Young women now make up around 30 per cent of the spray painters in training at the Canberra Institute of Technology and if the current rate of growth continues, will dominate the trade within 10 years.
Having steady hands, an eye for detail and some even having the genetic advantage of being able to perceive tiny differences in colour far better than men, it's little wonder that panel beating shops around the country are keen to employ young women and put them behind the business end of their spray guns.
Owen Webb, the chief judge at Summernats, said that women dominated most colour-sensitive areas of the automotive business, such as colour and trim and paint-matching.
He introduced one of Australia's most talented spray painters, Perth-based Rachael Durbridge, into his national Summernats paint-judging team six years ago.
"It's happening all around the world," Mr Webb said.
"Across all the OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] in Europe and North America, any part of the industry where colour is a key element, women far outnumber the men."
Ms Durbridge is now a mentor and a teacher, as well as an inspiration to the young women in training at CIT who follow her on Instagram, of course, as well as other specialised sites such as Girls Behind The Gun.
The young women in their apprenticeship training at CIT may started their careers from different points - some from administration, another from spray-tanning - but collectively they all love their chosen trade and are proving valued assets to the progressive workshops which signed them on.
Third-year apprentice Kaitlin Wilks studied to Year 12 then bounced from one job to another until she started her trade with Mitchell Smash Repairs and now she loves going into the paint-mixing booth and exploring the intricacies of colour matching.
"When I've got any spare time, that's where you'll find me; in there, matching colours," she said.
"The boss at work assigned me an Aston Martin DB9 to colour-match and spray recently, which was a very cool assignment."
CIT teacher Brian Hogan said automotive spray painting now was far more "people- and environmentally-friendly" now than was when he started the the trade decades ago, with water-based paints common across the industry and computerised equipment to analyse the required tints.
Two new paint booths were installed at CIT Fyshwick in January and later this year a third booth, their first fully electric booth, will come on line.
"The only real discomfort to the job now is having to wear positive air pressure PPE suits inside the paint booths because it's 40 degrees C in there and the spray suits don't breathe," he said.
Taylah Ladd, 23, tried a number of jobs until her father, who had been a panel beater, suggested she try his old profession. She was offered an apprenticeship by Northside Paint and Panel and now loves going into work every day.
"I started a little late in the trade but then, so have most of the girls here; we're all roughly the same age," she said.
"I mean, the pay's not great when you're on apprentice wages but I love cars and getting the details right."
