Rianna Reid getting her hands dirty and loving it

Rianna Reid is not a typical girl.

Give her nuts, bolts, machines and grease and she is in heaven.

For, Rianna Reid is a grade three mechanical technician in the pressroom at the Jamaica Observer.

She is the first and only woman in that department of six men and it’s a role she relishes. In fact she is just like ‘one of the guys.’

“She does not get special treatment because she is a woman,” says co-worker Jerome Grant, grade one mechanical/maintenance technician “She’s treated like one of the guys — a maintenance person.”

The 24 year-old has been at the Observer for seven months and is part of the team responsible for maintaining the press that prints the daily paper.

“I have to make sure the pasters (which splices the news sheet) are running properly,” she explains to All Woman. ” I check to see that they are clean, the chains are running, the nipples (an area where grease is applied to keep moving parts lubricated) are greased and that also goes for the stacker (which counts and puts the paper in batches) and the press.”

Changing the bearings for the rollers (which keeps the papers moving during assembly) is also a part of her duties.

“Sometimes we do ink changes for the ink ducts, change seals and we have to wash the units properly because the ink splashes all over. This is done every two months,” says an enthused Reid.

At the same time, she says, the press is greased every week and with a lot of nipples to be kept lubricated, it’s a weekly job,

“If there is an ink duct or a roller not turning, it’s our responsibility to make sure it’s fixed before 7 pm because by 9:30 the daily paper should commence printing,” she says.

She confesses to looking forward to the Observer’s relocation to its new home on Beechwood avenue, Kingston in the next month. Specifically because the printing press will be moved and reassembled.

“I’m looking forward to that because I can’t wait to get my hands dirty and furthermore it means I’ll be getting experience,” she said smiling.

Not one to be a shrinking violet when it comes to setting the tone for hard, physical work, she considers herself a pioneer.

“I just do the job to the best of my ability,” she says modestly while speaking to All Woman in the press room. She is dressed in her standard attire of big, black boots and ink-stained overalls. Sometimes she wears a towel on her head to protect her hair. Based on her performance she argues, she has set a good example for other women “…there shouldn’t be a problem for them (other women) to send applications here for jobs. I don’t think the department will say no… because I already opened that door,” says Reid, who was trained at the Caribbean Maritime Institute. After her graduation in 1998, she got a job at the Jamaica Private Power, where she gained valuable experience. From there it was on to the Observer. The way, however, has not been easy and she has had her struggles as a woman in a male-dominated field.

Rejection she cautions is one of the ways women are deterred from entering the domain of traditional male-oriented jobs. She told All Woman that while she studied she was passed over to work on a ship for six months — a part of the internship programme of the maritime mechanical course she was enrolled in.

They claimed there wasn’t any female accommodation available on board, she said.

“Moreover,” she says, “being a female is a two to one; you have to do it twice as hard and twice as good, as the male do it because youre twice as small and not twice as strong.”

The same principle applies to mothering, which she juggles along with long working hours. She manages the demands of her three year-old son, Tarrick Haye with the support of her family and friends, she says.

“Without the help of my mother, Rosemarie Scarlett, sisters Teneka and Nicola Reid, and my dear friends, Kaisha Carty and Craig Johnson, whom I’ve relied on to help with my sons aftercare, I can’t imagine how else I would’ve managed,” declared Reid. The diminutive mother of one is however undeterred and has ambitions to achieve a doctorate in Engineering.