I’m a 19-year-old ‘girly’ girl but I do a job that’s typically ‘man’s work’ – even steel-toe boots didn’t put me off
A SELF-PROFESSED "girly girl" has revealed she's proud to be smashing stereotypes after picking up a job in a shipyard.
Eve Valentine, 19, has been working as a project management apprentice at Scotstoun’s BAE Systems yard since last summer and has hailed it “empowering”.
The teen, from Clydebank, near Glasgow, admits she used to think working along the docks was for "workies".
But she now insists her apprenticeship has “changed her life".
And she loves it so much she's been trying to convince her friends to join her.
Eve left school to study social sciences at university in 2022 but dropped out after a year as she realised it "wasn't for her."
Within just a few months, she started working for BAE Systems.
Speaking to The Clydebank Post, she said: “To be honest with you, my first reaction was – ‘I don’t want to work in a shipyard.’
"It was always advertised as like a workies thing to do apprenticeships and go off and work in a shipyard and do welding and joining.
“I am a very girly teenage girl. So, the idea of working in a shipyard with steel-toe boots and overalls just didn’t appeal to me at all.
“[I] used to look at things and worry about getting our nails chipped or our hair dirty.
"[But] being able to go into my apprenticeship has completely changed me as a person."
Before starting her job, Eve reached out to female planners and project managers to get a vibe of what their day-to-day life was like in the role.
And she quickly realised being able to say "I am a woman working in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math]" was something that appealed to her.
She now hopes to inspire more young women to join her.
She added: “I found a confidence within when saying it. Working with some of the other female apprentices, it is a great feeling to be that empowered.”
Eve is one of many new recruits with BAE, who more than doubled the number of apprenticeships they offered in the last five years.
The defence contractor is set for another record-breaking recruitment drive this year with almost 2,700 new apprentice and graduate opportunities available to young people across the UK.
With more than 60 apprenticeship programmes available, opportunities range from steelwork and electrical engineering to cyber security, software development, human resources and project management.
Charles Woodburn, Chief Executive, BAE Systems, said: “As the UK’s largest manufacturer, we have sites located right across the country and we’re investing hundreds of millions of pounds to equip young people with the skills they need to achieve their full potential.
“Providing high quality apprenticeships and graduate programmes gives young people a route into long-term employment and helps to grow the talent we need to deliver vital national defence and security programmes, including future fighter jets, nuclear-powered submarines and low earth orbit satellites.”
