You know I work in a foundry. Across the four shifts and well over a hundred people on the shop floor involved in production there is only one female. It's definitely cultural because when a job vacancy arises it's as open to a female as it is a male and it isn't a job that a female cannot do although it's heavy work. No females apply. They just don't seem to want that kind of work but in other countries they do. Putting aside career women we seem to be a nation of dog walkers and nail technicians in the UK. Having said that I don't think that the Soviet model where there were large teams of females doing hard physical graft was good for women, men or society.

Finnish women showed what hey was all about already back in the winter war. They showed that we men could ABSOLUTELY count on our women in every occasion there is...even in war time and battlefields.. 🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮

I'm a Finnish guy and I really appreciate Finnish women for the reasons you've mentioned, especially the mentality of not caring too much about appearing (overly) feminine. I am much more attracted to more natural look.

I am a Finnish woman and one of my professions is a carpenter. I did that job for over 20 years. I don't find it strange at all.

It looks so beautiful there.

I see quite a lot of young women doing manual jobs in the UK, some of them very attractive. That aside, it is quite obvious that Finnish society is much healthier and more rational than British society.

My mother's air conditioner broke. Two women in work clothes came to fix it and they were still feminine and very efficient. 12 points 10, easily. Greetings, 58-year-old man from Finland

I´m Finnish and for about 20 years we´we had these two girls doing all the interior painting. They started their business right after trade school and now both married with children, continuing to do a exellent job.

Why is their looks in any way relevant? As a woman I'm so tired of people thinking you have to be beautiful to be adequate.

My daughter loves cute 'girly' things and she hopes to become a builder one day. I'm all for it! Bring back woodwork and metal work back in the schools too!

I worked for an Architect in Forssa and she only employed Women and older men like me. The painters and carpenters were as good as I've ever seen. Yes it was a culture shock but a very rewarding one. We as a group always enjoyed a drink together on a Friday and I was usually the butt of the jokes and I accepted that as a male and earned their respect.

In England if a girl expressed an interest in painting and decorating their teacher would persuade them to have gender reassignment

Funny story: My son when aged around 20 was with 3 mates dressed in Leaderhousen at the german xmas market in Leeds had too many steins and met some girls from Helsinki. They were so taken with them that they decided to fly to Finland straight away. Idea scuppered by 2 not able to find their passports. The other 2 actually got to the airport only to find their intended flight was full. It was december! The girls must have impressed them!

Excellent 😊 I’m a painter myself and I’ve worked in Iceland Denmark Norway and USA. You see a lot of this in the last 10 - 15 years or so, lots of young females doing this kind of work. It’s actually quite a high paying job and it’s creative and fun and it keeps you in shape if you do it right. Enjoy! 😉

I found your video very interesting and insightfull. As a Finnish woman who has been working in construction for over two decades I have also given this a lot of thought. Our society, as well as many others, has changed rapidly during the last century. Most of us used to be farmers and even if there were a separation of duties, everybody did what they needed to do and all labour was hard labour. During the last century people moved into cities and started working in factories, and work was still hard for everybody. Then the wars took out a lot of men, and women had to do men's work too, in addition to their own. There was a period of men's and women's work being clearly separated after the wars, but that was just a couple of decades. As we get more technologically advanced, there is not much need for physical strengt anymore, even in construction or logistics. I've never been particularly strong or fit and I've managed just fine. The labour laws actually don't allow stupidly/dangerously hard labour (even though I still see some stubborn specimens insisting on lifting heavy loads without aid or sticking their heads into running machinery... But that's on them). There are still many girls who don't even think about a career in construction or other male dominated fields, just because they don't have many role models to look up to. And because schools tend to steer girls towards more academic careers. What I personally find confusing is, why we still talk about those fields being "hard" or "though", but somehow disregard nursing being unfairly demanding, physical and underpaid. None of the guys I have worked with would have swallowed the crappy pay and subbar leadership the nurses undergo. Sure, construction work is physical labour, and the weather may be harsh sometimes, but that's all it is. What I consider "though" in construction is mostly the way people there tend to treat each other sometimes, belittling newcomers and disregarding safety precautions and their own health, and the fact that you need to travel far to work and stay away from home for long periods. And as I have talked about it with my male colleagues, they find it taxing too, being away from their children, their partner and their home. What I wish to see in the future is everybody having the opportunity to consider any career they want to. And having the opportunity to switch fields if they want to. Life is too short to waste on arbitary separation of work by gender, and we miss a lot of ideas and innovation if we don't consider everybody's thoughts. We need more women in construction and logistics and peace negotiations, we need more men in teaching, healthcare and at home. It's important to utilize everyone's strenghts. It would be also rewarding and healthy for society to enable more people to make things with their hands, and to farm and grow food, but that's a different topic.

