FINDING THEiR PLACE: Women's Employment Experience in Trades, Technology and Operations: A Case Study of Fort McMurray, Alberta

INGRID BRON

A thesis submitted to the School of Urbaa and Regional Planning in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Urban and Regional Planning Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada April, 200 1

Copyright 8 Ingrid Bron, ZOO1

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Abstract

Employment planning for northem resource-based communities must take into consideration a variety of factors af5ecting both the industry demand for labour and the supply of labour available in an isolated community, including the location of employment. skills requirements, turnover and mobility of the workforce, and obligations of human resource development agreements. Wornen attempting to find and to keep employment in the dominant industry. especially in the highiy-paid skilied occupations traditionally dominated by men. face many challenges including overcorning community and social noms. accessiny training and job opponunities, and adapting to a male-dominated workplace culture, al1 within the context of their lives in a nonhem resource comrnunity. This study explores the expenences of women working in trades. technology and operations (TTO) in the oil sands industry in order to identiQ bamers to their access and retention as well as the opponunities and strategies which facilitate their integration into the workforce, based in the household. the workplace. and the comrnunity. These findings are analyzed in the context of feminist theones about employment and organizational culture. gendered space, community development, and planning in order to contribute recommendations for the inclusion of women's nreds in labour force development strategies for northem resource communities, as well as contribute to the theoretical knowledge of planners regarding the intersection of gender, work and place. Finally, the discussion of the research findings leads to the development of recommendations for further research into women's integration in the workforces of northem resource communities.

There are many people who have contnbuted to this thesis in many different ways. They al1 deserve a great deal of thanks. 1 would like first to extend my thanks to the women I was ptivileged to meet, to spend time with. and to leam from while conducting my research. They inspired me, one and all. with their insight, sense of humour, and strength. The stories they shared with me were in turn thought-provoking, hilanous, and heart-breaking, and those I was able to 'shadow' on the job brought the stoties to life for me. The women whose stories are included here are strong, powerful women who demonstrate by their perseverance, humour and skills that wornen c m succeed at any career they choose. I hope my interpretation of their expenences has done justice to what they have accomplished for themselves and for other women.

1 am indebted to al1 those who enabled my research to be carried out within the communities of Fort McMurray and Yellowknife. Syncnide Canada Ltd. and the mine training department in particular provided access to the worksite and assisted me with conducting interviews throughout the company. The opportunities available to women and the policies and initiatives that support their work at Syncrude speak to the commitment and support for women in the workplace at al1 levels of the company. Many individuals have been committed to sharinç the results of the research in order to improve conditions for women in trades. technology and operations, foremost among them Edith Cook. Sheila Hahn. a good fiend. shared her knowledge of the cornmunity as well as the company with me, and her home became my 'home away fiom home' dunng the research phase and subsequent visits. Finally. the Nonhem Scientific Training Program provided me with funding to cany out the research in Alberta and the Northwest Temtones, an opportunity for which I am very thankfûl.

Sue Hendler, as my thesis supervisor and a mentor throughout my time at S W , has provided constant encouragement in the very lengthy process of completing this thesis. The groundine she provided in feminist planning theory informed the development of a theoretical framework for the thesis, and kept me focused on the goal of seeing the results implemented in practice. Thanks also to Jackie Bell and JO-Anne Williamson for their help in the administrative aspects ofcompleting the program. Finally, I wish to thank my family for their encouragement, understanding and suppon. Iam extremely lucky to have had this oppominity to learn. And to Tilda, whose amval bears witness to the contradictions in many women's lives regarding work and farnily - she gave me balance. and let me know it was time to finish this project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract

Acknowledgements

Executive Summary CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2 FEMINIST THEORY AND PLANNiNG 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8

A Gendered Approach Theories of Male Power, Oppression, and Women's Inequality Feminist Theory and Women's Production Female Labour Force Participation and Occupational Segregation Gender, Culture and Organizational Theories Women, Work and Place Gender and Developrnent Perspectives on Planning Theory and Practice

CHAPTER 3 WOMEN AND EMPLOYMENT IN RESOURCE COMMUNITIES 3.1 32

3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6

Theoretical Perspectives on Women in Male-Dominated Workplaces Supply of Female Labour Demand for Fernale Labour Responding to Gendered Workplace Culture Northern Resource Cornrnunities Implications for Planning Theory and Practice

CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY 4.1

4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

Theoretical Perspectives on Research Design and Methodology Selection of Research Sites and Participants Data Collection Dissemination and Follow-up Limitations

CHAPTER 5 RESEARCH RESULTS 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5

Comrnunity and Workforce Profiles Key Informant Data Profiles of InteMew Participants Factors Anectinp Access and Retention in the Workplace Conclusions

CELAPTER 6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 6.1 6.7 6.3 6.4

Women, Work. Place Women and Industry in the North: Interests and Needs Facilitating Access and Retention in the Workplace Suggestions for Planning Theory and Practice

REFERENCES Appendix A. Forms of Oppression and Responses: EvampIes uf Wumeri iii 17'0 Emp Ioyme~rt Appendix B.

Summary of Barriers and Responses to the Integration of Women in Trades and Technology Workplaces

187

188

Appendix C. Survey Instrument: Women's Participation in Non-traditional Employment in Oil and Mineral Extraction Industries in Northern Comrnunities

190

Appendix D. Community Profile Statistics

199

Appendix E.

Images of Women in the Workplace

20 1

Appendix F.

Sumrnary of Factors AfFecting Access and Retention

210

VITA

31 1

Executive Summary Overview of the Research Topic Employment planning for women in resource development comrnunities entails many challenges, among them the traditional view of women's labour as peripheral to the extractionlproduction process, the bamers of a male-dorninated workplace culture including harassment, lack of training or advancement opponunities. and lirnited supports available in the community in the way of childcare provisions. Women's roles in northem communities contribute to the well-being and stability of the comrnunity through their domestic production and community work, and ultimately to the low tumover of the male-dorninated workforce. but the phenornenon of women's increasing entry into the workforce has important implications for the demographics of resource communities. Lack of opportunities for education and employment has drawn fewer women to the nonh, and given female residents fewer reasons to stay. Industry. faced with skills shonages and high tumover of the workforce, are seeking ways to attract and retain women in their workforces. Labour force development strategies must take into account the experiences of women working in male-dominated occupations if they are to be successfui at integrating women in their workplaces. The research addresses the question of how to increase women's integration into the workforces of resource-based industries in nonhem communities, approached From three areas: how women's experiences in trades, technology and operations (TTO)can contribute to attempts to facilitate their integration into industrial workplaces, how industry demand for women's labour has shaped their experiences and has led to strategies to improve their access and retention. and how these processes operate in northem locales.

