[Harp-L] Where are all the female customisers?

["Aongus MacCana" <amaccana@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I have noticed over the years that the specialist tuners and customisers
referred to and recommended on this list are exclusively men. At the same
time all the photographs and video clips of harmonica factories I have seen
show production lines of harmonica builders who seem to be almost all women.


Without being sexist or anything I am aware that hard-nosed commercial
manufacturers seem to have concluded that for certain delicate manufacturing
operations such as electronic assembly - (and perhaps harmonica tuning and
assembly?) women have a more natural ability than men.

What got me thinking on these lines was when I found out that Hohner used to
have a harmonica factory in a small town about twenty miles from where I
live in the west of Ireland, which only closed down a few years ago. When
the factory ceased manufacturing a lot of skilled operators found themselves
unemployed.

It occurred to me that if one of these skilled and experienced women had
converted her spare bedroom into a workshop and started servicing harmonicas
she might have been able to establish a viable cottage industry.

Beannachtai

Aongus Mac Cana