The tables have turned with one lady's latest business venture out to provide safe handy-work to women across Wagga and surrounds.
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Amanda Starkey had the idea to start her business 'Hire a HandyWoman' recently after years of battling being a female in a male-dominated workforce.
"There are no services to help women feel comfortable while getting the jobs they need done, and there’s no work out there that I can do without having a man sexually harass me, because I like to work outside," she said.
Hire a HandyWoman centres on making women and the elderly feel safe in their own homes when something goes wrong.
"I’ve had a few bad experiences myself and it’s made me the woman I am and I want to be able to help other women and the elderly and just empower them a little bit," Ms Starkey said.
"One in three women have been sexually assaulted, and that’s really sad so to make them feel a bit safer with everyday life I’m offering this service."
Ms Starkey will travel up to an hour and a half around Wagga for jobs, offering services like mowing, trimming, and even basic car servicing.
"Anything around the yard or home, I can do," she said.
So far, the business idea has had a great response.
"I’ve got over 80 likes on the Facebook page now and a few inquiries - we’re still waiting to get a bit of work, but my best friend is a mother to almost six children, so she’ll do all my accounting and book work and it's just a matter of getting the message out," she said.
Ms Starkey said it is difficult finding trade work as a woman, but having females in the industry is essential.
"Since the end of Christmas last year I’ve been trying to get some decent, reliable work and found it was too hard for a woman in a male's industry, so why not beat the man," she said.
"There's a lot of break and enters around, people are coming in and taking things, so we’re at the point where women need to be able to call someone that can come to their home and know they’re gonna feel safe.
"I can do jobs just like a bloke, I run around like a bloke, but I’m not a bloke - I’m here to make people feel safer in their own homes and get what they need done at a competitive rate."
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Jessica McLaughlin
If something is awry in our community, I want to know. If someone deserves celebration, I want to know. Everyone deserves an honest news source and that's what I'm here to help achieve.
If something is awry in our community, I want to know. If someone deserves celebration, I want to know. Everyone deserves an honest news source and that's what I'm here to help achieve.