I went to Halfords for new windscreen wipers. The guy who served me asked if i needed them fitted i said no i would manage .30min later i gave up and went back in the shop to get help. The assistant he called was a very attractive girl about 18yrs old, she had the wipers on in 2 minutes. Of course i expected a guy would sent to do the job. My excuse is old age as well.😃

My dad was a perfectionist.. pattern maker by trade. He taught us all (4 children) how to do stuff in the house.. decorating repairs ..garden work all sorts.. iv renovated 2 houses transformed a few gardens..l love it..l live in Turkey now..l live in an apartment ground floor..2 years ago l painted the outside of my apartment. Up the ladder, no problem.The Turkish women were shocked 😮.. My daughter, who speaks fluent Turkey, said she could hear a few neighbour having a go at their husbands for not doing their paint work, lol 😂

I lived in Italy and China. In Italy, the way women were treated was crazy - almost like another species! In China I looked so different, that the local limitations for women didn't mostly apply to me. Less disrespect, rules, derision, violence, lucky for me.

Next time I see a video of young persons being unhappy about their gender, and wanting to operate on themselves and take hormones to become the opposite sex, I will refer to this video, dear Nigel - these reflections are so great. Thank you for warmly and candidly sharing! I have such beautiful Finnish nieces. One came sailing from Finland, taking shifts with her father (when he slept he felt totally safe with her at the rudder) - hubby and I jumped on in southern Sweden. When making a pizza-restaurant stop in Germany, the owner was mesmerized by her, and out of the blue started to make her over in his imagination, telling her how beautiful she would be in make-up, long hair, and an Armani-dress, and what not. Of course her father told him off. But you realize how crazy and rude his comments were, though meant as compliments. Speaking as if we all didn't know that she is exceptionally pretty (naturally) in our eyers, too, reminding of both her father and mother - looking healthy, athletic, though petite, like an ice-princess, like her granny. And you should see her hoisted to the top of the mast, to fix a Windex. She did the convict-training far more than the first steps, to be fit for crossing the Atlantic, also always skateboarding, skiing, and cycling as pastimes, and she dances like a queen, and loves artistic projects and green indoor plants, she has hundreds. My other niece, taller, as beautiful, was the captain of a team of some 6-8 guys, when sailing the Atlantic back and forth, and made a very good speed, too. She is a star in the corporate world, but also is all into dogs and puppies, summer-cottage-improvements, surfing, and ecological gardening. Both speak (and read) three languages and are so kind and sweet as can be, never bragging, thoughful, caring, outspoken, simply endearing and charming. I don't exaggerate. They are like most other Finnish girls, great and accomplished. Already their grandmothers were. And one has to say that Finnish fathers generally support their girls to be themselves and do what they are interested in. Of course the same goes for sons. I want to show you this guy, maybe you Nigel, would do a rection video about him? A healthy, naturally good-looking Finnish young man with good morals, kind of what many aspire to be: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iNWIgbKJz56ccXk.html - quite achievable and I'm sure he, Seve, is a heart-throb. At least in Finland.