Literature Review

The social construction of gender is central to an understanding of women's labour force participation. Theories of gender relations range from accounting for constraints on women to looking at the ways in which women respond to barriers and create opportunities for themselves. taking into account the diversity of wornen's responses to their oppression based on race. class, age. and sexual orientation. Attempts to account for the segregation of women in certain occupations include traditional approaches to understanding women's expenence in the labour force, including sex role theory, liberal ferninism, human capital theory, segmented labour markets, socialist feminism, and patriarchy. Feminist theonsts generally reject traditional explanations for occupational segregation grounded in social approaches and neo-classical economics. and point to capitalist patnarchy to explain inequality in women's employment. Theoretical perspectives on gendered organizational culture. feminist geography. gender and development, and feminist planning offer to this study fùrther explanations for sex segregation which point to the interaction of rnaterial/structural and sociaVindividua1 factors to constrain or support women's access and retention in TT0 workplaces. These factors. considered in the context of northem locales, provide to the research a framework for the analysis of findings and development of recommendations.

Methodology A feminist approach to the research entails the development of a methodological

framework guided by feminist research principles including women as active participants in the research, the validity of women' s experiences, and communication as a social tool. The research

was conducted using a qualitative, triangulation method which included one-on-one interviews with 52 women, participant observation- and focus groups. Limitations of this approach include the inability to verify the prevalence of bamers within the industry or the cornmunity as a whole, and the potential for bias on my part as a researcher.

Research Results

The findings include identification of factors contnbuting to women's access and retention in the workforce of Fort McMurray's oil sands industry, related to labour supply and demand and derived fiom material/stnictural or sociaYindividual influences operating in the household, workplace and community. These include factors such as lack of career information, access to training and employrnent services, presence of role models. farnily responsibilities. and support from parents or partners on the supply side, and factors such as limited training or advancement opportunities, discriminatory workplace practices, corporate diversity policies, and the manifestation of gendered social expectations in the workplace culture, on the demand side.

Conclusions

Discussion of factors pertaining to access and retention include the identification of how material and social barriers are mediated by place, and work to constrain or to suppon women's integration into the workforce. A suggested approach to improving women's participation in TT0 careers in northem communities includes the identification of women's practicai and strategic needs, leading to interventions for addressing barriers to access and retention such as advocacy and support to facilitate provision of childcare, enhancement of accommodations policies and

gnevance procedures, training designed specifically for women to address lack of hands-on skills training and experience, and development of on-going selFhelp networks in the community to provide suppon for women seeking ernployment in the industry. Recommendations for further research include a focus on the diversity of women's expenences, specifically an exploration of Aboriginal women's expenences in resource industries. as well as addressing the challenge of how to eKect change within a gendered workplace culture.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Employment planning for resource developrnent comrnunities has typically viewed women's labour as penpheral to the extraction/production process. Their participation in the labour force has traditionally been limited to the service sector, including retail. health care. social senices. and education. Where they have panicipated as workers in the dominant industry. they have traditionally been a reserve workforce, subject to low pay, no benefits, high turnover. and little investment in skills development. Their labour supply is considered elastic: when they are no longer needed in paid work they will retum to their homes and continue their (unpaid) domestic production. tf they are hired on in trades. technology and operations (TTO) occupations on a more permanent basis. they are subject to bamers in the workplace including harassment. lack of training or advancement opponunities. and few supports in the way of family leave or childcare provisions (Moore 1996; Grzetic a A. 1996; Armstrong and h s t r o n g 1994: Bone 1992; Gill

1984;Luxton 1980; Northem BC Women's Task Force 1977: Energy, Mines and Resources Canada 1976). These experiences are shared by women working in TT0 occupations across al1 industries. What is unique to women in nonhem resource-based communities is their location. Women's roles in northem cornrnunities are essentially as stabilizers of the workforce. as wives and mothers contributing to the well-being of the comunity through their domestic production and cornmunity work, and ultimately to the low turnover of the male-dominated workforce (Luxton 1980). Planning literature points, however, to the problems expenenced by women, in particular

wives of workers, associated with living in isolated, nonhem locales, related to their mental and 1

physical health. lack of cornmunity services and supports. and the particular social climate (not to mention physical climate) of northem towns (Bone 1992; Bradbury 1980; Govemment of British Columbia 1975). One of the recommendations ofien cited is the creation of employment opportunities for women (Grzetic at al. 1996; Northern Education Services Branch 1996; Roberts 1984). At the same time, the phenomenon of women's increasing entry into the workforce,

particularly those with young children, has implications for the demographics of resource communities. Lack of opportunities for education and employment has drawn fewer women to the north. and given female residents, particularly young women seeking careers. fewer reasons to stay (Nonhem Education SeMces Branch 1996; Whitehorse Mining Initiative 1994: Energy, Mines and Resources 1976). lncreasingly industry, faced with skills shonages. high turnover and mobility of the workforce, and legislated or negotiated requirements to increase hiring of women, aboriginal populations, and other equity groups, has tumed their attention to initiatives designed to attract and retain women in their workforces (Grzetic

A. 1996; Whitehorse Mining Initiative 1994).

Labour force development strategies. similar to those employed by industry in more centralized locations. must take into account the experiences of women working in male-dominated occupations if they are to be successful at integrating women in their workplaces. Resource-based industries have additional employrnent planning requirements and challenges, given their highly visible role in regional development plans, environmental and social impact agreement negotiations with govemments and residents, and their isolated locations. which contribute to the high cost of infrastructure development, cornpetition for scarce workers. and difficulty retaining

workers (Bone 1992; Shapiro 1985). With a shift to increasing use of sub-contractors, Bpin

operations that draw on both local cornmunities and major southern centres for labour (Bone l992), and heightened skills requirements, industry must work closely with cornmunity, regional,

and provinciaüterritorial employment planning bodies (Whitehorse Mining Initiative 1994).The demand for trained and qualified female employees is thus rnitigated not only by the traditional bamers facing women in TTO. but is infomed by a whole other set of factors particular to northem communities and, in tum, the women who [ive there. The research camed out in this study addresses the question of how women's integration into the workforces of resource-based industries in nonhem communities can be positively affected. This question must be approached, as suggested above. from three different perspectives. Firstly. how can women's expenences of occupational segregation and in particular of gaining access to and working in male-dominated occupations contribute to attempts to facilitate their integration into TT0 workplaces? Secondly, how has industry demand for women's labour shaped their expenences and ied to strategies to improve their access and retention? Finally, how do these processes operate in northem locales? These considerations of barriers and strategies are infomed by a feminist advocacy planning approach which both directs the researc h and shapes the objectives of the study, namely: 1 ) to identiS, factors which contribute to the successful integration of women into male-dominated workplaces; 2) to develop recommendations for employers, unions, and public sector institutions invoived in the planning and delivery of employrnent, training andfor support services to women in nonhem comrnunities: 3 ) to identifjr policy and programming implications for planning practitioners regarding women's

participation in employment in northem resource-based comrnunities; and 4) to contribute to the theoretical knowledge of planners regarding the intersection of gender, work and place.

