International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year - 2022's theme is #BreakTheBias. Photo / Supplied
International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year - 2022's theme is #BreakTheBias. Photo / Supplied
International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year, which makes it the perfect opportunity to showcase a young woman in our community who has qualified in what could be called a non-traditional career.
Madison Harvey grew up on a lifestyle block in Raetihi, before moving with her family to Foxton at 8 years old.
Attending Horowhenua College for her secondary education, Madison decided in Year 12 that she was done with studying, so after gaining her Level 2 qualification by mid-year she told her parents she wanted to leave.
"My parents said if I could show them a [job] contract then I could leave school," said Madison, "so I approached my boss at Hessels and asked for fulltime work."
Twenty-two-year-old Madison Harvey is the only female line mechanic in her crew working for power utility company, Electra. Photo / Supplied
Fresh out of high school, Madison became a farm manager at Hessels Poultry Farm in Foxton, a role she worked in for the next couple of years, before considering another career move.
Having always had a passion for makeup, and being in demand to do ball and wedding makeup for friends and family, Madison had just enrolled in a beauty therapy course, when a friend told her that his work had a job opportunity she might like to consider.
"He told me that Electra was looking to employ a female line mechanic and that I should chuck an application in."
So, four years ago Madison made the leap to another non-typical role, with New Zealand's ninth largest lines company, and hasn't regretted it, becoming a qualified line mechanic early last year.
The theme for International Women's Day in 2022 is #BreakTheBias - including in the workforce. Image / Supplied
"I loved the fact that it was predominately hands-on, on the job training, and I couldn't have asked for a better starting crew of guys – really supportive and encouraging," Madison said.
Being the only female line mechanic at the company had some challenges initially, from what to do when you need to go to the toilet on site, to building up physical strength, although it only took Madison a couple of months to get to the correct strength and fitness for the job, as she was already 'farm fit'.
Madison is excited by the opportunities and choices a career with Electra offers her and encourages any other women looking at becoming a trainee in the electricity supply industry to not be intimidated and just go for it.
"You work with so many interesting people and you'll meet a team of people on the block courses [as part of your training] that you'll become good mates with," she said.
With the theme for International Women's Day in 2022 being Break The Bias, Kāpiti-Horowhenua's Electra is going a long way to helping make this happen.
