A power plant is a good place to be (a female perspective)

I never thought that being in a field dominated by men would be so difficult for a woman. He often attended college classes with just one or a handful of women; he was studying mechanical engineering. It wasn’t a problem and we got on well with the boys. No one prepared me for what I would encounter once I started working.

After college, I was hired by an energy utility company. After a period of training (in which I was sent to a nuclear power plant twice), I was assigned to a coal-fired power plant for 5 years.

I was the first and only woman on the floor; there was a replacement receptionist who was female (but she was very jealous of me getting into … “her territory” – I was so glad when the original receptionist came back to work – she was great).

Below are the things I had to endure:

– It was smoked in the office and smoked everywhere (I have always been a non-smoker).

– Coal dust was everywhere.

– There was asbestos dust in the air.

– Men didn’t trust me in what I did. A woman had no credibility.

– Some of my bosses perceived me as a type of secretary to do their typing and such.

– There were pin-ups “nudies” everywhere.

– There were nude magazines in the bathrooms (called “reading material”) and the boys spent a lot of time in those bathrooms. The bathrooms were always disgusting.

– When men’s wives called on the phone and I answered, they would often be terse or hostile to me.

– There were many unfounded rumors about me.

– The management decided that it needed a women’s bathroom with a shower, so the maintenance department built a bathroom, a dressing room and a shower. I thought they had probably built a peephole as well, so I didn’t use the shower (I lived less than 5 minutes away, so there was no need to shower there, anyway). I always had a jacket that covered me when I used the facilities.

– It was easier to wash my work clothes if I hosed them off first, of all the dust and oil.

– A boss started a joint account for the boys to guess my measurements, and asked me to tell him what my measurements are, so he could choose a winner, what? I was so angry and hurt, no, I didn’t tell him or anyone else! Then I realized that probably the people at the power plant were evaluating me and looking at me.

– Sometimes the guys in my office would go out for a liquid lunch, so I had to cover them in the afternoon, while they hung out at the lake until they sobered up.

– One day, the mechanics decided to sit on the stairs that led to my office area, preventing me from climbing. I was frustrated but had my steel-toed shoes on, so I climbed over them to get where I needed to go; I’m not sure if I hurt someone, but they never blocked me again.

– Once, I was going to check the vibration of a fan (it was a really big fan), but when I opened the door to the room, a guy was peeing in the drain hole. I dropped the door handle in shock, but then decided that I was supposed to be there (and he wasn’t supposed to be doing that), so I went inside. He had run off quickly with a bow of pee falling from the air. Apparently, he had gone to the control room and confessed, so within an hour, notices were posted explaining to the men that they should use the toilets and not any other part of the floor.

– I was asked several times to sleep with some of the guys – one was frustrated that his wife was pregnant and was “unattractive” – ​​no, I didn’t.

– The boys looked at the catwalks to try to see something (as if someone could see something with my jeans / overalls on?).

– The women were graded as they walked through the welders area – they all came out and watched us walk and graded us (this was on the next floor, where I worked for 6 months after 5 years on the first).

Changes were made over time. Posters of nudes fell, though they largely remained inside maintenance tool cabinets. More security procedures were established. The men learned to respect me more and realized that I could contribute.

They finally realized that I was very good at balancing rotating equipment (I became one of the 3 “balancing experts” in the company). We spent many hours and nights balancing, because large equipment could be out of service at night, when the power load was lower.

The operators reluctantly let me teach them how to use the computer, when the controls were changed from tires to electronic.

Once the plant manager took me for a walk and asked me about the situations – he made changes, including the transfer of the current boss at the time and the discontinuation of liquid lunches.

Truth be told, this power plant turned out to be more bearable in many ways, during those 5 years. I’m lucky that no one made me do it, but I was very assertive about it. I made some friends at the plant who looked after me. I was never comfortable working on the second floor, even with more women there.

He once approached me to sue the company for the discrimination I was dealing with (I did not sue, as I felt I would have trouble finding another job, with the stigma of the lawsuit on my back, and I knew it would be very emotional). ).

Honestly, it was part of the “#MeToo” culture. I endured many adversities, being a woman in the labor field of a man. I’m glad I helped make changes that would help other women after me.

My motto has become: “A power plant is a good place to be FROM”.

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