The identification of a feminist approach to the research question bears fûrther explanation: 1 consider this a feminist approach because it deals explicitly with women's experiences and develops strategies for their access to employrnent; it also, however. sets out a ferninisr research agenda for developing and applying feminist theoretical pnnciples to removing the barriers that contnbute to women's marginalization in employment. This discussion of the three-way intersection of the supply of female labour in TT0 occupations, industry demand for female labour, and the realities of living and working in northem communities which mediate these processes. necessitates the establishment of a theoretical framework for not only the research and analysis, but for the assessment of literature pertaining to these three areas. In Chapter 2 1 begin by assessing the contributions of feminist iheory to employment planning to determine what factors govem women's participation in the labour force in general. and in particular explain their exclusion from (or entry into) certain occupations. The discussion of feminist theoretical perspectives on female labour force participation and occupational segregation includes o v e ~ e w of s theories of oppression. knowledge and power; feminist critiques of human capital theory; labour market segmentation. primaqdsecondary labour markets, capitalism. patriarchy and dual systems theory as explanations for occupational segregation; feminist psychological and sociological perspectives on gendered organizations; gender and development theories; and feminist geography perspectives on the intersection of space, place and gender that relate to women's differential employment expenences. Bringing a feminist advocacy approach to planning raises important substantive considerations and develops a critical position towards the contribution of planning to meeting

women's employment needs. Drawing on these theoretical perspectives on women's labour force participation as well as on ferninist planning literature, the next section provides an o v e ~ e w of planning approaches to achieving full access to employment for women, with regards to the provision of employment services, the location and activities of fims, and economic development of communities. This section in particular establishes the relevance of the research topic to the field of planning, by identiGing the ways and reasons why gender bias is imbedded in current social and institutional structures and processes that infom women's access to employment. It also considers the role of planning in labour force development strategies which are explored in Chapter 3. namely initiatives that seek to ensure full access of women to employment opponunities, that assess and respond to the demand of female labour by industry, and that address specific challenges of northem, resource-based communities. Chapter 3 contains an overview of academic literature and relevant documents pertinent to these three areas. The literature pertaining to the experiences of women entering or seeking work in male-dominated occupations moves frorn defining and identifying causes of occupational segregation to identifjmg what these mean for women in the workplace. includinz barriers to access and retention and practical strategies for overcoming these. These issues are discussed from the feminist perspective outlined above, integrating feminist theories about sex differences in the workplace with planning concems. This examination of the supply of trained and qualified women to industry includes an overview of research on barriers and constraints to training and employment, based in the household arrangements or domestic sphere considered as a source of gender stratification. Women's experiences in TT0 work are reviewed, and their responses to and strategies for full integration into the male-dominated workforce explored.

The next section looks at employers' demand for female workers in the mining, oil and sas industries, and their experience of integrating women into TTO.It includes an o v e ~ e wof bamers and constraints to training and employment of women based in the workplace. considenng gendered construction of the workplace and the economy as a source of gender stratification. The experiences of women in TT0 work with regards to workplace climate, relations with co-workers and s u p e ~ s o r sphysical . requirements of the job. and access to training and policy supports are considered. This is followed by an oveMew of responses and strategies to improve the intgration of women. The final section of the literature review considers the unique situation of northern resource-based communities. Drawing on planning literature for resource towns and integrating the factors of both supply and demand identified earlier, it includes an overview of barners and constraints to women's participation in the labour force of northem towns, including an observation of the way constructed space perpetuates gender differences, the particular social. cultural, and physical constraints typical of northem communities, lack of access to training and education, and the particulars of the demand for female labour in northem communities where traditionally women's role was perceived as promoting a more stable workforce and community. Strategies for intervening in the economic development of communities with respect to creation of employment opportunities is also considered. including attempts on the part of various levels of govemment and community stakeholders. The development of a rationale for applying a feminist perspective to the process of planning for women's ernployment in resource communities necessitates establishing a methodological Eamework for identifjmg and addressing issues around women's access to certain

occupations. Chapter 4 begins with a bief oveMew of methodological pinciples which have informed my approach to the research question, including ferninist theoretical concerns with the production of knowledge. the research agenda and the 'objective' stance of the researcher, as well as the efficacy of a qualitative research method. .;\n overview of the tnangulation approach 1 used follows. including one-on-one open-ended interviews. participant observation. and focus groups. Data collection processes are outlined, including document review, extensive note-taking during interviews. photographing interview subjects. and video-taping the focus goup. The dissemination of research findings and follow-up contact with research subjects is also discussed. Finally. limitations of the research are addressed. The research results are detailed in Chapter 5, drawing on findings from the document review. interviews. participant obsewation. and focus yroups. and presented within the theoretical framework developed in Chapter 3. This section is mainly concerned with the first objective discussed above. narnely that of identifjmg key factors related to the successful integration of women in the workforce of northern resource-based communities. Findings are related to the supplyidemand model developed in the literature review. integrating issues and strategies for access and retention from the perspective of women and industry, within the particular context of place. A discussion of the research results follows. summarizing the stmcturaVmaterial barriers

and the individuaVsocial factors. as mediated by the context of location. The analysis of the findings in this manner lead directly to the practical recornmendations for agents engaged in labour force development planning in and for northern resource communities set out as objectives 2 and 3 above. Frarning the findings using the supply/dernand model allows for the development

of policy and programming measures that can be applied directly by employers and unions: planners, decision-makers and advocates at the community and vanous government levels; educators; and women themselves. These are presented in Chapter 6. Consideration is also given here to identifiing the interests and needs of women fiom a long-term strategic perspective which seeks to address differing forms of oppression of women in the workplace. As the fourth objective for this thesis, it draws on both the literature and the research findings to consider the gendered nature of the workplace, of employment and social processes. and of the community itself and sets out the elements of a ferninist approach to planning for women's employment in northem communities thar seeks to change the nature of the workplace and its embodiment in the community .

