Wonder Women True North

Every day, 400,000 women head out to work in Northern Ireland.

Many work in more traditional roles in the service industry,

health and the public sector.

Others are in business.

But some women do things a little differently.

You do sometimes get looks. People are like, "Oh, what? You are what?"

Is that a woman? Is that a woman up there?

Seeing people's reactions,

thinking, "Surely, that can't be."

I'm thinking to myself, "Surely, why not?"

Just because you are a girl doesn't mean that you're

not as strong as the fellows

and that you're not going to be able to do the same things,

so I do get a kick out of it whenever I prove people wrong.

I love running.

I never thought that running would help with stress but it really does.

I don't know if it just gives you time in your own head

without thinking about anything else,

not thinking about work or kids or family or whatever it is.

It is like meditation - you are running along and your feet

are pounding the pavement and your breathing is constant

and you are thinking about the road ahead.

TRAIN HORN HONKS

Whenever I was at school, believe it or not,

I wanted to be a curator in a museum.

I even went to art college in Manchester.

And I end up being a train driver, so go figure.

There are 133 train drivers here,

taking passengers on a staggering 13 million journeys every year.

But just six are women,

and Janet McGrath has been riding the rails for six years.

We don't have our own wee special club, the female drivers.

We bump into each other but with work,

if you are a male driver or a female driver, you are just a train driver.

We don't, you know... There's no classification.

Janet's colleagues are used to seeing her in control of the train.

But some passengers still find it odd.

At Great Victoria Street,

moving from one end of the train to the other

and full uniform on with my work bag over my shoulder,

and the conductor called me over and just said,

"It's really funny, that gentleman over there has just said,

"'Who is that girl carrying the driver's bag?'"

And I thought to myself,

"Well, at least he called me a girl and not a hideous hag or something!"

Sometimes, whenever they see you pulling up to the platform, they go,

"There is a woman driving!"

Sometimes I find it funny but sometimes,

at the end of a long day, I find it a bit irritating, I have to admit.

When you are working you could be up a pole or in the bucket

and you hear sometimes a lot of older gentlemen saying,

"Is that a woman up there?"

I suppose when you are out there working,

that is your opportunity to show them people that are a bit

shocked that there is a girl up there that she can do whatever

she has been sent to do, the same as the rest.

Megan Lapsley is Northern Ireland's only female overhead linesperson.

Today she is sorting out some exposed electrical cables.

Have you taped there?

There are trees, you know, up above and over to the side,

and for safety the trees can't be within three metres of a...

A live line that's bare,

so what we are doing is we are going up to fit this shrouding

onto the line and tape up any connections within three metres

of the tree and thereby making it safe.

Protecting Megan from 11,000 volts

of live electricity are her safety gear

and her knowledge of the job at hand.

I do think about the dangers.

You are working at height - that's a danger.

You are working with live electricity,

which is a danger if you haven't been trained.

I know myself as long as I follow the rules that are set out,

those dangers aren't a risk.

Before I started and hadn't been trained, if somebody said,

"Sure, scoot up there and do that,"

then that would have been dangerous,

but you do so much training...

I don't worry about it.

It is dawn and Jean Morgan is at work.

She is the skipper of a fishing boat and will be at sea for a couple

of days to catch lobsters and crabs to sell at the local market.

With a skipper's ticket I can fish any boat up to 16.5 metres.

So I could take one of the trawlers out for a night's fishing.

If anything happens, like the engine failed or anything,

I would be able to sort of maintain things.

Navigation, how to work the computers,

how to know where you are going to.

If anyone ever went into the water, how to save them.

Some nights we'd be out, it would be that rough.

Whenever we go out, usually it will be calm

and then the next minute it would start to pick up, the weather,

and then we would end up... we'd be rolling about.

Last year there was a few times that I felt like it was getting

very rough and I was close to falling over, so I had to make sure

I held on to something whenever I was moving about the boat.

It doesn't bother me, just being that used to being on the sea.

I know all of them can swim!

The weather is a constant problem.

It is tough and she is at sea for 40 hours at a time.

Jean is the only woman, and a strong asset to the fishing crew.

Jean and I have been working together for three or four years.

She is a good worker.

Any time I need a crewman, or crewwoman, Jean is able to come.

It makes me feel proud that I can do something

that mainly men usually do.

Just to say I can do it as well as them,

and they really don't say anything to me about it.

