36 - Friday, January 31, 1992 —- North Shore News

AUTOMOTIVE
A womans place is in the ...garage

PICTURE A typical automotive garage. Cars up on racks Wee
and various tools scattered about. The incessant sound of a
banging and tinkering. And in the midst of it all, a
stereotypical ‘‘grease monkey,’’ an automotive worker clad
in dirty coveralls and perspiring as he works intently on a

car. Only this time, the image is significantly different.

This time, the he is a she.

In a society where the time-
honored connection between guys
and cars is a given, women are
challenging the idea that an
automotive aptitude is genetic.
Women like 29-year-old Teresa
Jones have managed to get a foot
in the garage door.

“I like the physical work,’’ says
Jones as she takes a break from
the body repair task at hand.
“*The physical product, when it’s
finished, is something to be proud
of. The pay is good. Besides, it’s
better than sitting behind a desk.””

Jones is learning Automotive
Collision Repair, one of the
technical training programs of-
fered at Vancouver Community
College ~ King Edward Campus.
She is.one of a small group of
women in the automotive pro-
gram, pursuing what is, for them,
a decidedly non-traditional career.

The same mind set that says a
woman’s place is the home also
suggests that her place certainly
isn’t in the shop. Jones says this is
a past reality that hasn’t been for
tack of talent or interest,. but for
lack of opportunity.

“Women just didn’t get into it
because they were at hoine with
the kids,” says Jones. ‘‘Now
we've got the chance.”

“T think it’s great,’ says in-

Un miners :

structor John Ford. ‘‘It’s good for
the trade. It makes me feel better
to see more women getting into
it.’

Since coming to Vancouver
Community College four years
ago, Ford estimates he’s taught a
half dozen female students, all of
them successful. ‘‘It’s obvious
that the attitudes are changing,”*
he says, ‘‘and more women are
getting interested.”’

For Jones, this career path is
one in family footsteps; both her
father and brother work with cars.
“T’ve been around it all my life,’
she explains with a faugh. ‘‘I
didn’t want to fight it anymore,
so I joined it.”

The same can be said for Denise
Cumming. Having tried a number
of other career areas, Cumming
fell back on her life-long interest
in cars and motorcycles. ‘‘All my
life,’ she shrugs. ‘‘Finally I
decided this is what I want to

”

While Cumming and Jones have

advanced to the body work pro--

gram, sisters Marta and Christina
Castaneda are in the Automotive
Painting and Refinishing Pro-
gram. Cumming realizes that, for
all of them, automotives is a ca-

See Male page 37

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Photo submitted

TERESA JONES, a student in Vancouver Community College’s Automotive Collision Repair Program,

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