Speaking as someone who has built an extension with their husband alone & also laid a huge block paved drive, I think it's brilliant that Finnish women can have these occupations so easily. There is something very satisfying about completing any kind of construction work & building maintenance. Many uk women love craft.....this is the same thing, just on a much bigger scale. 😊

In Switzerland there is many female painters too.

My fully jabbed neighbour likes to paint peas in a bird cage, he tells me he's a Trapped Peas Artist 👍

As a Finnish woman this video was hilarious! 😂 I've lived in Britain for five years and it was very intimidating to walk past building sites, where the men were very loud, whistling and shouting at me. No wonder girls don't consider for themselves professions in that kind of environment. And yes, it was a culture shock for us Finns to see really young girls dressed up like adults in very revealing dresses when going clubbing. I absolutely loved living in Britain!

My mates wife was Britain's first official lady plumber! Lorna Wright a Little borough Lass! From the dale!

English here, never went to Uni, married at 18, buying first house in my 20s. Despite health problems obtained fair jobs, sold everything to buy a field, lived without services, started successful businesses, worked 18 hour days, 7 days a week, nursed all family members and together we built a house which took us twenty years. Never had a passport or iPhone, never watch tv, 77 now and still doing manual. 5ft high, 8stone, same as when I was 20😊 Still looking feminine.

UK is actually sunny 🔆😎

That's completely unfair. I've lived in Finland my whole life and not once has a supermodel turned up to do any kind of work.

I´m pretty sure Nigel that back in the 80`s I fantasised about Bananarama painting my house.......

In Britain you'd normally get Dangerous Dave arriving half an hour late, asking you for a cuppa, blocking your toilet with a big jobbie, taking two hours for lunch and leaving in the afternoon with his job unfinished.

Bananarama😂

" It was like Bananarama" 😂 brilliant! Love it.

You had me in stitches ma friend

It's amazing how you said people who come from other countries don't only bring g their bodies but also their minds and cultures. That's exactly the problem we are suffering from in relation to our new residents coming to our Western countries from you know where, it won't work out at all.

You come up with the most interesting topics! Love your channel. My Daddy brought this little girl up doing anything and everything she had a mind to, with the admonition, "You can do anything you want to do." So, I trained my own horses, became a born again Christian, ran several businesses including a custom slaughter/locker plant and a weekly newspaper. Now retired living on the road 17 years as a fulltime Nomad without hindrance of the nervous Nellie fearful inner whinings of so many citified, dependent, professionally helpless females like, aren't you afraid!!!??? No, I'm not. And that translated over my 70 yr so far lifetime into going at it challenging the establishment cabal and beating them because we refused to knuckle under and be quiet. We helped defeat their attempt to license all Private, Home, and Christian schools in Nebraska back in 1983. Boy did they come roaring into town to take us down after that! But it was worth it just to beat them. Later I got smart, quit feeding the beast and enjoyably hit the road with no plans but to continue living and traveling and speaking up for God's glory.

We do have women painters in UK 😂

British are very conservative and old fashioned from our perspective.

Since I woke up to reality and more especially at the onset of the BS, I so wished that I had qualified in something more practical, like my old dad who was an electrician. I trained as a massage therapist, but having the ability to wire a house, mend a car, erect a fence, build a house, etc, etc, is way more practical and 'clever' in my eyes. However, as I'm a woman of a similar age to you Nigel, with all those mobility issues and aching limbs you talk about (affecting me for a number of years now), I could definitely do with a good massage therapist in-house to have my issues tended to exactly when I need it. So my kind are not without their uses I guess...

I agree lots of big girls in small clothes in the uk ! I’m envious of the blue sky something we don’t see anymore here in Devon always a grey haze 😢

My Wife's niece is one of those "treat me as a princess" types, so I no where you are coming from Nigel.

I am of Nordic descent! I am a woman who enjoys physical labor like mowing and working on things around the house. All my neighbors are so worried about me doing manual labor. They just think its so strange. My husband works all day and commutes and it just makes sense for me to get the chores done. Other women say things like, there is no way Im going to do yard work, etc., yet they go to the gym and workout. Im getting a workout in the great outdoors. Maybe this is why Im wired like this. Im from hearty stock😂!

