women and car factory

when you hear about car factory what the first thing would come in mind?

male-dominated working environment?
assembly line with heavy equipments?
advanced technology?

but how about when i asked what gender would be in your mind.. when you hear a word "car factory workers"?

i'm 99% sure, you'd say male.

even i did think so. until one day, i went to visit one of my company's customer who happens to be a factory specialized in manufacturing harness for cars. at first, i didn't know what harness is. but the nice lady i met in that company took me around to see the factory and explained to me that "harness" is a term in automotive which explains about the wiring in cars. these wirings also known as the artery of electricity in cars that make the cars running. when the wiring is defected, even slightly, of course a car is surely would not run, period.

so i guess it is one of the most important part of the car, then. but how surprising it is to see how they work. first of all, i don't see machinery with heavy equipments around the working area. of course, cuz they deal mostly with wires. but i don't see any people rushing when they're doing their job. instead i saw them with high concentration trying to connect the wire correctly in this big board with a bunch of people working on the wiring, in simultaneous and harmonious movements.

one thing really significant when i saw them working that i had to ask..

me: i see that all the workers in that wiring group are female.
her: yes, that's true.
me: how many percentage of the workers are female?
her: about 99% of them are female

i was in shocked when i heard this. so i asked her why just female? she said it's because female are most likely to be more attentive, neat and deliver better result when doing the wiring (in indonesian words.. "lebih telaten", she said), so that's why most of the workers are female. i told her how surprised i was cuz when i heard about cars, and wiring, and factory, i would picture a male worker, not a female ones. she just smiled and she said that only when the wiring takes a bigger work, usually heavy, then they would need male workers. but other than that.. most of them are always female.

just another reason why i'm proud to be a female gender.

oh.. in case you asked, this company is one of the biggest and best supplier for the so-called "harness" in the world. these harness are being exported all over the world.. for car manufacturers like toyota, nissan, honda, daihatsu, and so on.

so next time you look over your car hub.. and see those wirings? those were constructed by female hands. just remember that. it may change your view about girls on cars. isn't it an interesting fact?