We frequently hear about the discrimination women face at the office, especially where wage inequality is concerned.
But what is it like for women who work in trades and skilled labor positions almost entirely dominated by men—for instance, in the auto repair field?
A female mechanic named Jess on TikTok is working to expose precisely this situation, and suffice to say, it isn't pretty.
Going by @thatmechanicchickjess on the app, Jess exposed one of her male coworkers' open hostility towards her in a video that has gone mega-viral while giving a glimpse into what women face in her field.
See the video below.
@mechanicchickjess I’m still trying to get used to this app 😅
In the video, Jess confronted one of her male colleagues, challenging him to say on camera what he had just said to her before she started filming.
She told him:
"You're gonna be famous, say it."
The man then looked into the camera and without a moment's hesitation—smiling all the time—told Jess:
"You don't belong here, in the mechanic world."
Jess followed his comment with various shots of her definitely, absolutely "belonging" in "mechanic world," hefting enormous tires onto cars and performing various highly skilled auto repairs just like any other mechanic.
After several people challenged her on the veracity of her video, accusing her of cutting it to flatter herself, Jess followed up with an uncut video of her coworker's comments.
It got so much worse.
@mechanicchickjess Guys 😅 this video is a real raw video of the haters 😂 I didn’t cut it to make him look bad. If anything I cut it to make him look better 😅
First, he told her what she should be doing instead of being a mechanic.
"You should be out doing something with your life, going to a college or something."
So college is apparently just for women, according to this guy. One also wonders why this gentleman is a mechanic himself if being a mechanic doesn't qualify as "doing something with your life."
Anyway, after Jess informed him she in fact is going to college while working as a mechanic, the guy finally cut to the chase and said the quiet part out loud.
"Don't be here... Because this is a man's world."
Jess' fellow TikTokers saw her coworker's sexism and had no time for his nonsense.
@valenciaavd/TikTok
@wunderheck/TikTok
@madravenx/TikTok
@tiktokteeshirts.com/TikTok
@leo102063/TikTok
@jalapeno12_20/TikTok
@stayoutofthewoods/TikTok
And several women shared their similar experiences working in male dominated fields.
@riqueeeej/TikTok
@tonyaeaster1/TikTok
@chickenwing322/TikTok
@thelittlestplumber/TikTok
Despite her coworker's harassment, Jess hasn't slowed down sharing her auto repair expertise to her nearly 132,000 TikTok followers.
So much for auto repair being a "man's world."
@lpeterp/Bluesky
@FPWellman/X
@bobsbeatgmail.com5/Threads