Being from Rochdale (it was somebody from Rochdale that taught me this expression) I am sure you are familiar with the term, "Bingo blouse" to describe a shirt - a chemise, if you will, generously unbuttoned at the neck adorning a voluptuous female form. As in, "She's wearing a bingo blouse." EYES DOWN FOR A FULL HOUSE Boom! BOOM! In a Basil Brush fashion.

Haha you’re lucky my old school friend isn’t watching this. Nearly 6 ft, blonde, blue eyed and gorgeous, she threw in a successful career in the City to start her own painting and decorating business in London. She’d be after you with her with a pot of creosote for calling her a lazza 😂😂😂😂

And these girls did the actuacl work to "liberate" them selves. Just do your job well and it doesnt matter if its women, men or whatever. Do the work and the talkers have career opportunities too.

Hi! Swedish woman here. I have the impression that we are much more handy in the north in general. I think if you take 50 random Nordic women, gen x or older and 50 random English men (who don't work in the construction sector) to compete in driving a nail, I'd put my money on the Nordic women. In my 20s, I spent a whole summer in Surrey cutting up and burning down an entire birch that an Englishman wanted to get rid of. He had tried himself before I got there, but couldn't get a fire going. When the neighbors came by and asked what was going on, he told them: - This is a Swedish fire - What is Swedish about it, the neighbors asked - It burnes Finally I asked if I wasn't going to let his rotten shed that had collapsed go the same way? Then he said "no, because the prices of timber are so high in England that it has value". It was one of those cheap sheds built out of thin pieces of some fast growing Asian wood that had no value when new, and I had just burned down a whole fresh birch tree!!

Finn here. I really don't think it's about self-respect. I think it's about the level of independence women have. The more they need men to provide for them the more tarty they dress. I can see this in many countries and in many cultural groups. Just part of the mating song and dance. Of course young women often examine their sexuality witch leads sometimes to "everything to hang out there" but that's part of the growing process. Also let's not forget fashion trends.

Interesting. I worked with a guy from Finland, Juuso Miguel, in aviation. On the surface, he acted rather dorky but was a big guy 6’2” and some 270 lbs .. but he was so much smarter than many of my American counterparts .. I was giving him a lift to eastern Washington state for work the day “bin Laden” the hyped scary phantom from that Sept day in 2002 and we stopped at a gas station and in big bold letters on the paper “ world is safer” was there . We both started laughing our butts off as we both knew it was all bs .. he just had to get the paper as it was so ridiculous . I was glad to have Juuso with me in Mexico for work as he spoke Finnish, English and Spanish quite well however he was totally unaware how dangerous it was in Mexico City and started making a scene at a restaurant about a flimsy chair and I had to scurry him out of there before a cartel member did something to both of us

There's a vocational track in the Finnish education system. Arts and crafts, for instance, remain popular career choices. You don't have to go to university to become a respected professional in your craft. Parents of academically gifted students sure hope that their children will go to university but they aren't going to force them. Their expectations in that sense are lower. They want their children to be happy above everything else, and if painting or welding is what makes their offspring happy, so be it. I, for one, had full freedom making my own career choices. It just so happened that I went from having a vocational qualification to having a Master's degree in technology. That's another thing that Finland has: Relatively high social mobility.

Our women are pretty tough, but so are ladies around the world. I love that it's acceptable here for women to do what they want to. 😊 We literally have no concept of bringing up our daughters any different from ours sons- certain tasks need to be learned, male or female.

Nice one Nigel! I always enjoy your honesty.The background in Finland looks beautiful, totally changed my narrow minded view of a cold unforgiving environment...was hoping for a photo shoot of these beautiful builders........

