The following stories from Papua New Guinea are extracts from the booklet 'Women in the Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Industry."
JODIE-MARIE LAVU
New Day, New Challenge, New Experience...
I became an air conditioning technician without knowing anything about air conditioning or refrigeration. My name is Jodie-Marie and this is my story. Going from working as an accounts clerk under the chief accountant of a renowned Papua New Guinean logging company to becoming an AC technician was an exciting but challenging transition in my life.
Today, I have worked in the weld for just over six years and nothing excites me more than facing the challenges of each day at work. And just so you know, challenges are not only in the workplace if you’re a female technician in a developing country. These challenges are not only physical, but emotional, mental, and spiritual. Speaking of challenges, I personally think that to be a female technician in the RAC weld, you have to possess the strength of a warrior to literally get through the day. My typical day starts at 5 o’clock in the morning and the challenges actually start at home, where I have to carry out my responsibilities as a wife and mother. After a normal eight hour shift at work or longer, if need be when I am attending to breakdowns, I have to again fulfil my duties at home such as preparing dinner, washing up, doing the day’s laundry, cleaning up my children’s mess and helping my eldest son with his school homework, etc., finishing my day at around 10 or 10:30 p.m.
The challenges I face at work are mind blowing. I encounter men who underestimate me just because I’m a woman and men who cannot work with me because it’s a traditional taboo for them to work with women. I am ridiculed in the workplace by men who still believe women don’t belong in the weld. There are also men who cling to me and offer me anything and everything because I, as the only woman at my workplace, am the centre of attention. The job and its tasks themselves present physical and mental challenges, which can be overcome by working not so much hard as intelligently, with determination and, above all, a willingness to learn from others. I can improvise, adapt and thus overcome a situation. I believe the RAC trade belongs to a more sophisticated weld than most people would believe. I find it more and more interesting every day. Every new day starts with a challenge, a new experience is encountered, and you keep learning and learning each and every day.
“Just so you know, challenges are not only in the workplace if you’re a female technician in a developing country. These challenges are not only physical, but emotional, mental and spiritual.”
You’re probably still wondering how an office person in short skirts and heels become an AC technician in protective clothing and work boots. Well, to cut a long story short, back in 2011, I applied for a TVET scholarship to study information & communication technology (ICT). The confusingly interesting part was that my application was successful, however, the course name on the acceptance letter from the Institute was unfamiliar to me. It listed ‘Certificate II in Air Conditioning Split-Systems’. I was struck with confusion but had hope that this must be a mistake or typing error. Goodness, I wanted to cry upon confirming with the scholarship coordinators that it was not a mistake: I was listed under that course with ten other scholars and streaming into the courses was done by the Institute, not them. I was advised to sit in for a week when I mentioned lodging a conflict of interest letter with the Institute to my dad so that, if it was possible, I could register under the course I had initially applied for. Years down the line, I’m glad I took that advice and I have no regrets about this amazing transition.
Today, I am completing my ‘Certificate III in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning’ and proud to say that I am one of the first groups of Stage 3 at the erstwhile Australia-Pacific Technical College, now the Australia-Pacific Training Coalition (APTC). Its motto is ‘Creating Skills for Life’ and it is an Australian project to help the people of the Pacific Islands. It is a privilege I will forever be grateful for. Moreover, I am enjoying every bit of this career path. I hope to be a trainer in this field sometime in the future so I can impart my knowledge and skills to young, aspiring RAC technicians, and especially women, so I can share my experiences with them and encourage them to continue in their career as RAC technicians, as most tradeswomen in our country tend to leave their job once attached or married. There are various reasons for that such as domestic violence from jealous partners, the salary, physical challenges at work or harassment in the workplace, to name but a few.