CHAPTER 2

FEMINIST THEORY AND PLANNING

The establishment of a theoretical fiamework for this study, which draws on feminist perspectives, is necessitated on three levels: first, in the development of a critical position to planning literature dealing with women's employment; second, as a methodological tool for conducting the research; and third, as a frarnework for the analysis of the research findings. Ferninist theoretical concerns with women's participation in the labour force reveal severai themes or approaches that are explored below. begiming with an overview of the social construction of gender, the oppression of women, and theoretical perspectives on women's production, al1 of which inform the research as to social and material relations which shape wornen's expenence in the labour market. Next. literature is reviewed which offers expianations for women's occupational segregation as well as possibilities for change, drawing on a variety of theoretical approaches From sex role theory to patriarchy. The following sections review various feminist perspectives on women's employment expenence drawn from organizational behaviour, feminist geography, gender and development. and planning, again with a view to understanding how feminist theorists have addressed the issue of occupational segregation. Each of these sections include a discussion of the possibility for change, whether engendering change within organizations or challenging gendered spatial constmctions in the workplace, and together offer to this research suggestions for possible interventions at the level of the workplace. the community, and society in general. Thus, the intent of this review is not to systematically analyze the theories that are discussed, but to highlight perspectives used in the analysis of my research findings and the development of recommendations. Finally, implications for planning policy and

practice that anse from these approaches are discussed, and are also incorporated into the sections of the literature review in Chapter 3 that look specifically at women in male-dominated occupations, labour force development planning, and women in northem communities. tt should be noted here that the inclusion of literature sources dating fiom the eighties and early nineties in both this and the n e a chapter is intended not only to document shifis in feminist approaches to explaining women's labour market experiences, but also to reflect very real constraints which continue to affect women working (and living) in a strongly male-dominated culture, where traditional perspectives persist despite theoretical advances in understanding gender relations.

2.1

A Gendered Approach .4s feminist perspectives in

V ~ ~ O U academic S disciplines achieve

greater le-itimacy. social.

economic and spatial relationships are being redefined with a view to the importance of acknowledging inherent gender biases. k e n defines gender as "the socially constnicted and culturally detemined characteristics associated with women and men, the assumptions about the skills and abilities of women and men based on these characteristics, the conditions in which wornen and men live and work. the relations that exkt between women and men, and how these are represented, communicated, transmitted and maintained" (Itzen 1995. 2). Feminist theorists have conttibuted much to the understanding of the factors affecting women's participation in the labour force, and particularly in looking at the continued segmentation of the labour market by sex. The social construction of gender is central to this understanding of women's labour force participation. as indicated by a shifi in feminist thought frorn more limited analyses of women's oppression to theories of gender relations (Kobayashi

A. 1994, Kemp 1994). which range frorn

accounting for constraints on women to looking at the ways in which women respond to barriers and create opportunities for themselves. Feminist theones explore how women are gendered through these social constructions (Samson 1995. Kemp 1994. Tong 1989, Laws 1995). and how while the process of gendering is held to be universal. "the content and substance of these processes is not" (Samson 1995. 347). It is not only gender that informs women's experiences of their environment. Race. class. age. and sexual orientation al1 can have differing impacts on their experiences (Amott 1996. Little 1994). There is general agreement. however. on the importance of patnarchy in defining wornen's lives. and on the role it plays in constmcting sender relations (Little 1994).

2.2

Theories of Male Power, Oppression, and Wornen's Inequality Feminist theones of women's inequality provide various approaches to understanding their

experiences in the labour market. These approaches are essentially srounded in patriarchal gender relations. as constituting the basis of how male power over women is expressed and maintained (Little 1994. Hakim 1996). Little defines patriarchy as a theoretical tool for exploring social relations "which are constantly being reconstituted in response to changing social practice and expectation" (Little 1994, 24). She draws on Walby ( 1990) to explore different structures of patriarchy, including patriarchal relations in paid work and in the state, and male violence. This theoretical perspective posits that patriarchy, manifested through gender discrimination. harassment. and violence. act s as the primary factor in reproducing women' s inequality .

Laws draws on the work of Young to consider "the possibility of multiple and cumulative causes of oppression" (Laws 1995. 8), and articulates the different ways people respond to these

in an effort to reveal the complexity of forces shaping the built environment and its corresponding impact on Our lives. She applies lessons From feminist theory to draw attention to the diversity of human expenence and to implications for research, an argument which is considered in my discussion of the methodology of this research. Her typology of responses to oppression maps out the roles of those involved in oppression, and is usefùl to consider here as a framework for an analysis of women's experiences of and responses to barriers in the workplace. Young's five forms of oppression, namely exploitation, marginalization. powerlessness. cultural impenalism, and violence (Young 1990), serve to delineate different oppressive situations people may be in. either simultaneously or independently of one another Laws adds to thrse t h e faces of oppression a sixth. the 'denial of knowledge'. which grants to the producers of knowledge the ability to deny or to homogenize the expenences of the oppressed. and excludes them fiom the process of creation of knowledge (Laws 1995). This particular form of oppression is discussed more extensively in Chapter 4 considenng methodolo_picalapplications of Laws' aryuments. Table 1 in Appendix A includes examples of the six forms of oppression together with Laws' typology of responses. Laws identifies three classes of (not necessarily mutually exclusive) potential respondents to these varied types of oppression - the marginalized. the advocate. and the oppressors. In identimng the rnarginalized, Laws acknowledges the lack of consensus over whether or not women are oppressed in the workplace. pointing out the belief shared by many people that women can do as weil as men if they work hard (Laws 1995). She points to Young's argument that different goups in society rnay experîence the different types of oppression independently of one another. Each of these can respond to oppression either actively or passively: an active response may involve either simply wsistance to or manipulation of the terms

of oppression, while a passive response entails an acceptance, either consciously or unconsciously. of the status quo. By understanding the complexity of responses to oppression on the pan of the marginalized, the advocate, and the oppressor, she provides a fiamework for considering the social and political relations embedded in institutions and how they may be challenged.

In the context of this research 1 draw on her analysis of responses to oppression on the pan of the marginalized in particular, as discussed in the next chapter. and to a lesser extent on the part of myself as an advocate in developing a methodological approach. I do not consider the responses of the 'oppressor', as I have not attempted to systernatically identie who or what is responsible For the oppression of women with regards to their integration into the workforce. other than references to societal bamers, systemic bamers within institutions or corporations, or attitudes expressed within the workplace culture. An understanding of these theoretical approaches to explaining women's inequality, however. offer to the research an explanation for the differing responses of women to their marginalization in the workplace.

