{"id":251963,"date":"2023-03-07T05:23:40","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T03:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=129276"},"modified":"2023-03-07T05:23:40","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T03:23:40","slug":"first-female-chainsaw-operators-make-the-cut-at-knysna-municipality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/first-female-chainsaw-operators-make-the-cut-at-knysna-municipality\/","title":{"rendered":"First female chainsaw operators make the cut at Knysna Municipality"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\n<aside id=\"republication_tracker_tool-2\" class=\"republication_tracker_tool clearfix\">\n<h5 class=\"adtitle\">Republish for Free<\/h5>\n<div class=\"license\">\n<p><button name=\"Republish This Story\" id=\"cc-btn\" class=\"republication-tracker-tool-button\">Republish This Story<\/button><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"license\" rel=\"noreferrer license noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/first-female-chainsaw-operators-make-the-cut-at-knysna-municipality.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/first-female-chainsaw-operators-make-the-cut-at-knysna-municipality.png\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"message\">\n<p>Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Husqvarna\u2019s battery-operated chainsaws are enabling women in forestry<\/p>\n<p>Forestry has historically been a male-dominated profession. While women may work in a management capacity, there has been little opportunity for them to work in the field. The battery-operated chainsaw is, however, levelling the playing field and together, Husqvarna and the Knysna Municipality are now empowering women to build sustainable careers as chainsaw operators in the region.<\/p>\n<p>The driving force behind this empowerment initiative is Pam Booth, who heads up Knysna Municipality\u2019s Environmental Planning. Enabling more women to work in forestry has always been something that has interested her, but she previously never had the opportunity to turn this into a reality. In fact, this initiative evolved due to budgeting constraints in her department that saw the diminutive, grey-haired Pam picking up a chainsaw and qualifying as an operator herself!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA large portion of our departmental budget was being spent on buying and maintaining chainsaws, so I thought it was only fair to senior management and the operators to see for myself what was involved,\u201d says Pam. \u201cThis meant experiencing everything from buying the right model chainsaw to operating it and fixing it with the right parts and spares.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Operator Training<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pam has a hands-on approach and believes that it\u2019s important to understand and experience every aspect of invasive plant management so when she heard about chainsaw training at a national Working for Water programme, her interest was piqued.<\/p>\n<p>The result was that together with colleagues, Nolubabalo (Babsie) Lufundo who manages the Municipality\u2019s operational teams and Beryl Poggenpoel, she underwent rigorous training and these three ladies became the first women to be qualified as chainsaw operators in the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not particularly big and strong, we\u2019re not impressively built \u2013 we\u2019re just everyday women who have decided we can do this, \u201c says Pam. \u201cBoth Babsi and I are moms. She has twins and a young boy and I have a son and daughter and I\u2019m sure our kids are as proud as we are that their moms are able to do this type of work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lighter and easier to use<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Part of the reason that women can now work as chainsaw operators is that the battery-operated chainsaw is much lighter than the conventional petrol models. \u201cAlthough we are not as physically strong as our male colleagues, we compensate for this by the way in which we handle a chainsaw. If we relied on our innate strength, we would not be able to cut for very long so we have to exercise more control which develops patience and a deeper appreciation of the power of the machine,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI absolutely love the battery-operated chainsaw. I pick it up, switch it on and we\u2019re ready to go. There\u2019s no fuss. No fiddling with petrol mixes and no spillage. I also love the fact that it makes so little noise. It\u2019s so quiet and unobtrusive that I can even use it on a Sunday morning when I\u2019m cutting firewood,\u201d Pam adds.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The future<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pam is delighted that since the initial group of three women qualified as chainsaw operators, a further six ladies have completed the training and all indications show this has now started a movement in the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of the young girls and women who see us operating a chainsaw are inspired to give it a try,\u201d says Pam. \u201cI love to tell them they can also do it, earn a better wage as well as the respect that comes with operating a machine that is traditionally only operated by men.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked where she believes she will be in two years\u2019 time, Pam says that she wants to be right where she is, doing more and doing it better. With the innovations that Husqvarna continue to introduce to their battery-powered chainsaws and the ongoing requirements of the Knysna Municipality, it is guaranteed that Pam will be able to ensure that even more women are empowered as operators.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about Husqvarna\u2019s range of battery-operated chainsaws, visit https:\/\/www.husqvarna.com\/za\/chainsaws\/battery-electric-chainsaws\/<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mypr.co.za\/contact\/featured\/\">CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za for free<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"post-views-icon dashicons dashicons-chart-bar\"><\/span> <span class=\"post-views-label\">Press Release Views since 1 July 2022:<\/span> <span class=\"post-views-count\">108<\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-pagination pagination\">Pages: <span class=\"post-page-numbers current\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>1<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/first-female-chainsaw-operators-make-the-cut-at-knysna-municipality\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\">Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republish for Free Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Husqvarna\u2019s battery-operated chainsaws are enabling women in forestry Forestry has historically been a male-dominated profession. While women may work in a management capacity, there has been little opportunity for them to work in the field. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3331,9021],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-251963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-town","8":"category-mypr","9":"tag-mypr","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/first-female-chainsaw-operators-make-the-cut-at-knysna-municipality.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}