Female welder lost job over lack of women’s toilet

For more than 30 years, Mel Stewart has defied doubters as one of the North East’s first female welders.

Now 50, Mel has faced bullying, sexism and rejection before rising to the top, meeting royalty and launching a successful business with her best friend.

Through AdMel, she is headhunted for work around the world, helping build data centres as far afield as China.

Now she is fighting to help more women weld and remove the barriers she faced for more than 30 years.

“I went through the mill to get into welding, even changing my name on job applications just to get through the front door,” said the Ashington-born welder.

“I had to change my name and fight to get through the door, to prove myself. But once I was in there, they realised I was as good as any man.”

Mel Stewart (Image: ADMEL)

Yet the sector is still heavily male-dominated.

Industry data shows women make up as few as three per cent of UK welders.

For Mel, “old school” attitudes have long blocked efforts to close that gap.

“When I started as an apprentice, there were no lasses on the shop floor,” said Mel, who now lives in Bedlington.

“I faced a ton of animosity from old-school men from the pits, who didn’t take well to a female on the shop floor.

“I was told that I should be a hairdresser, not a welder.”

After moving to Australia for work, she returned and applied for dozens of jobs but received not even a rejection letter.

Then an agency in Aberdeen called.

“When they heard my voice, the first thing they asked was to speak to my husband, I had to point out I was Mel,” she recalled.

When she was finally considered, she was crushed to learn she could not get the job because the site had no facilities for women.

“I offered to pee in a bucket or share a toilet,” she laughed.

“But there was no way they could get you in. They told me it was health and safety.”

“The job and money were fantastic – and I lost that opportunity just because they didn’t have a toilet.”

Sexism in the industry is less openly aggressive, but decades later Mel believes the underlying attitude remains.

“In one job, a male worker was discussing a young female apprentice welder. He said she was fine at the job, but there wasn’t any point having her on the shop floor because of the distraction she’d cause to the men,” she added.

“I suggested the fix would be self-control.”

“That mindset is still there. A lot of men think we still don’t belong or have the right to weld.”

“And that’s what I’m fighting against, changing the thought process so people realise women deserve to be in this job as much as anyone else.”

And the reality is the sector needs as many new faces as possible.

Britain needs about 1,000 new welders each year, yet just 231 welding apprenticeships began in 2024.

The workforce is ageing, leaving a shrinking pool of skilled people to train the next generation.

At AdMel, Mel and co-founder Adam Maughan are doing just that, passing their years of experience to apprentices at the fast-growing firm.

The company is flourishing, with contracts including NHS projects, while Mel and Adam are often sought for consultancy work.

A self-proclaimed “tinker” at school, Mel has also worked on schemes helping troubled youngsters avoid a life of crime.

After years of struggling to get her foot in the door, AdMel director Mel hopes her story will inspire more women to try welding, especially as Government data shows only one in 10 engineering and manufacturing apprentices are female.

“I had to get my own business to become the person I want to be, because I’ve had so many businesses where I could have been a director but I was never given the opportunity,” she said.

“I just want to have the chance to make sure others get the opportunity they deserve.”