1.3

Feminist Theory and Women's Production Theoretical perspectives on gender relations that attempt to explain women's inequality

range from biological determinism and sex role theory to dual systems theory which locate women's oppression in social stmctures of patriarchy and capitalism. Little and Bondi both draw on the work of Conne11 in discussing analyses of social divisions based on gender, as either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic approaches to understanding the social construction of gender include role theones, which locate gender divisions within the development of sex-based roles through socialization. This approach has been discredited as essentiaily static and failing to

account for diversity (Little 1994), and for ignoring how systemic forms of power, based on class or gender. may contribute to women's subordination (Bondi 1994. Little 1994). Mantist and socialist feminist approaches are defined as 'extrinsic' or derived fiom systemic patterns of women's subordination (Bondi 1994, Little 1994). Marxist feminist approaches regard capitaiism as the central form of social discourse. a system of power relations that shapes women's experiences and From which gender inequality is denved (Tong 1989. Bondi 1994. Little 1994). A socialist feminist perspective. however, considers how patriarchy is manifested as the dominant form of gender relations through the sexual division of labour within the household. and how the interrelatio:.~ be'ween capitalism and patriarchy inform women's subordination (Tong 1989, Kemp 1994. Bondi 1994. Little 1994). These perspectives have been critiqued for failing to adequately explain womenSsparticular subordination. or as Little States "they do not explain the sexual nature of oppression" (Little 1994, 22). Dual systems theories regard patriarchy and capitalism as distinct forms of social relations. either ubiquitous or fùnctioning independently of each other: capitalism as a material structure. rooted in modes of production. and patriarchy as a nonmaterial structure based on ideology. biology and family relations. or in some approaches as a material stmcture based on reproduction/sexuality (Tong 1989. Bondi 1994). Matenalist dual-systems theorists are critiqued on the basis of leaning towards a 'separate spheres' model. discussed funher below. where women's production occurs mainly in the home and men's production is relegated to the workplace. This is problematic as capitalism is held to be largely responsible for creating the split between the family and the economy; thus, patriarchy can not be viewed solely as developing within the family and capitalism outside (Bondi 1994). Finally. this approach fails to provide an

understanding of women's oppression in the workplace; simply adding an analysis of workers' oppression to that of women's oppression fails to account for the continued marginalization of women in the workplace (Tong 1989). Little also points out the difficulties in integrating these two structures, particularly in understanding how they interact. but emphasizes the principle issue for the study of gender inequality that emerges from dual systems theory. namely "the autonomy of patriarchy and its analytical separation from capitalism" (Little 1994, 23). These approaches are also combined in a unified-systems theory. an approach that focuses on the division of labour and contends that the marginalization of women is essential to capitalism. with women forming a reserve army of labour. a system in which patriarchy has been historically intenwined (Tong 1989). Boserup's research into the transformation of Third World nations into capitalist economies procides an example. where women were found io be dislocated frorn the primaq to the secondary labour market as a result of the forces of capitalism interacting with those of patriarchy (Bosemp I W O ) . Women's labour market activities are also informed by theories that rely on neoclassical economics to explain women's production. Feminist critiques of this approach identify several problems in using traditional models to explain women's economic decisions; namely that the male 'nom' of an autonomous, rational individual making economic choices fails to account for eender and race differences in Society; that the rational-choice mode1 ignores gendered processes

C

operatinç in the labour market that constrain choice: and that the presumed absence of barriers to specializing in production does not reflect the sexual division of labour (Samson 1995. MacDonald 1995, Kemp 1994). Research in gender studies provides Further critiques of two of the purponed 'myths' prevalent in discussions of women and work; namely the assumption of

'separate spheres' which views activities that take place in the public domain as separate From those occumng in the private world of domestic and family situations, and the myth of the 'male norm' which views production as a male domain and thus assumes a masculine work norm for understanding female labour (Kobayashi a 4.1994, Tong 1989, Peake 1994). Such static notions of the farnily economy have been problematic for gender studies.

Theories on the continuity of farnily economic strategies that inform women's employment choices (Tilly and Scott 1987) are critiqued for failing to recognize the ways in which industnalization has altered labour processes and impacted on relations between male and female workers, such that they "were no longer part of common household units of production . . . but. rather, frequently confronted one another as potential job cornpetitors" (Kobayashi 1994. a). These approaches overlook gender inequality as a factor in women's employment choices and reinforce the myth of separate spheres. Theorists point out that "most women and men today continue to order their lives with role separation and according to a masculine work norm. Even individuals who depan from this life pattern are often only grudgingly admitted as participants to social processes defined by the male experience" (Kobayashi a d. 1994, .xxii). Theories of womens production thus offer to this research an understanding of the multiple causes and impacts of social and matenal relations which shape women's labour market expetiences in generai, but offer little to explain women's continued marginalization in select occupations. Perspectives on the masculine work 'norm' and on family econornic strategies do, however, provide some insight into the labour market behaviour of the women under study who 'depan from this life pattern' to seek employment in work traditionally done by men, and who may be responding to the material aspects of a 'reserve army of labour' used by firms.

2.1

Female Labour Force Participation and Occupational Segregation Women's entry into paid work throughout this century has contributed to far-reaching

changes in the distribution of employment opportunities ainongst men and women, influencing the location and nature of women's waged work and challenging society's expectations about the roles of women in the workforce. Theoretical debates on the constraints and opportunities experienced by women in the labour market are applied here to understanding female labour force participation and occupational segregation, with a view to how planning policy and practice may impact differentially on women to both create and reinforce sex segregation in the workplace. The workplace is not gender-neutral. The social construction of gender allows expectations of appropriate male and female behaviour to become embedded in institutions and social relations in the workplace; furthemore, because female qualities are ofien devalued. work considered primarily as appropriately performed by women tends to differ significantly from maledominated occupations in temis of wage rates. working conditions. and the status attributed to it. Theories discussed below attempt to account for the segregation of women in certain occupations, linking theones about women's inequality with perspectives on wornen's experience in the labour force, including sex role theory, liberal feminism. human capital theory, segmented labour markets, socialist feminism patriarchy, and finally, a discussion of focal points for challenging patriarchal processes that influence and reinforce occupational segregîtion.

