that require knowledge of smart controls, renewable energy systems and efficient appliances.

If more people were aware of this, a larger and more diverse cohort might take up the job, she suggests: "With these new green technologies, you are getting a much wider range of skills."

Parental encouragement can make a big difference, notes Aimee Holloran, a business development manager at Samsung Electronics. She specialises in advising customers about heat pumps, but started out as a plumbing apprentice. Her dad got her into all kinds of things boys typically do, she says, including riding motorbikes. And her mum suggested the plumbing apprenticeship.

Some companies are setting targets for improving gender equality. LiveWest, a housing association in the south west of England, has appointed seven female apprentices in the last year, across various trades, for example. It now has 21 women among a 471-strong trades workforce.

Earlier this year, the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) published advice for employers, suggesting that they make their diversity goals public, put together diverse interview panels when hiring people for jobs, and stick to inclusive language. Avoid obviously discriminating terms that continue to be used in job ads such as "tradesman", for example.

"There is certainly still a long way to go" in terms of gender equality, says Kevin Wellman, chief executive of CIPHE.

Ms Hasan agrees - and makes one final point. Women can bring new and improved approaches to plumbing, beyond simply expanding the workforce. People, she suggests, should stop questioning whether women can be merely "as good as" a man.

"Since when has the way men do things been the high bar that we all have to reach?" she says, with a laugh.