A Finn here, who's lived in Ireland, hello! I do agree on most of the things you say. I think as Finnish people appreciate the independence of women, and women as equal partners, it gives us freedom to find our own paths. It also gives the responsibility to make our own paths. And that being said, Finnish women are also feminine, focused on more of the feminine side of things, can stay at home to take care of the kids, if we want to. It can be one of the choises we make. For example I'm working in an office, wear dresses every day, but I can also cut my own grass, paint my walls at home and carry my own bags of soil to the garden. I can be feminine and still do tough stuff at the same time. And my spouse can take care of the car, I have no clue how to do anything with those. :D So you see, it's all about one's own choice, rather then society doing the choice for you. And I agree, at the British islands, young girls do dress quite different when they go out. I respect myself enough not to have everything hanging out and on the display...

I am the one who always paints our house and the daughters have joined in over the years. I don't know of anyone else around here who does their painting. I'm the only one who looks after their garden as well.

My dad is a contractor and I help him sometimes on small jobs ..the builders are always asking me what I'm doing on a building site lol I laugh and say " I'm helping my dad on the job " keep in mind my dad always checks my work he doesn't usually let me use nail guns or a miter saw but I can paint , plaster , fix or build cabinets , put in door knobs and locks , carry doors ( If they're hollow ) and distrubute materials 🙂 I would never start a company myself but I can't help but critiquing other carpenters' workmanship

Great content as always and look forward to your videos. Another thing, there's a post on twitter saying that Finland is going to be the first country to offer the bird flu vaccination, have you heard anything about this?

Assumption is the mother of presumption Change your space change your mind Equity is not equality of opportunity Sounds like I need to learn Finnish and move to Finland bud lol Ain't too flexible meself! Bless your heart Nigel

GOOD MORNING NIGEL, We have a kinda blue sky today,,,,,,, woo hoo, love your shows, Take care Buddy..

The Earth IS Flat with a glass dome. The Rainbow is its reflection. Thank you

I'm always impressed by the female refuse collectors and local police when I'm on holiday in Spain or Italy.

For flexibility, try Yoga. It's Amazing! I've been practicing it for almost 17 years. It's knocked years off me as I'm not stressed or agitated 👏

In Ireland my brother works in construction and he said many women work on the sites and are excellent at what they do.

Well, as 🇫🇮 woman I’m painting, plating, tapering at our home while earning at work the bigger portion. And still He is the Head of house (which I own alone).

I don't know about the genetic stuff but I think your observations are broadly correct. I am Finnish and a woman in case you can't tell from the avatar. I've worked in construction and marine inspection. I think that women in construction gravitate toward being architects and engineers, painters, and cleaners. Welding and concrete or asphalt laying -- that type of work -- is quite male-dominated.

In the UK they've just got the "painters in" 🤪

Totally with you Nigel! Female, diy enthusiast.

Women still come up against opposition to doing "men's" work in UK, only recently accepted driving HGV's. Women did all these jobs during the war but the government and society very quickly brushed those times under the carpet. Office jobs that previously carried respect and a good wage became womens jobs and lowered paid 🤷

Love your editing of the video here. Must have been a pain to edit it. Sort of reminds me of the Fast Show :D Thanks!

Your video was refreshingly honest in what you have noticed about culture and about yourself. As a Finnish female i couldnt help but smile a bit when you spoke about Finnish women getting pride on doing things themselves, as I recognized myself (my mother and sisters) from that :D

I spoke to a Spanish girl at college 20 years ago and she said that the British are obsessed with pubs and their life revolves around pub life and that British people have just one main focus of interest, and I was more .. I think it was European because I had diverse interests.

I'm a Finnish woman and I have professional degree in house building. In the 90's I was only woman in my class, but there where several woman in automotive industry line at the same time. So for us it's just what you want to do and you can do it.

i wouldn't want to be in relationship where i have to "carry or drag" one other. so i look deeper. that is why i am single. and i am an asshole.

