When plumber Hera Eruera arrives at a plumbing job she gets a mix of reactions.
Re: News spent a day on the job with Hera to hear how plumbing helped her escape a cycle of poverty. Watch the Re: News video on TVNZ+.
One time a customer opened the door and immediately said: “No, not interested”.
Hera replied, “Oh, did you not call for a plumber?” And the customer said “Oh you’re the plumber, I thought you were a sales rep trying to sell me something”.
“I said ‘No, definitely the plumber, I heard you had a leak’. And so they are hovering over me, watching me do things and said ‘Oh you actually do know what you are doing’.”
One time a customer even asked her, “Why plumbing? It’s such a dirty job. Why would you want to do a man’s job?”
Female plumbers in short supply
In Aotearoa, there are 4,575 certified plumbers, but only 15 of them are women, according to the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board.
And even if you zoom out and count plumbers of all registration classes – including trainee and uncertified plumbers – there are 11,955 in total and only 134 are women.
Hera, who goes by the Instagram handle shes_a_maori_plumber, said while being a wahine Māori plumber means copping some patronising comments, there are also wholesome reactions too – especially working with Māori and Pasifika communities in her home of South Auckland.
She said a Māori customer once rushed to the door and asked “Wait what, are you Māori? And you’re our plumber? I’ve never seen a lady plumber before, that’s so cool.”
Hera said her customers have told her they appreciate having a tradesperson in their home who looks like them. She finds this is especially the case for single mothers who can sometimes feel uncomfortable with having strangers in their home or can be made to feel like “they don’t know anything” about plumbing.
“Times are changing,” she said. “Women are coming into more male-dominated areas, and we’re dominating that shit.”
Female plumbers needed now more than ever
Alongside being a mum and her day job as a plumber, Hera is also working to inspire more women to join the trade – and the industry is in desperate need.
Despite being a well-earning career path once certified, New Zealand has been facing a significant shortage of plumbers for some time.
Plumbing is even listed on Immigration New Zealand’s construction and infrastructure skill shortage list, meaning the government is actively encouraging skilled workers from overseas to fill the gap.
Hera said this gap could be filled if more girls were encouraged to take up the trade in school. Instead, she said in high school she was taught the trades are your “last resort”.
“I was taught if you don’t enjoy school then all the dumb kids just go and get a trade. But that is so far from the truth. Everything I am learning now I can go back to my marae and do all the maintenance there and teach my own family as well.”
Once qualified, Hera hopes to start her own female-run plumbing company called ‘Purple Plumbers’ or ‘Yeah The Girls’ to prove plumbing isn’t just a man’s job.
“I definitely didn’t expect to be a plumber,” she said. “But now that I am here my life is exactly what I had manifested for myself since I was growing up.
“So to finally realize that’s come to fruition. Fah, it’s pretty neat alright. I did that, I really did that.”
Watch Re: News journalist Zoe Madden-Smith’s day on the job with Hera Eruera on TVNZ+.
