Emanuela is from Vado Ligure (Savona) in Italy and she lives and works in Italy. She describes herself as:

“I worked as a surveyor in a professional studio until 2006; when my husband and my father founded a company that works on  safety in the construction sector, I decided to join the front row and work with them on the construction site and in the practical training courses,  now it’s 13 years that I work with them. I have no problems with male staff, I am respected and I don’t consider myself marginalized or subject to discrimination, even if sometimes I understand that some men look at me as if I was not adequate at the beginning of the lesson, but then during the work they change because by working on the site and not theorising only, they have the possibility to change the perspective of their mind. When an individual fully understands the topic to be treated, not only from a theoretical point of view but above all from a practical point of view, all the possible preconceptions fall”

QUESTION.- Why did you choose to train in a profession instead of another type of studies?

ANSWER.- I decided to work in a building site instead in an office because I prefer to stay in a construction site.

Q.- Have you be trained in any training course?

A.- Yes I follow some specializating training course on scaffold in Scuola Edile di Genova, but mostly I learned from my husband

Q.- How was the first day you handled the scaffold?

A.- My Husband encouraged me, told me I could and then I tried. And everything went well for me.

Q.- Are there more girls who use scaffold?

A.- I don’t know I have never seen other women on scaffold in Italy , but it may be; I hope to met some women that works in building site

Q.- What is the reaction of the workers when they saw you to mount the scaffolding?

A.- I understand that some men look at me as if I was not adequate at the beginning, but then during the work they change because by working on the site and not theorising only we reach the same result

Q.- How is the relationship with your colleagues?

A.- Very good, there is a great atmosphere. They are calm, they are not prejudiced by the fact that I am a woman and they accept that I work with them as one more.

Q.- How did you imagine the construction sector with much more women?

A.- I hope that will be involved a great number of women like I do and that They have the same lucky that I have, because this is a very great work

Q.- What would you say to a young girl who is considering joining the construction sector?

A.- I would say: “Come woman, courage! I think it is not so difficult to enter this sector. If you have strength and willpower, you can. If you keep thinking that these are men’s jobs, there will never be a sector with women “.