Ipswich’s Kortney Heit reveals the struggles of being a woman in male-dominated industry

A 26-year-old apprentice carpenter with plans to take the profession by storm has opened up about what it’s like being a young woman in a male dominated industry and inspiring other women to join her.

A 26-year-old apprentice carpenter with plans to take the profession by storm has opened up about what it’s like being a young woman in a male-dominated industry.

Ipswich resident Kortney Heit is just months away from completing her apprenticeship and already has plans to start her own construction business and enrol in a dual degree at university to study urban planning and engineering.

“I always wanted to get into some sort of trade because I already had in the back of my head that if everything goes to hell I’ll always have a job because you always need trades at the end of the day,” Ms Heit said.

“As for picking my particular trade, I grew up in a poor household and I was always the handy one in my family.

“The turning point for it was when I was working at a secondhand store and I had this tradie come in and he was actually trying to talk me down on the price of a nail gun because thought it was broken, even though he worked in the field with nail guns.”

Kortney Heit studies carpentry at the TAFE Qld Ipswich campus.

When Ms Heit corrected him he “had a go at her” and said: ‘Well if you know so much about the industry why don’t you join?’.”

“I just looked at him, put the gun on the counter and said ‘You know what? I’m gunna,” she said.

“I walked straight out the back and told my boss I was going to become an apprentice carpenter.”

That was four years ago and Ms Heit hasn’t looked back since.

She has big plans for the future, and after completing her apprenticeship Ms Heit hopes to gain further qualifications in city planning and engineering.

“I want to build up my own company and do everything from the planning to the actual construction phase and then the design work

“I’m planning on doing a dual degree in urban planning with honours in environmental planning and the secondary aspect being structural engineering so I can do the structural plans, I can do the layouts for cities and everything like that.

“And then I’ll also be qualified in having my own construction business so we can do everything from A through to Z.

“That’s the aim.”

But the road to success hasn’t been easy for Ms Heit, who said she has had to deal with sexism and misogyny while fighting for a place at the table in a male dominated industry.

“It’s actually really hard to get a job in the industry as a female, like the struggles that you face are very different.

“I feel like some people just don’t understand the difficulties that come with it, they think ‘Oh yeah, a job’s a job, you’ll be able to get it easy as’ but it’s not really how it is in this industry.

“You really have to fight and in my experience you have to work a lot harder than a lot of the men do just in order to show your worth.

“At the moment I’m in class with one other girl … I’ve only come across two female apprentices in my entire life.

Kortney Heit and TAFE Qld Ipswich campus carpentry teacher David Cole.

Ms Heit said her current employer was really good at supporting her and putting a stop to sexism in the environment.

“It’s actually been really good, like whenever I do face issues with sexism and misogyny in the workplace my generally snuffs it out pretty quickly because he doesn’t stand for it,” she said.

“I think it’s because he’s seen that I’m reliable and I’m actually a good worker, or at least I hope he does.”

Ms Heit has also been supported by trade tool company Stabila, who asked her to join their ‘Truepro Ladies’ campaign supporting women in the trade industry around the world.

After tagging the company on her Instagram Stabila reached out to Ms Heit and asked her to come on board to inspire more young women to join the industry and to give them advice.

“My TAFE currently lacks certain goods and usable tools and I mentioned this to Stabila, and so they have generously decided to fit out my local TAFE with new measuring tools,” she said.

Stabile have donated hundreds of dollars worth of tools including spirit levels, lasers, measuring tapes and more, which should arrive at the TAFE Queensland Ipswich campus soon.

“Women only make two per cent of the industry, we still face a lot of sexism and trouble even getting a job in the industry, and to be honest, Stabila donating the amount of levels that they are is insane, and it’s quite a good, supportive gesture from Stabila.”