A female Bunnings worker has lifted the lid on the relentless sexism she says she faces in her job saying she is made to feel like a “weak, feeble woman”.
Haley Webber told her TikTok followers she was “constantly overlooked at work”.
The young woman said customers generally “bypass her” to go “straight up to a male co workers” when they have a question.
Incredibly, she said customers often ask her if she can find someone else to help them –automatically assuming she would have no idea about hardware.
Ms Webber said she didn’t believe customers were being malicious but the situation sent her “spiralling”.
She used the example of a male customer who needed help getting a 20kg bag off a high shelf.
Ms Webber said she brought the man a step ladder, but he insisted she would not be able to carry the bag.
“He was like, ‘No you are not strong enough’,” she said.
Ms Webber insisted she was strong enough.
“He looked at me like I was a weak feeble woman who wouldn’t be able to handle it. It was only 20kg it is not that heavy,” she said.
A statement from Wesfarmers, the owner of Bunnings, said the hardware store was committed to “creating a welcome and supportive workplace for all”.
“Bunnings is proud that over 26,000 women have chosen to further their careers at Bunnings,” the statement read.
“At the end of the financial year, the gender balance at Bunnings was 51 per cent women and 49 per cent men.”
Ms Webber’s concerns come as Australia has for the first time released data reflecting a gender pay gap at nearly 5000 companies.
Wesfarmers’ median gender pay gap for total remuneration was 3.5 per cent – although at the base salary level the gap is higher at 7 per cent.
Jenny Bryant, Wesfarmers’ chief human resources officer, told the Australian Financial Reviewthe company had a number of initiatives to increase female representation in the workplace, such as flexible working policies and women in leadership programs.
Ms Bryant blamed the pay gap on the lower number of women in technology roles at the company.