Sa Role Theory Sociological approaches, also termed 'Idealist' (Armstrong and Armstrong 1990) or 'IndividualistEunftionalist? (Kemp 1994) focus on the supply side of the labour market and draw

on sex role theory to explain women's entry into waged work as a function of their domestic role (Kemp 1994, Little 1994, Hakim 1996, Williams 1995, Nicolson 1996, Itzen 1995, Spain 1992). Locating occupational segregation within the home, these approaches are similar to human capital theories discussed below, and regard changes in women's participation as relating to 'role conflicts' experienced as a result of the demands of women's domestic arrangements. This approach also infonns the process of how organizations become gendered. discussed in the following section. Hakim, challenging patriarchy theory. draws from economic sociology and psychophysiological theories to assen women's gender differentiation and explain what she observes as the 'poianzation' of women's employment. Her findings suçgest that women's expenence in the labour market reflect differences in work orientation and cornmitment. and that women are less concerned than men with mâuimizing their incorne at the expense of working conditions (Hakim 1996). Drawing on sex role theory to explain women's attitudes about the semal division of labour. she suggests that most studies do not differentiate between approval and choice. She claims that "there is thus a gulf between attitude surveys revealing steadily increasing public approval for workinç wives and mothers, and other research showing that only a minonty of women plan long-term careers, aim at higher grade occupations and invest accordingly in appropriate educational qualifications'' (Hakim 1996, 85). She refers to a study conducted by Vogler (1994) which, taking non-working women into account. Ends women more 'sexist' than men regarding their support for the sema1 division of labour (Hakim 1996, 87). Ultimately. she regards role specialization as a rational choice. an attempt to maximize efficiency that is based on fundamental psychological Factors.

Other theorists claim. however, that socioIogica1 approaches fail to address the econornic importance of women's productive work or to explain women's employment choices in ways other than those that relate to domestic responsibilities (Little 1994. Kemp 1994). Kemp argues that women not in the labour market or not part of a 'male-headed' household are disregarded by the model. and asserts that research From a functionalist perspective fails to directly address occupational segregation (Kemp 1994). Spain also points out that family-centred explanations do not account for the unequal prestige for men and women that results from gender differentiation (Spain 1997). Other critiques point to socialization as a life-long process that is not passive (Armstronç and Armstrong 1990; Reskin and Padavic 1994); in fact. behaviour that is deemed confoming "may be strategies for coping and indications of women's participation in creating their consciousness rather than evidence of conviction" (Armstrong and Armstrong 1990. 159). Role theory, while postulating that change can come from alternative role models or rational argument. also fails ro explain how changes can be initiated by those already socialized into certain roles. or why people are motivated and able to change (Armstrong and Armstrone 1990). Finally, Hanson and Pratt cal1 for inquiry into occupational segregation that demonstrates that "sex per se is less important as a condition for entry into a female-dominated occupation than is a particular set of domestic responsibilities" (Hanson and Pratt 1995. 14 1 ). This perspective is useful in providing a Framework for conceptualizing differences among women and. while problematic, establishes common ground between some women, highlighting many of the material issues they expenence in trying to balance their dual roles, and providing insight into the 'supply side' of the labour market (Little 1994).

Liberal Feminism

Individualist liberal feminist approaches emphasize individual autonomy (Tong 1989, Kemp 1994) and argue that when constraints to women's participation in employment are removed women will experience simiiar success as men. Constraints to women's Full participation are the result of socialization processes and poorly-informed choices, and cm be redressed through interventions that stress equality of opportunity (Kemp 1994). This mode1 thus accounts for occupational segregation by discriminatory practices which create barriers for women's entq to certain jobs, and offers to this research a perspective on the ability of organizations which initiate appropriate interventions to successfully employ women in male-dominated occupations. However, Kemp, for example, critiques this approach for not challenging patriarchy or capitalisrn, but rather advocatinç for reforms within the existing systems (Kemp 1994).

Hunian Capital Theuty

lndividualist theories also include neoclassical economics approaches to understanding se't segregation which focus on the demand side of the labour market (Kemp 1994. Spain 1992. Little 1994). Hakim promotes Becker's (1991) rational choice theory of the allocation of time and labour to the household versus waged work, applying neoclassical economic models to social institutions such as the family to understand women's econornic choices. Based on the dominance of sex role specialization, this approach foms the basis of human capital theory. Treating the farnily unit as a whole, this approach focuses on the supply of women's labour to the market economy as determined by her productivity and cornmitment. rneasured by education. training and experience (Blau and Ferber 1992. Reskin and Padavic 1994, Spain 1992, Walby, 1990).

Neoclassical economics perspectives account for occupational segregation on the basis of occupational choice and the 'crowding hypothesis', which argues that an oversupply of workers for certain jobs will depress the wages (Kemp 1994). Wornen. as rational. profit-rnaximizing individuals. anticipate interruptions in their labour force participation and choose more flexible jobs due to domestic and family responsibilities; their perception of baniers. both formal and informal. also inform their choices. Human capital theorists argue. For instance. that femaledominated jobs "are less likely than are male occupations to have apprentice-type training periods built into the early years on the job, during which time wage levels are suppressed . . . [these occupations] thus have lower "start-up" costs. an attractive feature to an individual who intends to move in and out of the labour force" (Hanson and Pratt 1995, 182). However. the study conducted by Hanson and Pratt. while showing strong links between household responsibilities and employment situations. found these outcornes related more to time management strategies and not as pan of a long-term strategy to maximite eamings; furthemore. they found that female-dominated jobs did not reflect the characteristics attnbuted to them by human capital theorists (Hanson and Pratt 1995). Research findings cited by Kemp show thai female-dominated jobs are not inherently flexible (Kemp 1994. 89); one study shows that wornen transferred to maie-dominated jobs dunng a strike, while valuing the non-compensating differentials in their office jobs, were much more influenced by practical considerations of economic need in indicating a preference for the male-dominated jobs (Kemp 1 994. 73 ). Other criticisms of the human capital mode1 deny the links between education or experience and productivity (Reskin and Padavic 1994), and question the issue of depreciation of human capital (Spain 1992). The crowding hypothesis offers a description of the consequences but does not

address the reasons for occupational segregation. While useful in exposing the decision-making processes within the household that may inform women's choices. feminist theorists have for the most pan rejected these approaches as failing to recognize preferences for different kinds of labour and for ignoring the impact of societal discrimination and patriarchal structures which influence women's participation in paid work (Walby 1986, Kemp 1994).

