Never let gender be a barrier. A woman can hold her own in this world every bit as well as a man.
Your presentation of self, your attentiveness to customers demands (and they will get demanding) and how you take those things will be the most important. I moved from cars to e-waste. I felt it much more rewarding (and profitable) to break down computers inside my garage, than I did rolling around under a car cutting converters in the snow and cutting out dashes for wire. Tired of fixing a trailer constantly, and pulling cars out of the woods or mud. People get attached to cars (lots of memories) and they think they are worth far more than they are. Car scrapping is FAR more competitive than e-waste. When I was hauling there were a dozen guys within 5 miles of my house that hauled cars. Computers- eh, it's a computer- it's broken, take it away is more the attitude. Same with larger clients. IT folks are paid well and not too many companies want the guy they pay 80K a year to worry about "maximizing computers" they just want it gone from whatever precious space they are taking up.
Your upstream will be something you want to consider. To stick with the cars vs e-waste example, when you sell off your "wares" with cars you are heading to core buyers and I know we have some solid and reputable folks here (So please none of you take offense) but imo they are the exception and not the norm. E-waste has been much better. Easier to make good relationships with upstream buyers.
As with any scrap, you have to be on your toes, know what you have, know what you should get for it, know how to process it to maximize profit and ensure it is cleaned so that it can be. The game changes daily at the yard. One day it is #1 copper, the next it is #2, one day wire with ends is ok at $x.xx price, the next it is half the price. You'll have to roll with the punches, but I've found e-waste to be much more consistent.
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