A mortician says men doubt her at work just because she's a woman.
Lauren Taylor, from Minnesota in the US, has been tending to the dead ever since she was a teen.
She started by helping her funeral director dad out, before going on to graduate from the Mortuary School eight years ago.
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But despite being fully licensed with a tonne of experience, the 30-year-old is often not taken seriously as she's working in a male-dominated industry.
She even finds herself having to "prove" that she is cut out for the job that involves embalming and lifting dead bodies.
"It can be honestly be difficult," Lauren exclusively told Daily Star.
"I find myself constantly trying to prove myself and I think a lot of women will agree.
"I’ve had women message me on social media telling me how they’ve been turned away from an interview because the male director didn’t believe they had the power to lift a deceased person."
She expressed: "I do get negative comments from time to time.
"Some saying women shouldn’t do this for work – that it’s a 'mans job'.
"But I think it’s quite the opposite, I feel women were meant to this job.
"Our compassionate and caring souls is exactly what this line of business needs."
At Mortuary School students are told to not show their emotions, something that empathetic Lauren finds difficult at times.
Although, she does find working with the dead "peaceful and therapeutic".
While the outpour of grief can make Lauren teary eyed on occasion, she believes that the compassion for the family is a pivotal part of the job.
"The best part is the hug and gratitude you receive from the family members," Lauren explained.
"They’ve just gone through the most stressful time of their lives and being the one to take their hand and guide them through it all is a very humbling experience.
"I know what’s it’s like to lose a loved one and our jobs is to make the process an easy one so they can focus on being with their family and go through the grieving process together."
Lauren feels having a woman's "touch" will transform the profession for the better.
But, careers in the funeral service are historically male-dominated with 38.8% of morticians being women and 61.2% of morticians being men in the US. The figures do not greatly differ in the UK.
However, the mum and mortician noticed that the students on her course were predominately women.
She hopes that this is a positive sign for the future of the the industry.
"But I feel we as women are giving this profession the compassion and touch it so desperately needs – woman's touch, a woman's grace," she claimed.
"I fully believe this will be a woman dominated career in the future.
"Men aren’t going to school to do this career as they were year ago, my graduating class in 2015 was 80% women.
"I’m proud of that – women belong here in this space.
"I truly do look forward to the future of funeral service."
At the moment, Lauren is taking some time off of work to focus on her children.
While she's pressed pause on her job, the mum has built up an impressive TikTok following of more than one million users where she educates others about her job – and death.
You can follow her on TikTok here.
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