For this year’s International Women’s Day this Wednesday, Fatima Halloum hears from women working in male dominated industries.
When Jennifer Horgan confided in her mother that she wanted to change careers, she was met with deep concern.
Ms Horgan had completed a law degree and was working as a court registrar, when she decided to make the switch.
“I remember seeing the police bring in all their cases, and listening to the interesting work that they were doing, so I decided to join the police after seeing that,” she said.
“[My mum] was very happy with my nice, safe job, it was a bit of a shock to [her] because I didn’t grow up wanting to be a police officer.”
The young woman who graduated the police academy in 2001, worked in the surveillance unit, and the prosecutions division, is now the station commander at Bacchus Marsh police station.
“I’m at my happiest … I like being in charge of eight sergeants and 40 other ranks,” she said.
“And being able to support them to do the front-line policing work that they do.
“Community safety is my priority, I want people to feel like … if they come to the police with a problem, they will be heard.”
Ms Horgan said she would like to see a day when it isn’t remarkable that a woman is in charge of a police station.
“I’d like it to be normal, not a big deal,” she said.
“There are a lot of women in leadership roles in Victoria Police and we are more visible now, so I think that’s really positive.”
While Ms Horgan never expected to become a police officer, she said 20 years on, she still loves her job.
“Unfortunately we do spend time with people who have been having a really hard day,” she said.
“But the flip side is that there is nothing better than driving past a little kid, waving at them, and just seeing their face light up.”
There’s about 3300 kilometres between Vanautu and Melbourne, and Edel Doyle has sailed all of them.
After moving from Dublin, Ireland, to Australia in 2013, Ms Doyle joined the Wyndham Yacht Club to learn to sail.
“I love being on the water,” she said.
“I am proactive … about getting more and more women involved cause we have to learn for ourselves that we can do things that we were told are not for us.”
Ms Doyle said she often encounters men who aren’t even aware of the bias’ towards women that they carry.
“Were expected to work in the galley or in the kitchen, we’re expected to work on the floor deck, cause you’re smaller and lighter usually than the men,” she said.
“I navigate, because I don’t want to be on the floor deck you get wet up there, and it’s safer for everyone if I’m not cooking.”
Ms Doyle spent six weeks sailing around the islands near Vanuatu, delivering school supplies like blackboard paint, chalk, and paper to remote islands.
She and another companion sailed to Brisbane, and along the east coast back to Melbourne.
“[Being on the ocean is] it’s amazing, it’s quiet, it’s calm, it’s peaceful just listening to the water, it’s mesmerising,” she said.
It was through being a sailor that Ms Doyle heard about the Werribee Coast Guard a while out on the water doing rescues, Ms Doyle said she “doesn’t personally think” gender is ever an issue.
“Sometimes there’s a physical difference, where the men are stronger, [but] because we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, you just do it and nobody and bats an eyelid,” she said.
In honour of International Women’s Day, the Werribee Coast Guard will lead an all women’s boat crew in March.
“The people in that flotilla are just amazing,” she said.
It was using her father in-law’s trailer, her brother in-law’s lawn mower and her husband’s four-wheel-drive that Safa Hablas brought her gardening business to life.
The Tarneit resident said the years dragged on while working in the childcare industry, especially being cooped indoors as someone who enjoys being outside.
“I just became really tired of it,” she said.
“My husband is a police officer, so I had to think of a business where I could work my own hours because my son didn’t want to go to childcare.
“I took six months off to decide what I wanted to do and I thought, ‘what can I do?’.”
Growing up, Ms Hablas spent lots of her time in the garden with her dad.
“I know a lot about the garden, trees, grass and weeds.” she said.
Ms Hablas said that although there isn’t a lot of women in the industry, her experience has been relatively good.
“If I’m at a job site, [people aren’t] going to be looking at me first to get a job done, [but] don’t think a woman isn’t up to a job because of her gender, give them a go and see how it goes,” she said.
“There’s never been a time, especially as a covered woman, where someone asks me what I do and I’ll be like ‘I’m a gardener’ and they’ll be like, ‘oh I like gardening too,’.
“Then I’ll say, ‘no, no, I’m a gardener’ and they’re like, ‘what, you?’, they freak out, and think that it’s awesome.”
While it can be tiring, Ms Hablas said she loves her job.
“It is an amazing feeling going into someone’s house, cleaning it all up, and then getting the client outside and saying ‘what do you think?’ and seeing their face, it’s just leaves you speechless,” she said.
“Going from four years ago, and fast forwarding until now, I bought my first four wheel drive, with my own work trailer and all brand new gear that I owned debt free, just from a year of work.
“The lawnmower I was borrowing I gave it back to my brother in law, the trailer I gave it back to my father in law, and the four wheel drive, I gave it back to my husband.”
