Whanganui’s only female mechanical apprentice ‘tearing down the walls’ of a male-dominated industry

Eleanor Simons says she has always loved anything car-related. Photo / Bevan Conley

Holland Automotive’s Eleanor Simons is currently in a club of one - but she’s hoping it doesn’t stay that way for long.

According to the Motor Industry Training Organisation (MITO), she is the only female mechanical apprentice out of 22 operating in Whanganui.

Simons said there was still a stigma attached to female mechanics but it was fading away slowly.

“I’ve had it a lot - [people] not thinking we’re capable of doing what males can do,” she said.

“It hasn’t happened too many times but in the place I used to work a couple of people only wanted men to work on the car.

“Things are getting better though. They are coming to the party.”

She said she had always loved anything car-related.

“I started doing bits and bobs at home and realised I had a passion for it, so I decided to make it my career.”

She had previously been in the hospitality sector.

“Now, I’ve got a career. It makes life a lot easier when you love your job.”

Holland Automotive owner Andrew Holland said getting rid of that stigma was really important to him.

It was a male-dominated industry and he wanted to “tear down the walls on that perspective” and create a whole new customer-workshop relationship.

“A lot of times, if a female is slightly unsure about something with her car, she takes the guy’s word as gospel and won’t question a lot of things,” Holland said.

“If there is a woman there, they’ll feel more comfortable about asking questions. That increases the customer’s knowledge.”

Simons said the job wasn’t for everyone and you had to love the challenges that came with it.

“It is quite funny sometimes when I’m asked what I do.

“I say I’m a mechanic and they’re like ‘Hold on, what?’. It blows some people away but it shouldn’t really.

“A lady at the bank the other day said she was proud of me. I had no idea who she was but that was nice.”

MITO training adviser Doug Watt said he looked after 122 apprentices in Whanganui, South Taranaki, Ohakea, Marton and Fielding.

There were four females in the entire region, two of which were in Whanganui.

The other, Toni Dillon, is a spray-painting apprentice at Slippers Refinishing.

“Over the last few years we have had some girls through, and very successfully,” Watt said.

“Overall though, our uptake of female apprentices is low. I can’t understand why, to be honest.”

Watt said a business that had diversity in its workforce often attracted a customer base it never knew it had.

“There are massive benefits but ultimately, you’ve got to want to do it [mechanical work] and have a passion for it.

“There is physical strength required, especially in the heavy automotive engineering programmes, but there’s nothing saying you can’t do it.”

Simons, who is nearing the end of her apprenciteship, said other females who had an interest in the industry should just go for it.

She will be staying on at Holland Automotive once she has finished training.

“You have to have broad shoulders and be prepared to take some hits but if you can do that, it’s an amazing industry to be in.”