Segmented Labour Markets

Critiques of neoclassical economics underlie the dual labour market approach to wornen's labour force participation. postulating that wornen's position are determined prÎmarily by the economic forces at work in the labour market (Little 1994. 100). This approach turns away from explanations for occupational segregation based in the household and individual choices around attainment of human capital made in the context of dornestic responsibilities to focus on the workplace (Hanson and Pratt 1995). The segmentation of the labour market into a primary and secondary labour market proposes an alternative to the neoclassical model and is gaining acceptance in labour force development literature as an explanation for the continued exclusion of certain groups in society fiorn particular jobs and the constraints facing individuals seeking equal access to employrnent (Hakim 1996). Similar to the capitalist model. labour markets separate jobs requiring extensive training and offering high wage rates and stable employment from those that are lower skill, lower paid and tend to be allocated to women (Kemp 1994). While articulating various attributes of women as secondary workers, such as dispensability, social difference. little interest in acquiring training, low economism, and lack of solidanty (Ward l985), these theories fail to address why it is that women are seen to possess these attributes (Little 1994); prirnarily

descriptive and focused on the demand-side, nor do they adequately address the interactions between the labour market and the household. Hanson and Pratt point out that, while "connections between different spheres of life remain relatively undeveloped, this approach is useful for constnicting a framework within which the dynarnics of patriarchy can be inserted (Hanson and Pratt 1995, 7).

Sucialist Feminisrn

Structural theories about women's work focus more on the supply side and attempt to identify the interactions between the labour market and the household. They include MaKist feminism and socialist feminism and focus on patterns of human interaction that are embedded in class and patriarchal structures. Mantist feminist approaches, which emphasize capitalism's need for female waged labour that accompanies the de-skilling of jobs on one hand (and serves as an explanation for occupational segregation), and its contribution to labour-saving technologies in the home on the other, fail to account for women's continued low representation in newly skilled occupations. Further. the concept of the reserve army of labour is questioned as to its empirical validity and its inherent contradictions, namely. the importance of women's cheap labour versus the disposability of women's labour (Little 1994, Kemp 1994). Dual systems theories of women's subordination, discussed in the previous section, attempt to explore the interactions between the materiai and nonmaterial aspects of capitalism and patriarchy and are linked in Little's discussion to socialist feminist approaches to female labour force participation. The Lancaster Group, for example, relies on patriarchal gender relations to develop their theoretical approach to explaining women's position in the labour market. hsuming

a socialist-ferninist perspective based on dual systems theory, they argue for theoretically separate but related approaches that locate women's interests in opposition to those of both men and capital. Critics point to the inadequacy of this approach in the context of economic restructuring. suggesting that new divisions in the workplace "camot be interpreted simply in relation to male/female inequalities" (Little 1994, 1 1 1). Those processes of economic restructuring have trapped women along with men in peripherai labour markets. charactenzed by casual, part-time work. while expanding opportunities for women in core occupations, or those offering more stable, long-tenn employment (Little 1994), similar to segmented labour markets discussed above.

Patriarchy Little. in attempting to locate a theoretical basis for women's occupational segregation. suggests that conventional labour market theories do not account for the variation between male and female labour. and draws on feminist perspectives on capitalist patriarchy, expressed both in the workplace and in the labour market in general, to explain inequality in women's employment. As discussed above, "the interrelationship between stmctures of ciass and gender and of the processes of patnarchy and capitalism in explaining wornen's position generally constitutes perhaps the centrai question within feminist discourse" (Little 1994, 107). Theones of patriarchal gender relations essentially derive men's social advantages from their physical strength. "Those advantages influence the negotiation of power within the family, thus forming a mode1 for male alliances and dorninance outside the family" (Spain 1992, 25), and contribute here to theoretical explanations of women's expenence of waged work and occupational segregation from differins perspectives.

Hakim supports Goldberg's (1993) theories of the inevitability of patriarchy as a valid explanation of male domination. Although rejected as 'se&'

by feminist theorists due to his

reliance on biological factors (Spain 1992), Hakim suggests his approach is consistent with Gilligan's ( 1993) theory of qualitative personality diferences between men and women (Hakim 1996). The perspective offered by Hartmann (198 1) of patriarchy as the key explanatory factor

for women's subordination is fùrther developed by Walby ( 1990). who defines patriarchy as a "system of inter-related social structures and practices through which men dominate. oppress and exploit women" (Walby 1990, 30). Hartmann's approach, defined by Kemp as sociaiist feminist. views capitalism and patriarchy as fùnctioning in harmony. emphasizing occupational segregation as the means by which men constrain women's access to economic equality. Walby's approach. while similar, views capitalism and patriarchy as being more often in conflict stating. "lt is a common presumption that capital benefits from the subordination of women by men and that men utilise capitalist relations in the subordination of wornen" (Walby 1985. 162). She asserts their rival interests. but daims that both essentially work to limit women's access to Financial power and to protect men's advantaged positions. both in the home via total exclusion from the labour market. and in the workplace via the segregation of male and female workers. Hakim rejects Walby's theory in favour of Hartmann's claim that men "organize collectively to hrther their own interests against those of women through the labour market, laws. political organizations, culture and ideology" via exclusion, segregation and unequal pay (Hakim 1996, 17). Murgatroyd ( 1985) draws on evidence from manufacturing firms in Great Britain who sought out primarily cheap. unorganized female labour, suggesting that the conflict of interest between these employers and male workers seeking to protect their wages forms the basis for sex-segregation in the labour

market. She goes further to challenge occupational classifications, citing that the conditions under which jobs were created for women reflected women's responsibilities in the domestic sphere, with regards to domestic tasks or to the male-female relationships in the home based on the provision of 'deferential' service. Reskin and Padavic ( 1994) also rely on theones of patnarchy to explain occupational segregation, suggesting that inequality in the workplace is based on dominant yroups seeking to preserve their advantage over subordinate groups. They assert that men view women as threats. believing that "women might take jobs away fiom men, outperform men in the same job. or lead employers to cut a job's pay. Furthemore, ifwomen can perforrn "macho" jobs like coal mining, police work, or military combat, these jobs lose their capacity to confirm male workers' masculinity" (Reskin and Padavic 1994. 35). Finally, they suggest that fear that women's equality at work will undermine men's privileges in the home, family. and community. leads men to respond to these threats via isolation. preventing women From doing the job well by denying them required information and equipment. or sabotaging their work. Thus. theories of patriarchy offer to this research not only a theoretical basis for women's occupational segregation. but provide a perspective on the social relations that may infom women's experience of working in maledominated occupations.

