San Francisco Frontiers - Chinese repairwomen smash stereotypes with power tools

DIY and maintenance work is a male-dominated field in China, but an increasing number of women living alone with a desire for self-sufficiency has led to a growing appetite for courses to learn such skills.

Nationwide there are now multiple all-women repair groups, including the organisers of the Hangzhou workshop, Mulan Build.

"People are moving away from the traditional mindset that certain jobs must be tethered to a specific gender," Chen Ning, the 27-year-old founder, told AFP.

Absorbed students carefully threaded wires into junction boxes to make circuits connected to lights, bulbs flickering on one by one to signal a job well done.

Student Zhang Xuefen said a lot of her friends have been "incredibly hands-on since they were kids", proving it was not "just a guy thing".

"This kind of empowerment can be passed on to the many women living alone today, helping them handle minor household fixes completely on their own," the 42-year-old said.

The single-woman household is no small demographic in China, with marriage rates falling and women more likely to be financially independent than before.

Student Xu Leran, 26, said that inviting a man into one's home can raise "safety concerns", but with a woman technician "I would definitely feel much more at ease, and communication would be smoother too".

Instructor Wu Shuang said the challenges facing women living alone are "a very real, objective issue".

"For a long time... their voices have been ignored, and their needs have been overlooked."

- 'Where were all the women?' -

The popularity of such courses was clear last month at a Shanghai workshop run by another all-women company, 38fix -- named for the March 8 date of International Women's Day.

Noise and sawdust filled the room as dozens of students tried their hand at drilling through bricks and wood.

Founder Kale Li told AFP she first became interested in the industry after becoming tired of dealing with inconsistently priced and unreliable handymen in southwestern Chengdu, where she lives.

She signed up for an electrical engineering course, only to find her classmates were almost entirely men.

"I thought it was very strange," Li said. "Where were all the women?"

Her company now has a monthlong backlog of orders, with workshops consistently fully booked.

One participant, who gave her nickname as Yiling, told AFP she had jumped at the chance to attend.

In regular classes full of men, "you might experience a lot of microaggressions", she said.

Despite the growing interest, barriers remain.

"It is incredibly difficult for women to break into the (industry)... and many who are already in it don't get the respect they deserve," Mulan Build's Chen said.

Li of 38fix said her team often faces heightened scrutiny from customers -- including women -- who don't believe they are as competent as men.

- 'Break free' -

Some job platforms explicitly state they do not accept female technicians, Mulan Build's Wu said, while women face more barriers to promotion.

Mulan Build "sends a message: if these platforms choose to discriminate against us, we do not need to rely on them", she said.

It's important women have the option to enter the profession, said Yang Mengchen, who leads another all-women repair and appliance cleaning team.

"It would make it much easier for women -- especially those from rural areas or small towns -- to come to the city and secure a viable career," she said.

Li said she looked forward to the day that 38fix would no longer be "special", and that there were signs this was already happening.

As well as Mulan Build and 38fix, there is Diandian Home Solution, an all-women plumbing and furniture assembly service operating in the southern cities of Guangzhou and Kunming.

It boasts more than 30,000 followers on Instagram-like Xiaohongshu, where it posts videos of its technicians showing off their tools.

All-women cleaning companies are also broadening out their skill sets.

Clad in pink and purple and wielding a pink power drill, Liu Xingyun, founder of Shero, deftly took an air conditioner to bits when AFP accompanied her on a recent home visit.

"I don't want anyone to be limited by their gender," she said.

"Whether they are girls or boys, I hope they can break free from the shackles of gender and do what they truly want to do."

L.Ramos--SFF