I never thought that being in a male-dominated area would be very difficult for women. I was often in college with only one class for a few women - I was studying mechanical engineering. It was not a problem, and we agreed very well with the players. No one has prepared me for what I will face, once I have started working.

After college, I was hired by Energy Utilities. After a training period (where 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 female in the factory - there was an alternative employee at the reception desk who was female (but she was very jealous of my entry ... "her territory" - I was very happy when the original office worker returned to work - she was fantastic).

Here are some of the things I had to endure:

- There was smoking in the office and smoking was everywhere (I was always non-smoker).

- Coal dust was everywhere.

- Asbestos dust was in the air.

- The men did not trust me in what I did. Women have no credibility.

- Some of my superiors saw me as the secretary type to write their writings and so on.

- There were "nudie" pin-ups everywhere.

- There were naked magazines in the bathrooms (called "reading material") and men spent a lot of time in those bathrooms. The bathrooms were always disgusting.

- When the men 's wives called the phone, and I answered, they often got enmity or hostility with me.

- There was a lot of unfounded rumors about me.

- The management decided that I needed a bathroom with a shower, so the maintenance department built a bathroom, changed the area and shower. I thought they were likely to build a hole too - so I did not use the shower (I lived less than 5 minutes, so there was no need to shower there, anyway). I always had a jacket covered when using the attachment.

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

- One boss started in the cash box to make the players guess my measurements - and asked me to tell him what my measurements were, so he could choose a winner - what? I was very angry and I was hurt - no, I did not tell him or anyone! Then I realized that I was probably trapped and stared at by the people at the power station.

- Sometimes the men came out in my office for liquid lunch - so I had to cover them up in the afternoon, as they went out into the lake until they woke up.

- One day, the mechanics decided to sit on the stairs leading to my office area, which prevents me from climbing. I was frustrated but I wore steel shoes, so I climbed over to get to where I needed to go - I'm not sure if I had one, but they never stopped me again.

- One time, I would check the vibration on a fan (it was a really big fan), but when I opened the door to the room, there was a man urinating in the drain hole. I dropped the knob in shock, but then decided that I was supposed to be there (and not supposed to), so I walked. He quickly escaped with an arc of urine falling from the air. Apparently he went to the control room and admitted - so within an hour, there were notices posted around explaining to men the use of toilets, not any other part of the factory.

- He asked me several times to sleep with some men - one of them was frustrated because his wife was pregnant and "unattractive" - ​​no, I was not obliged.

- Did men look up the podium to try to see something (as if anyone could see anything in jeans / overalls)?

- Women will be classified as they walk in the welding area - they all went out and saw us walking and sorting (this was in the following factory, where they worked for 6 months after 5 years at the first time).

Changes have been made over time. Nudie stickers fell, although they stayed big inside the maintenance tools cabinets. More safety measures have been put in place. Men have learned to respect me more and realize that I can contribute.

They finally realized that I was good at balancing rotary equipment (I became one of three "balancing experts" in the company). We spent several hours and nights in the budget, because large equipment could be discharged from the service at night, when the power load was lower.

The operators reluctantly allowed me to teach them how to use the computer - when the controls were turned off from antenna to electronic.

The manager of the factory once took me for a walk and asked me about the situations - he made changes, including the current manager's transfer, and the lunches.

In fact, it turns out that this power plant has become more likely in many ways, over the course of 5 years. I'm lucky because no one imposed himself on me - but I was very firm in that. I made some friends in the factory who looked at me. The second stop was not comfortable for me to work in, even with more women there.