This first all-female garage aspires to become an inclusive space for employees and customers

Sometimes it takes more than words and encouragement to make a profession diverse and inclusive. People need frontrunners to lead by example and make space for everyone in an industry. In the case of mechanics and engineering, Laura Kennedy who founded "Spanners with Manners" with her partner Siobhan, London's first all-female garage, is leading the change. However, neither Kennedy nor her partner had any idea that they would receive such a huge number of applications, per BBC.

The aim of the organization is to encourage women to join the industry. "I think representation is really important. If girls don’t know that other girls are mechanics, they’re never going to walk into a college and give it a go," Kennedy expressed. When the team first set up shop they got a humungous number of calls from women who wanted to work for them, hence they ended up being an all-women garage. Natasha Rawal, one of the employees at the organization, went from being a hostess to a mechanic and shared, "As women, we can do it." Rawal loves the job because she gets to work outside, keep fit and learn something new every day.

"How are we in 2022 with only one all-female garage in London?" the woman questioned. "To be honest as women we have smaller hands so we can fit our hands through the cars and we work just as well." Kennedy pointed out, "One of the benefits of being female and doing this is that if you want to have a quick look under a car, just jack it up a little bit, slide under and slide out back again." She also felt that if you have a mechanical mindset you know that if something isn't working you can fix it. She shared how things have gotten better in terms of representation but we still have a long way to go.

15 years ago when Kennedy started working with Porsche things were quite different. “Not all guys I’ve worked with have been horrible, but some of them have. In a previous place I worked, some men would just stop and stare at me. But I think men’s attitudes to women who do trades are different now. Most of the people who run these businesses are men, but they’re giving women more opportunities," the woman told Positive News. Surprisingly enough, Kennedy continues to get more and more applications from women who want to be a part of the industry. “We went from strength to strength. We’ve never had to advertise for staff. The colleges find out about us online and they’ll phone us and say: ‘We’ve got a girl here. Can you give her a shot?’ We’ve never had a man call up for a job. We wouldn’t be against it, but it just hasn’t happened.”

Kennedy and Siobhan also noted how one of their focus is to create a better environment for female customers who might find usual garage settings intimidating. The customers find it very reassuring to have their vehicles in trustworthy hands as per the organization's website. Talking about the future Kennedy revealed, "We’re going to be opening an MOT center and hopefully in about a year, we’ll start working with electric cars. One of our mechanics in particular really has the drive to learn about them.” She even told Positive News about the future she wished for the industry, “In 20 years, I think there’ll be all-female garages all over London and the UK.”