That Engineering was a man’s world was something that Peter Troy had always believed, though rarely given voice to. It was not an opinion formed by some misogynistic instinct but rather one that had evolved over time, stretching from his school-days in metalwork class, though his engineering degree to his 11 years as an engineer in various companies throughout England and Scotland. Women and heavy machinery simply didn’t mix.
He did encounter women on occasion; there were a handful of women on his University course, though he had discovered that few had pursued traditional engineering jobs in later life. Women were in practice a rarity which made the situation which he now found himself in more uncomfortable.
His company distributed and maintained precision machine tools. The company on whose shop floor he was now standing had once been a well regarded if small, family owned engineering company, but to Peter it seemed it was reaching the end of the line.