in the construction sector, women are trying to find a place in professions considered masculine

The distribution of professions remains very gendered in France, particularly in the predominantly male construction sector. Some women, however, decide to impose themselves there, like Mellina Boras, whom we met in Haut-Rhin.

A little less than 21% of professions are mixed according to the latest “mixed professions” report carried out by the Professional Agency for Adult Training for the Ministry of Labor (Afpa). While France has set itself the objective of a third of mixed professions in 2025, the Afpa – whose mission is to change this distribution of professions which remains very gendered – announces, Friday March 8international day of struggle for women’s rightstrophies to eight women trained in a profession considered masculine.

On a construction site in Alsace, in Turckheim in Haut-Rhin, Mellina Boras is one of the rare female building equipment electricians. Before using a screwdriver or a drill, Mellina first spent 15 years of her life in human resources offices, in particular. This reconversion inevitably surprised those around him: “They were more than surprised. They told me, ‘You’re crazy’. We’re all a little trained, or distorted, in our brains by saying that a woman doesn’t do this kind of job.”

“It’s like we don’t have the right to make mistakes.”

After nine months of training she obtained her diploma and when it was time to apply, she understood that the hardest part had begun: “No one gave me an answer. The few answers I got were ‘I don’t want to work with a woman’.” The thirty-year-old hangs on and after several months of research, a boss finally decides to hire her: “I cried on the phone. I wondered if I was really going to succeed at this. And finally, I did!”

She has been working in her new profession for almost two years in an environment – construction – which is essentially male. So obviously, when she arrives and presents herself at a construction site: “They look at me weird. Usually there’s the nervous little laugh that goes with it, like, ‘What? You’re an electrician?’ Some are quite positive, saying ‘Congratulations, that’s cool. It’s good to see women on the construction site.’ Others it’s ‘Oh good, do you know how to do it?'”

“When you’re a woman, as soon as you make a mistake, it immediately becomes big. We make a big deal out of it. It’s as if we don’t have the right to make mistakes, that’s is a bit bulky.”

Mellina Boras

at franceinfo

And the young woman concluded that despite some disparaging remarks, “It’s going very, very well”. According to the latest Afpa report, only 5% of people who presented a building equipment electrician certification last year were women.