GEAM SAM
My name is Geam. I come from Papua New Guinea (PNG) and my mixed parentage links me to three different provinces: Morobe, Oro and Central. I started to gain technical knowledge by embarking on a two year Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) course at one of the vocational training schools in PNG, Badili Vocational Training Centre, Port Moresby, from 2004 to 2005. While attending Badili Vocational Training Centre (BVTC), I was chosen to do my on the job training (OJT) with DAIKIN Air Con Engineering Company for three months. The company was interested in recruiting female apprentices during my training, so the company offered me the opportunity to continue my OJT till November 2005. I graduated from Badili Vocational Training Centre with a trade certificate and the DAIKIN Company had given me a certificate of completion for completing mine on the job training. I worked for DAIKIN for four years, as a RAC trade assistant from 2006 to 2008. I signed my contract with the company and became the first female apprentice the company recruited in 2006. I worked for DAIKIN, Port Moresby, for four years and then transferred to the company’s other branch in Lae, where I currently reside. From 2010 to 2014, I worked as a RAC Service Estimator doing RAC service quotes. In 2014, I resigned in order to pursue further studies.
“The more I throw myself into the job, the more quickly I get attached to it and I make the men’s world my world.”
Motivation and reasons
To be honest, I knew nothing of the RAC trade, but my father, a tradesperson himself, was my role 
model. He is more specialized in the trade of carpentry and joinery. He always said that people who graduated from vocational centres and technical schools were very skilled and that companies mainly wanted to hire hands-on recruits with experience and technical skills. That is why I found myself interested in taking up a technical trade. When I entered the technical centre, I found out I was one of the few ladies to have applied for the RAC course. With time, I found myself amongst only men in the trade I was learning. RAC is not like any other trade, from what I have experienced doing what men generally do – installing AC units, changing compressors and motors and servicing all types of RAC units and all other related jobs. Something new and different comes up every day while I train and work. I challenge myself to equal the men in my trade. Every day, learning new things, I find myself putting a great deal of time and effort into doing what must be done to prove to my male colleagues that I’m capable of doing what they can do. That is one of the challenges I have faced in my experience as a female RAC technician. I have a positive mindset. Every time I do a job, I say to myself, “If a man can do it, I can do it”, and that is what has brought me this far. Working in a male dominated weld is very challenging, but I find myself flexible with my work colleagues: being part of a man’s world is not an issue anymore. The more I throw myself into the job, the more quickly I get attached to it and I make the men’s world my world. I gain the confidence to work amongst men, and not just confidence, but respect and trust, bestowed by everyone. I am also treated with honesty. I love my job and what I am doing. I’m proud of what I do and who I am today and I’m looking forward to achieving my goal of becoming a RAC Tradeswoman in the future
About my studies
Through the media, I found out that the Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC) was hosting a two-day programme to recruit new applicants. I was one of the several applicants to apply and I was given the opportunity to sit the entry exam. After a year, I received an email from APTC informing me that I had been accepted. I was speechless and so excited. It was like a dream come true for me – I had always wanted to study at APTC. I’d always waited for that moment and now I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to further my knowledge and learn new things.
Being here at APTC is a privilege. My studies are interesting, I have been learning new things for the past two months, about the proper way to handle tools and the standard Australian RAC operations. In my training, I also learn computer skills. When it comes to writing and submitting RAC reports, it helps to understand how to go about doing it.
In my country, I’d heard that only men could work in the RAC trade. I thought to myself that only men could do this job because they were men and they were strong enough to carry and lift machines. I told myself to give it a go.
If my country can have other women do men’s work in other big industries, I feel positive about moving forward and not worrying about people saying the job is too hard for women. Some ladies work in the automobile sector, becoming mechanics and welders and so on. I chose the RAC trade because all the men I spoke to said RAC was quite a hard job for women. I find the RAC trade very interesting. In my working days, I was one of two ladies. We were the first female apprentices to be recruited as RAC technicians.
In the future, I believe APTC is the key to my future and, even currently, doing my studies here at APTC, APTC is creating skills for life and I feel that my future has already begun.