But some things will always be easier for men than women,

such as spending a penny on a fishing boat.

The facilities on the boat, there is no toilets.

I would have to go up to the foredeck and use a bucket.

Making sure that I tell all the men,

which is a bit embarrassing, to make sure they turn around.

Finding a toilet at work certainly isn't

a problem for 19-year-old plumber Leah McLarnon.

Well, my brother actually trained in the same tack as me

to be a plumber but found out it wasn't for him.

When I finished and I qualified, I did rub it in his face a bit

because I was like, "I told you I would do it,

"I told you I would do it.

"I am not just your baby sister, I am actually a plumber now

"and have the same qualification as you."

On my first day, whenever I started the plumbing course,

I walked up and outside the classroom

there was all these fellows and they were all in their overalls

and their boots, and I was the only wee girl.

I was wearing normal clothes and I had my hair down and curled

and I had my face full of make-up and I just...

I looked so out of place.

I walked down to get my uniform and nothing fitted.

Everything was too big. But I had to just grin and bear it.

I went in to get changed and whenever I came out,

they all started clapping and cheering

because I wasn't like a wee Barbie any more.

And I went into the workshop

and they were explaining everything about tools and safety

and, you know, all things like that and that's when I fell in love.

I was just like, "This is what I want to do."

When Leah was just a baby in the early '90s,

there was little work out there for a tradeswoman.

Whenever I got involved in joining about 20 years ago

and started to train, there wasn't really an awful lot of work here.

There wasn't any big building projects here.

I mean, Northern Ireland was still caught in the Troubles.

You are looking at sites over Belfast where there was

paramilitaries, where you're paying your safety on site.

And then that happened all over Belfast in every part.

It was not an easy game to get into

and not one that would have attracted women into it.

I get great satisfaction whenever you start off with raw material

and it is just wood, and then you can turn it around

and produce a lovely cabinet or a nice set of drawers.

There is great satisfaction in that,

that you have built that from the start.

It is a lot of fun because you see your end result.

And when you sell it, even more fun!

While carving out her career,

Helen also found the time to raise a family.

When I started training as a joiner

then I also started my family as well.

It was very difficult, actually,

trying to get that work-life balance.

Once you start fitting a kitchen, you can't just knock off

halfway through and say, "Right, I've got to pick the kids up."

I suppose 20 years ago now there wasn't the same

level of childcare that there was today,

so I was quite lucky I had a very supportive family.

But it was difficult, having children

and working your way through it, you know?

My daughter always hated it when I picked her up from school

and I had my work boots on.

She was like, "Why don't you get a job in Tesco's?"

Everyone else arrives looking nice

and I arrived in a big works van, you know?

For Leah, a day's work in the plumbing trade

can be a day off from the pressure of looking good.

Whenever I put my work clothes on, it is completely different.

You don't have to deal with your hair,

you don't have to do your make-up or your nails or tan or anything -

you are going out to work, especially in my job.

I mean, your tan is not going to last

and your make-up is not going to last and your hair is going

to be wrecked before you're even finished on your first job.

I do find it kind of therapeutic to get away from all the hair

and make-up for being a girl. Because it is expected of you,

and then whenever you go out with your face splashed

and your hair scraped up and no jewellery,

no make-up, no nothing...

I mean, I do, I love that.

The women in my family, you know, everyone is different

but the one that is most influential to me would be my Aunt Theresa.

She is actually a lorry driver and as to who influenced me to,

you know, have a non-traditional job...

Because I went to work with her and I just wasn't the same.

I didn't want to sit behind a desk.

I wanted to go out working and she showed me that a girl can do it.

I have two girls

and Erica, my eldest,

wants to become a funeral director.

I don't know if I was a positive influence.

Being a working mum,

I think that probably was the positive influence -

not the job that I did, but the fact that I always worked.

My mum, whenever my children were little, they had

their bedrooms at her house because I was working shifts constantly.

And now my husband and my children are just used to me working shifts

and just go with it.

Except when I am really tired and really grumpy!

I don't want to be considered a trainspotter,

but I really enjoy driving old trains.

It is not just driving old trains that Janet enjoys,

it is the heavy manual maintenance of them as well that she thrives on.

They asked for a pool of drivers who were still interested in driving

the older trains and I like the older trains,

so I volunteered for it.