If only French painters were like that. Anyway, I am not here to talk about that.FYI-Nigel is not reading any comments for a few days as he is constantly taking out cups of tea(Not 5 sugars per cup there) and some of his secret stocks of Custard Creams and bourbon biscuits for the painters.

I'm a Finnish guy who's lived in the UK for 16 years, and I agree with all your observations. My biggest culture shock here has been the class system and how important "status" is for people. Having grown up in Finland it's really hard to wrap my head around all the intricacies of a class system, but here it's so ingrained into the culture.

Finland is based. I admire Finns very much.

WTF 😂😂😂😂❤ IN ALL my years, as a P&D I've never seen good looking birds painting , only the stereotypes 😊 sorry .... observational humour ❤ Blessings from Shitsville Hartlepool Teeside Northeast England ♒️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇬🇧 🙏 🙌 Wow 👌Iam moving 😂😂

We should call the painting team "Nigel's Angels"

In Finland our upbringing often is "do what you want", boy or girl. Women doing crafts and manual labour is quite common and no different than them doing more "girly" jobs. That said boys doing "girly" jobs is still a bit "wtf you doing man" 😅 Jokes aside self-reliance is respected here and that's the same regardless of gender. That probably ties to people choosing what they want to do freely without prejudice.

It looks beautiful in Finland. “Like Bananarama turning up.” 😂 I’ve never fitted in boxes. I was expected to have a professional job, doctor, etc and although I had a very good education my future went elsewhere. Mid 90s I was an HGV car transporter driver. Very rare to see women driving any trucks then. I have to say, I was treated VERY well. Regular main dealers would have a hot drink ready for me as I arrived. I think I helped change their minds about female drivers as many commented on my good driving and reversing skills. I totally agree with you about the UK dress code. Folk are moaning about young women being accosted in the street yet they are dressed like tarts! 🙄 Brits need to get their self respect back. Interestingly, when I drive through Iran I was shocked at the amount of professional women there! Many women doctors, dentists, lawyers etc. I didn’t see them doing manual jobs, (not like in India) but they weren’t hidden away and were VERY vocal. Folk think of Iran as keeping their women completely oppressed, but that isn’t true.

The state is responsible for women having little or no compunction to take up these jobs in the UK, there is a much easier route to resources provided by the state, rather than oneself. I am not being misogynistic by saying this because it is a fact, and they can garner resources not just from the state but from a string of different fathers who are forced to provide for a child they have little to no access to. So, if this was just a small percentage of women I wouldn't bother making the point, but it isn't it's massive and ever-increasing! So, this has a two-fold effect in that many of these fathers don't bother working because they'll be hounded by the state to provide for their offspring whilst absent fathers. I have on the other hand seen many a female telephone engineer, bus driver, truck driver, and even a young woman driving a breakdown truck, so a few women do take on these typically male-dominated roles, and to be fair the most I have seen are very competent whilst being feminine and attractive women.

Finland was actually never class society.

Nigel I am beginning to see more women in the building industry Where I live there is a lot of new flats going up and I see few women on there Anyway did the women make a good job painting your house?

I am a 63 year old Plumber, and have only met one woman in the trade. Pretty sure that she stands up to pee though. 😉

Hi Nigel. Have you seen Mossy Bottom's channel about moving to Finland? Quite different, compared to your experiences. That's how it should go. We all are completely different beings.

I went to an all girls school, it was my choice.

Yeah, we're kinda equal(-ish) here in Finland. Attitudes still need a little bit of work. The fact is, that Men and women are different. And it's important. Still,.. both are needed the same way. If only everyone would realise that we're stronger together and complete eachother, rather than fight and sneer at eachother...we might actually accomplish something.

😮 So as Female car mechanic, Im attractive to a Finnish man? Cool, blonde hair with blues surfer vibe, me likes! 😊

I worked in construction in many countries. Just to give you an example: when I worked on a large infrastructure project in the UK, there were Women on the same job as me. I worked down a trench and out in the Scottish winter, the women chose jobs where they could sit in a warm dump truck all day. That's their choice, but there is no way they should earn the same money as a person who risks injury or life and has to do a much harder job.

