I opened the workshop my employer said no woman could run

Dear Delyara, I trained as a furniture maker in my uncle’s workshop, but customers assumed I handled the accounts while men did the skilled work. At my previous job, the owner refused to promote me, saying clients would not trust a woman to supervise craftsmen. I spent three years saving, completed a business course in the evenings, and rented a small industrial unit with two second-hand machines. My first employees were women who had been sewing and sanding informally from home. Today, we delivered our largest order: twenty hand-built tables for a hotel. The manager inspected every joint, ran his hand across the finish, and asked to meet the “master carpenter.” I introduced myself. He looked surprised for exactly one second, then signed the invoice. After the truck left, the six of us sat on the workshop floor eating sweets from the packing paper. The victory was not proving that women can do the work. We already knew. It was building a place where no woman has to wait for permission from someone who benefits from doubting her.