Any of the drivers would need to know how to maintain

the older trains. So you just check for water, you check for oil,

you make sure everything is in place.

It's your responsibility, this train.

Engineers and fitters don't do it, it is the driver's responsibility.

Like most other jobs, the role of a train driver is constantly evolving.

Other grades are taking over some of the responsibilities

that drivers had.

It is more driving, less hands-on, which is why I still volunteer

for the Sandite because you can't avoid it -

you really do have to get stuck in.

I just don't want to be sat in a seat,

just driving up and down.

You know, this part of it, you really get...

..I don't know, your hands dirty.

Someone else who doesn't mind getting her hands dirty is skipper Jean.

It is the fourth haul of lobsters and crabs for Jean

and there will be another seven more today.

But she has a strong flair for working at sea,

which is something that she gained at a young age.

Being brought up in the fishing industry with my family all fishing.

My grandfather, he fished for 40 years,

uncles, they fished for 27 years.

My granny and my mum, they both fished as well.

Whenever we were no age, my mum used to take us to

the river, under the pier, fishing.

Then whenever I was 11, then my mum opened up the shop -

the fishmonger and selling fishing tackle.

So then I would work in there every day after school,

helping her, and that is where I learned how to fillet fish.

My mum actually fished up until she was eight months pregnant

carrying me, so that is where I think I got my sea legs at!

When I started fishing I used to get really tired,

but now that I have got used to it it just doesn't bother me any more.

I just love being out on the sea.

It is just something different than being on land.

I love the peace and quiet. It is definitely peace and quiet out here.

SEAGULLS CRY

I used to be bullied at school. That is why I used to be so quiet.

Just being on the sea just feels like being in another world.

You have nothing to worry about.

Just do your own thing.

Working in my mum's shop and going out fishing

and just being my own boss,

so I just feel more confident in what I do.

It feels amazing, being able to overcome being so quiet.

Being on the sea, it does make me feel strong.

Being outside, you know, it's nice.

Obviously when the weather is not nice it is not so nice,

but on a glorious day you're sitting on a roof and you can see for miles.

You are seeing parts of the countryside that no-one else really

gets to see because, you know, not very many people sit on a roof.

I had been working in Dublin and had a holiday booked to Egypt.

The job came to an end about six weeks before I left

to go on the holiday to Egypt.

My father said, "Well, come out and work for me.

"I'm sure you are going to need some money."

Lo and behold, one Monday morning I find myself climbing up

a ladder trembling, thinking, "Why I am doing this?"

Once I got on the roof, I never really looked back.

I remember people watching me with disbelief, you know,

that this girl was on the roof.

And I'm kind of thinking, "Well, why not?"

After I had got over being scared myself, it was like,

"I can do this, it's not really that hard,"

So that kind of kept me going.

And then, obviously, the skill developed and I stayed on.

My family have always been supportive in that way that,

you know, if you want to do something, do it.

My mother, she would have loved to have been a carpenter herself

but back, obviously, when my mother would have been

looking for a job or starting out, that was a no-go.

You know, people's mentalities back then just wasn't...

Women weren't on building sites, they just...

They had other things to do.

Attitudes on site from other people I worked with weren't too bad.

Once people could see you were doing what you were doing,

all the other lads you are working with are fine.

But you would have got the head of the job

or whoever was paying the money,

they would come on and be looking round going,

"What is she doing here?

"Are you getting the tea or are you cleaning up?"

You're like, "Yeah, OK."

I would do a lot of work as well with women's organisations

when I would train other women. So we would, as we say,

we are out to change the shape of builders' bums

and get more women out on site.

So it is about giving other women the opportunity to have

a go at something different.

It is surprising, the amount of women who come to us

and say, "I really enjoyed that plumbing course

"and I'm going to go home to change the taps in my bath

"and I'm going to put a shower in."

You know, it is so important that they can do it

and there is no mystery around doing it.

Megan is still grappling with her power lines.

But there are some trees standing too close which need to be taken down.

Luckily, she is handy with a chainsaw.

We are going to put a mouth cut in the front of the tree

in the direction we want it to go,

and then once we have done that we are going to come in

from the back and leave a good-sized hinge

because we have got a rope on to control the direction it is going.

CHAINSAW REVS

It is pretty heavy at times.

This isn't too bad today but there are days

where it is a really hard job.