Thinking about the women my extended family, you really do have all kinds; from the typical kindergarten teacher to doctor to security guard/bouncer and engineer.

Finland is the first country to offer the new bird flu vax..starting next week...

I had my brigad here last year to cut up and stack the firewood and it was my ex landlady her son and his missus and they get stuck in and they are both very feminine, I once saw a girl in stilettos and a mini skirt chopping wood here in Bulgaria what a sight amazing.

I worked in the UK actually in Mc Cormicks factory. I knew that some looked at me like a shit, (low class) but I didn't give a shit either for them. This is my life and I do as I please. Co workers and lads in the nearest pub always treated me nicely though. Some are way too old fashioned there but not all.

Didn't you offer to 'foot' the ladder for them, Nigel, i'm sure you could have been of some help?

A younger Bannanarama turning up at your house , enough to get the ole ticker racing eh mate 😂

20 year's ago I was in Cyprus. It look like half a dozen old women doing tarmac repairs on the roads. In nun outfits?

I (Finnish woman) work in tech. Even if there's more men in the industry than women, it's such a non-issue that women also choose this as a career that it wont even get a reaction whenever I mention my profession. My qualifications haven't been questioned, and I've not had to prove myself any more than others. But I know that someplaces else abroad it can be met with surprise, suspicion or scrutiny if your IT support, hardware repair technician or software consultant is a woman. Whether it be by a job interviewer, a collegue or a customer. Twice in the past 15 years I've met a biased customer, who demanded that their maintenance job was checked by another employee (aka a man) after I was done. Only twice!

I lived in Germany back in the seventies, one day when travelling by tram three attractive young women boarded. They all wore the same dungaree type overalls and were splattered by paint streaks. I remember thinking they had obviously just finished a hard days work and i was trying to remember if I had ever seen a British female doing a similar traditional male job.

I don't disagree with anything you've said Nigel. In the early 1970's I witnessed the first female apprentice mechanic in the town I lived in at the time. Later I remember her fixing an issue on my car and I thought nothing of it as she'd had the same training as the male mechanics,. Up to present times. Our window cleaner is female and the local taxi service is run and operated by a female. The local pub is also run by a female and our Royal Mail service is a female postie. I never had a problem with it apart from none of them would accept my marriage proposals. 😅

I think it's great if Bananarama turns up in your front yard with brushes, buckets and painters overalls :) I'd be delighted. I'd be like "fantastic, it's 80's again!!" :D

I would have loved to have seen your face Nigel.

There are actually quite a lot of all female decorating teams in England that I’ve noticed nowadays.. also husband and wife teams. I don’t think the fact that historically it has been more male orientated is to do with English women being princessy…. If that were the case then you wouldn’t get most cleaners being women…. Cleaning (properly) is a very physical job too… sometimes, some women need help from men with physical tasks… I don’t think that’s about weakness… it’s just that, often, women are not as strong, physically as men (not always… this is a generalisation).. but it’s obvious.. this is why there’s such a furore over trans women competing in women’s sports…. Asking for help with these things doesn’t make women pathetic.. in fact the feminist movement has gone way too far… has become toxic… wanted equality but a lot of that has been ‘achieved’ (not) by women denying their femininity… and being too much in their masculine aspect… much of the agenda has weakened men and women… have a look into masculine containment and the benefits of this, which have been largely lost.. there is a big difference between a man offering and a woman accepting containment, than a woman being princessy and lazy and expecting the man to do everything for her… but remember also the damaging effect of Disney. Just a few thoughts. I’m not a big fan of doing decorating myself… and I’m not very good around the edges! Lol…. Have recently discovered old fashioned milk paint, though, which makes it much more pleasant.

In finland painting is seen as quite feminine. The butch ones are in construction

Probably better that women are doing the decorating, I offered to emulsion my neighbour's back passage, and she hasn't spoken to me since?!