Welding is not for everybody. It is a tough job that requires skill and in certain situations endurance and perseverance. Sometimes fieldwork can be even more dangerous as welders have to weld in certain conditions that can even be life-threatening.
So not a lot of people would say that this is a job for a woman.
But we are not living in that society anymore. Today, women can do the same job as men, and vice versa. So one shouldn’t be wondering about the rising number of female welders.
But are they any good?
In fact, women can be great TIG welders, in some cases even better than men.
Why TIG Welding
TIG welding, also known as Gas Tungsten Arc Welding, is an arc welding process that creates a weld using a non-consumable electrode. It became popular in the 1940s and welders started using it as a go-to method for welding aluminum or magnesium.
TIG welders can produce welds that are pleasing to the eye and it is also used for precision work.
So what makes women good TIG welders? The key phrase here is precision.
Women can operate different types of TIG welders with relative ease because women are good at precision work. MIG welding may be easier and faster to learn as it also doesn’t require the use of both hands when working. But TIG goes naturally for women for a number of reasons.
Precision and Accuracy
Everyone would agree that women have a better eye for aesthetics. Men simply lack the ability to tell certain things apart while women certainly don’t. It is like the fact with being able to tell more color aspects as a girl can differentiate more types of colors than men.
In this case, women can be good welders as they can produce quality work with precision. The main quality of TIG welding is accuracy and women are going to put much more effort into creating aesthetically pleasing welds than men.
A Steady Hand
A female welder can be calm and work at a slow pace to complete the project. That is not to say that men aren’t calm, but women usually take a calmer approach to certain things. So it is quite normal that it results in them having a steady hand.
TIG welding does require a person to be calm when working. A shaky hand is not going to result in anything good, particularly not with good-looking welds, which is the actual point here. So girls will be able to concentrate more in order to complete the work better.
Excel in their Work
Whether men want to admit it or not, women are simply far more ambitious than men. Women can excel in any type of work as they have the mental capacity to rise in certain situation higher than most. Ambition is a great characteristic to possess, not just in this but in any type of work.
With the ability to understand how a process works better than most, women are going to learn how to use TIG welding better. Not only that, but they will start producing better results with time and practice. All in all, if given the same amount of time to learn and really get good at TIG welding, a girl would probably take the cake.
Would You Hire a Girl to TIG Weld?
So the final question remains are people going to be confident enough to hire a woman as a TIG welder? The question may be hard to answer but the reality is that we are going to see more women performing this type of job.
Currently, in the US, it is estimated that 5% of the available welding base are women according to the department of labor. This number will just keep on rising as girls are only going to get even better.