You know, you would like to think, boys, you know,

anything you can do we can do better, but this might be

one of those things where they have the serious strength advantage.

But it is still...

You know, it is manageable,

it is just a lot more difficult.

When I was younger, at school, I was always going with Dad

and delivering coal and gas and stuff to people and I always

wanted to be big enough and strong enough to help him carry the bags.

Both my mum and my dad have always worked really hard.

I suppose that instils that mentality that if you want to

have the things that you want in life or you want to get

where you want to be in life, there is only one way to get there

and it is hard work.

A lot of the job is knowing what's ahead of you, knowing your

signals and your speeds and your gradients and the names of things.

You need to know where you are the whole time.

There is a lot to being a train driver.

You have to just remember all of the emergency things that they have

taught you, a rule book that thick that you have to know and learn.

We are coming now into a platform here.

This is round a corner so I just have my hand on the horn...

-HORN BEEPS

-..just in case there's somebody too close to the edge.

'You have to be able to do your normal job

'and it is like that day in, day out, and then all of a sudden

'an emergency can happen and you have to be able to react to it.'

That is basically what I get paid for, is whenever bad stuff happens

I have to be able to react to it appropriately.

Sometimes it can put you off when you see a train

heading straight for you.

It is like driving a car in the sense that you don't think

about the traffic behind you, it is just everything in front of you.

It is just about the route - making the stops,

making the right decisions.

But you never forget that you are carrying people.

That is why you stop the train perfectly,

so that the whole of the train is on the platform, and that is why

you stop the train gently, so as people don't fall over.

You never forget that you are carrying people,

but you forget the amount of people.

Whenever you arrive in at a terminal station

and you just see hundreds of people walking past,

hundreds and hundreds, that is when you realise the responsibility

that you have had, the amount of lives that you have kept safe.

It might look like a tough day at the office for Megan...

but there are real perks to this job.

When it is a good day,

you definitely have the best job in the world.

Some of the views you might have from places you would be

working is absolutely amazing.

Everybody is in good form when the sun is shining.

But in the times when the weather is bad and people's power starts

going out, there is a real camaraderie and team effort

in the depots.

Everyone works together to make sure that the jobs get done

and everybody gets their power back on as soon as possible.

When it's lashing, that is my least favourite.

I would rather snow or ice or wind

over lashing from start to finish.

If you are out and you are cold and you get soaked all day,

you will never appreciate getting home

and being in front of the fire with a cup of tea as much ever.

CHURCH BELL RINGS

RECORDER MUSIC PLAYS

On my wedding day, I felt amazing.

I would wear make-up, but I wouldn't dress up too much.

Only if I was going out somewhere, but I very rarely get out.

Just to be dressed up that one day, I just felt like a princess.

She's lovely.

Pretty proud to be marrying her, aren't I?

She is just lovely today. She always is lovely.

I'm so proud of her.

She never stops working - she is the great worker.

She is always working, that's the way she is.

She takes after her granny, because she was a hard worker too.

A few weeks after the big day, Jean is still fishing.

But now she has even more jobs to carry out,

working alongside her new husband Charles on their farm.

The farm I now live with my husband Charles...

Day to day, it varies.

Some days we could be digging spuds, sometimes by hand

or sometimes in the harvester.

Either he would drive or I would drive

and one of us go in the harvester.

Other days we could be worming cattle,

and I also have hens and ducks,

so I feed and water them and clean them out, look after them.

And we have five dogs.

Have to look after as well, and four horses.

Hopefully whenever I do have kids,

I hopefully will be able to carry on what I'm doing.

I would encourage them to fish and farm as well.

I would love them to have a choice and do whatever they feel is right.

Some women are born into roles traditionally done by men

and for others it is a deliberate career choice.

Every day, strong women are enhancing businesses, services,

companies and corporations and making small steps in changing

the face of the workplace for the better.

I suppose I would like to see myself as a positive role model

for other people coming through and also for other young boys.

Because I think when young boys see that girls can do it,

it removes their barriers that girls can't do it.

And we need to remove all the barriers that girls can't do

in girls' heads and in boys' heads, and in teachers' heads

and in all the people who are influencing us.

Women are able to do a lot more than men think we can do,

so I think it should be pushed.

You know, more unusual jobs,

like funeral directors, like working for NIE,

being a joiner, being a train driver,

being into the fishing industry -

I think they should be pushed. Why not?