The women leading the repair revolution

Up until now, those involved in the global right to repair movement - one which sees us challenge our throwaway nature when it comes to electronic devices and the need to constantly upgrade rather than fix what we have - have typically been men. Despite the Repair Café concept being borne of a female founder––former journalist, Martine Postma––the applicants who typically tended towards repair jobs, with their physical labour, hand-eye coordination and general handiness, have fallen short of gender parity. Thankfully, that’s now changing.  

Today, a number of prominent women head up the repair space. Their work––founding, tinkering, mentoring, and galvanising––is also a big part of the reason why the space is thriving. At last count, 3,800 repair cafés exist worldwide, and already in 2025, six US states have passed six different Right to Repair bills. Globally this results in some 68,400 items being repaired and saved from landfill each month, drastically dropping e-waste levels and carbon emissions, while also avoiding needless consumption to work towards a common good. 

To find out more about what drives, challenges, and sustains the women driving this movement forward, Backmarket sat down with six who are doing pioneering work to ensure Right to Repair can truly cement itself in the mainstream.

Marcella Di Palo, Network Weaver, Repair Café Northern Ireland: 

What is the biggest challenge you face in your work?

“Changing behaviours. We’ve found that a great way to help change mindsets is to make repair fun and creative, which is why we implement artistic programmes and educational workshops for young people, who are all just so eager to learn.”

What is the best thing about your job?

“Working in the cafés keeps me going when I get depressed about the news. When I’m repairing an item, I’m also repairing some of society’s fabric. Just recently, a lady brought in a electronic wheelchair that needed repairing. One of our volunteers managed to fix it, which was great, but the best part of the story came later, through a Facebook message. The wheelchair belonged to a woman who was on a waiting list and couldn’t afford to buy one herself. Thanks to the café, she got her independence back. There are so many stories like this one—each a reminder of what repairing can do.”

Phoebe Brown, Director, Repair Café Wales:

How did you get into this world of repairing faulty electronics?

“I joined as a volunteer here when I was 20, because I saw an ad for a repair café student volunteer position, and I just thought it sounded like a really interesting concept. I got involved in it really quickly, even though I didn't have any repair skills to start with.

“Now, as Director, I get to witness the joy that these spaces spark regularly. Like when we helped a family save £200 by repairing their Dyson vacuum cleaner in the run-up to Christmas, or the laptop RE:MAKE Newport repaired for the woman who homeschooled her children. That repair saved her money and retained her ability to teach her children.”

What’s the best thing about repair cafés, in your opinion?

“The news at the moment is just awful. So, what the cafés do is they allow you to go in with a broken thing, have it fixed, have a really lovely time, and probably have some cake and tea along with it. That’s a welcome tonic for many in 2025.”

Florine Paquay, Project Manager, Repair Together, Liège:

Who are the people who come to repair cafés, generally? And what does it give them? 

“We get people in [to the cafés] for all types of reasons––social, environmental––but as life becomes more expensive, we find people really appreciating that our cafés are fairly priced. Our café also repaired a sewing machine for an elderly lady recently. These little things keep you going, particularly when the news is so hard to hear."

Jane Owens, Share and Repair Network Coordinator, Circular Communities Scotland:

How did you find yourself in this world? 

“My background is in art, which gave me a real appreciation of materials. It’s a bit of a cliché to say that there’s no such thing as rubbish, but if you’ve been in that space, you do actually evaluate the value of the material stuff, and it really does stick with you.”

The best bit about your work in repair? 

“I always love the opportunity to chat with the repair volunteers and see how much they enjoy the challenge and the final fix. It’s fascinating to see how they work together to explore solutions––one of the many things I love about my job.”

Melina Scioli, co-founder, Club de Reparadores, Buenos Aires:

This year, Club de Reparadores turns 10. What are you doing to celebrate? 

“We have a ‘beautiful repair’ competition where people can enter their repair work for prizes. We hope it’s going to encourage young people to consider the impact of repairing, particularly if they see others do it.” 

This job seems full of highs and lows… what ones stand out to you the most? 

“Funding is always a challenge, because the metrics in repair shops are hard to measure; they don’t have a true quantitative impact. I remember one man who brought in an electric oven one time, and he was certain we wouldn’t get it fixed. But one of our technicians got it to work, and the man went into a bakery to buy a bunch of chipá [a cheese roll from northern Argentina] and we heated it up in the oven and ate it together. That impact can’t be measured in words. 

Fiona Dear, Co-Director, The Restart Project:

What is something people don’t consider when buying something new instead of repairing?

“There is so much that goes into making electrical products like laptops and phones, so if you don’t keep them going for as long as possible, we are just wasting all of those resources. The work we do is trying to get people to a place where they can think about repairing in the same way that people think about replacing something––that the repair process can be easy, affordable and worthwhile. Polling shows that people are willing, but we just have to make the whole thing easier.”

On hard days, what keeps you going? 

“What sustains me in this field is working for an organisation that’s bigger than just the individual. It feels powerful to be connected to this massive global right to repair movement. It feels like there's scale and that we have a chance to push back. In that way, one person can truly change the world.”