The class ring salesman gave student Burnt Hills/Ballston Lake High School and Career & Technical School junior Jamie Clark a hard time. His company offered women’s high school rings with study areas such as construction and automotive engraved upon them, but rings featuring welding were available only for male students. The salesman asked Clark why a girl would want to weld, anyway. If sparks could travel via phone line, his ear would have been singed.

"I told him welding pays very well and that there are more than 60,000 female welders in the world. In fact, women have been welding since the 1940s," Clark said. "I asked him if he ever heard of Rosie the Riveter?!" Clark got her ring, a men’s ring featuring welding in a small size that is attractive and fits her well, like her choice of career.

Sara Christopher, the only other female student in Clark’s Welding class, has also faced criticism for her choice of occupation. In an article for the Career & Tech student newspaper, The Word, the Schenectady High School senior wrote, "Women are just as capable of operating heavy machinery and using welding machines as men are. It takes a male just as long to master the complicated techniques involved with welding as it takes a woman to do."

Welding is indeed complicated. Whether one is using an arc, mig (metal inert gas) or tig (tungsten inert gas) welder, or brazing and soldering, welding "requires focus, concentration and extensive training and experience," according to Mike Todd, Clark and Christopher’s Welding & Metal Fabrication instructor at Career & Tech’s Albany campus. "Physical dexterity is important; welders must be nimble."

Welding, according to Todd, is also a very dirty profession. Welders often work in an environment that is greasy, oily and gritty, and they risk being burned or shocked if they don’t follow proper procedures. There are very few women in the field, although minority hiring incentives have attracted more in recent years. Why then would anyone, male or female, choose to weld?

"I love the smell of burning metal and the fire. Welding is my incentive to get up in the morning," Clark explained. "Welding is really good if you are a hands-on person, female or male."

Clark, whose father is a certified welder, first welded on her family’s farm when she was age six. As a child, she wanted to become a teacher but changed her mind after arc welding in eighth grade technology class. In ninth grade, she was one of only two female students in metal technology class and in 10^th grade was the only female in advanced metal technology. Teasing by male classmates failed to deter Clark.

"At my high school, the guys told me to go back to the kitchen," she related. "At Career & Tech, the guys are better, although they still say things. I don’t care as long as they treat me with some respect."

Clark and Christopher have both found that their talent and skill as welders has earned them a measure of respect from their Career & Tech classmates. Both are excellent students. "In welding," notes their instructor, Todd, "women have to prove themselves. Yet they can match mud to mud, or weld to weld, with men."

"Someone once told me, ‘females can be a distraction on the job site,’" said Christopher. "But if you are a professional, the sex of a person should not matter. My mother is a welder who also ran her own welding school."

A published writer who once considered a journalism career, Christopher would like to become a bridge welder, where she can "earn massive money working and just chilling 100 feet above the water."

Clark plans on attending Lincoln Electric Welding School in Cleveland, Ohio, after she graduates in 2004.
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