Christine McKay rewiring the future for women in tech

The 30-year-old mother of three is among a small but growing number of Jamaican women climbing ladders, running cables, and fixing wi-fi connections — defying gender stereotypes and redefining what a cable technician can look like.

McKay who originates from Above Rocks in St. Catherine works at Micheal Internet & Cable Systems Limited (Mike’s Wifi), a local company providing broadband services across several communities. But her journey into the world of fibre-optic cables and routers didn’t begin there. She started in 2022 at Flow Jamaica, not as a technician, but as a walk-in sales agent, signing up customers for home internet.

“I am very persistent”, she pointed out. “Once I see something that I want, I will go for it. I decided to give the trade a try so I watch and learn. A few months later, I was transferred from customer service to technician department.”

Her child’s father, who was already a technician at Flow, sparked her curiosity about the trade. On her off days, she would tag along, watching how he performed installations and troubleshoots. 

Encouraged by his example, she asked questions, practiced under his supervision, and build up confidence. Soon, she began trying her hand at the tasks herself. Fortunately, her persistence paid off. Impressed by her initiative, senior technicians and customers began recommending her to management, eventually landing her a position as an official technician at Flow before moving on to other contracting companies and later to Mike’s Wifi. 

Now, she blends in with the males, install modems, troubleshoot internet issues, climb ladders, pull cables and cleave wires. Her climb up the ladder — literally and figuratively — hasn’t been easy. Working in a male-dominated field often means proving herself over and over again, as she’s constantly faced with discrimination on several occasions.

“A few of the men that I work with respect me but some of them do everything in their powers to make me uncomfortable,” she tells Old Harbour News. “Their mentality is that a woman is not supposed to be in this field. One say I belong in the office. Sometime I am saying I can’t take the treatment anymore… my cup full but I still hang on because I have to make it for my children.”

McKay recalled one incident that left her both angry and heartbroken. A male colleague refused to allow her to carry out her duties. “That man take all privilege from me, him don't want me to climb the ladder, him don't want me to cleave and remember, I'm a technician! That's my expertise,” McKay said firmly. 

Still, she admits there have been many bittersweet moments on the job — especially with customers, some of whom are amazed to see a woman climbing ladders and running cables, others quick to underestimate her. “Sometimes customers get excited saying it’s the first they see a female technician and are impressed how well I get the job done,” she shared. “But there are also days when I’m teased by perverts.”

According to the HEART/NSTA Trust, women continue to be underrepresented in electrical and technical training programmes, though the agency has been encouraging greater female participation in recent years.

National efforts such as the Jamaica Public Service Company’s (JPS) Women in Energy Conference and HEART’s training initiatives for women in non-traditional careers are helping to change perceptions and open more doors for women in technical fields. Still, initiatives such as JPS’s Women in Energy programme and HEART’s Women in Non-Traditional Occupations are slowly changing the landscape — encouraging more women to step into trade roles once considered ‘for men only.’ 

One such example is Kerry-Ann Adman, who made headlines in 2016 for breaking barriers as a female fibre-optics technician at Digicel. Today, Christine continues that legacy in her own way — on rooftops, utility poles, and living rooms across St. Catherine, Clarendon and Kingston.

For McKay, the work is more than just connecting cables — it’s about connecting possibilities for her children. Her three kids, she says, motivate her to keep pushing forward, even on hard days. 

She recalls one of her proudest moments on the job: a young girl watching her complete an installation and whispering to her mother, ‘Mommy, I want to do that when I grow up.’”

Moments like those, McKay says, remind her why she keeps going. She hopes more young women will see her story and realize that “there’s no such thing as a ‘man’s job’ — only the job you’re determined to master.

Beyond her work as a cable technician, McKay has a creative side. She enjoys hairdressing and doing nails in her spare time, and dreams of one day running her own business in the beauty industry. “It’s something I love doing, I like to let people look beautiful so that’s my second income while I continue my career as a technician,” she shared.