Challenging Pahiarchy

Little challenges the tendency of theorists to view women as "passive recipients" of patnarchy. While acknowledging wornen as victims of certain operations of pattiarchai structures such as male violence and harassrnent, she posits women's struggle against oppression as holding

out possibilities for change. The effects of occupational segregation are explored here in the next chapter; suffice it to Say that in an effort to explain the process, Little identifies "management strategies, trade union policy and practice, and sexual harassment as expressions of male power underlying occupational segregation" (Little 1994, 109). Harassment and management strategies essentially contribute to the exclusion of women fiom certain occupations by putting in place discriminatory practices, denying them access to resources such as skills training or by preventing their entry into or causing them to leave certain jobs. Union policies, traditionally patriarchal organizations, fbrther constrain women's ability to enter certain fields of work. Her perspective on patriarchy thus serves to illuminate the processes influencing and reinforcing occupational segregation, while identifying focal points for change. Little's approach is reflected in this discussion of labour market theories which contribute to the research an understanding of female labour force participation and occupational segregation, but which point towards the need for hrther explanations of women's continued segregation in the workplace. The next section explores women's experiences within a gendered organizational culture, moving from a discussion of occupational segregation and how to challenge patriarchal structures that prevent womenosentry, towards understanding women's experiences within male-dominated workplaces and how they can inform organizational change.

2.5

Gender, Culture and Organizational Theories Feminist theorists concemed with the gendered nature of power and knowledge and how

these are manifested within organizations draw on feminist perspectives in sociology and social psychology that rely on hnctionalist theoretical approaches to explain women's inequality in the

workplace. suggesting that the way men and women are socialized based on expectations of appropnate roles for males and fernales is canied over to the workplace and embedded in organizational stmctures (Nicolson 1996, Williams 1995. k e n 1995, Reskin and Padavic 1994. Harlow, H e m and Parkin 1995). These perspectives, discussed above as largely grounded in a sociological approach, while avoiding the tendency of conventional theones to view women's domestic and waged work as separate functions, reflect a social construction approach to gender and sex roles which accepts women's dornestic responsibilities as part of women's 'natural' role (Little 1994, 108). While acknowledging the relationship between production and reproduction. these approaches often fail to challenge the underlying power structures informing the distribution of work within the household and the workplace. They are usefùl to consider, however. in identikng the constraints and opportunities that inform women's experiences in the labour market. and how these gendered processes are embedded in organizations. as a first step in developing strategies to address systemic discrimination. They offer to this study an understanding of how male-dorninated workplace cultures may reproduce and maintain bamers to women's panicipation, with important implications for planning theory and practice. The ways in which organizations are gendered range fiom discriminatory structures and policies to informa1 workplace practices and beliefs that contribute to a gendered culture. These include structural bamers such as the gendered division of labour; organizational hierarchies; gendered processes that promote the separation of central values from those at the margins, such as a lack of female mentors, predominance of 'old boys' networks, and backlash; processes which concern the relationship of workers to domestic responsibilities including oven barriers to the accommodation of parental responsibiiities; and processes in the operation of sexuality within the

workplace such as harassrnent (Nicolson 1996, Itzen 1995, Williams 1995, Newman 1995, Reskin and Padavic 1994, Parkin and Maddock 1995, Harlow, Heam and Parkin 1995). Theoreticat explanations relating to the ways gender differences are manifested within organizations are discussed below, including gendered expectations, tokenism, gendered culture. and lastly, organizational theories on engendering cultural change.

Gendered Expectations

Practices and beliefs arising from gendered expectations are grounded on assumptions about the gendered characteristics of workers such as women's over-riding domestic or family responsibilities. reflected by employer preferences for hiring workers with fewer 'nonwork distractions'. or beliefs that men are more level-headed or impartial than women (Williams 1995) Williams makes the point that "once gendered expectations are embedded in jobs, workers are assumed to possess the appropnate gendered attributes; they may even be evaluated on how well they confom to these expectations" (Williams 1995. 15). Women are type-cast as 'caring' or 'expressive' because of the jobs they have traditionally occupied: these gender stereotypes then impose limitations on women which are not only perpetuated by occupational segregation but in tum reinforce it. limiting women's access to jobs perceived to require 'masculine traits' Nicolson draws from research looking at professional women's expenences to examine how these

patriarchal structures resist women's progress. and the implications for women's psychological health O\licolson 1996). Her findings, descriptive in nature. offer to the research an understandine of the impacts on women of challenging gendered expectations in the workplace. and are considered in more detail in the next chapter in explonng women's expenences. both in terms of

bamers and consequences, in male-dorninated occupations.

Tokensism Williams also explores organizational inequalities, rejecting human capital theones which attribute women's lesser status in the workplace to gender charactenstics, in favor of the theory of tokenism, which sees gender differentiation promoted through organizational structures. She

draws on the work of Kanter to argue that "the bamers women face in predorninantly male occupations can be attributed to their numerical minonty in organizations" (Williams 1995. 7). which leaves them wlnerable because of their difference from the dominant group to stereotyping and 'role entrapment'. Token women also face performance pressures due to a higher visibility of errors that reflect their lack of organizational power (Spain 1992). Williams relies on theories of gendered organizations in her analysis of men working in predorninantly female occupations to explore how cultural beliefs about sex roies are embedded into the structures of the workplace. Men's token status in female-dorninated occupations, she asserts, produces effects that are "radically asymmetrical" for men and women and lead to material advantages for men (Williams 1995. 80). suggesting that theories of occupational segregation such as tokenism are not themselves gender-neutral, and do not adequately address women's expenence in the workplace.

Gendered Culture Cultural practices within organizations both reproduce and influence gender relations. and can serve as significant baniers to change. Parkin and Maddock (1995) provide a gender typology

of organizational culture, which is usefùl in categorinng attitudinal baniers experienced by

women working in maie-dominated occupations and, along with gendered characteristics of organizational culture put forward by Itzen and Newman (1995), provide to the study a Framework for analysis of findings, discussed in the next chapter. Other theorists cited by Itzen draw on organizational change theory to understand how power imbalances between men and women in the workplace are reproduced and how these can be addressed. explored funher below. These theoretical perspectives shed light on women's experiences in male-dominated workplaces and provides strategies for bringing about changes through employment planning processes. Newman echoes this approach. pointing out how organizational cultures have posed significant barriers to change in the workplace. "Even in organizations where equal opportunity initiatives are well developed, their cultures may be resistant and intractable.' (Newman 1995. 1 I ) , Gendered hierarchies are sustained by the cultural messages transmitted through informa1 organizational discourses and practices about the appropriate roles for women. the value of male versus female labour. or the promotion of ideologies of racism and homophobia, suggesting that interventions at the formal level. such as the developrnent of policies and procedures. may be limited in their effectiveness. She also points out that an emphasis on simply increasing the numbers of female employees, citing the recniitment of women in male-dominated occupations. is not enough. "Where women face hostile cultures. the pressures are g e a t and an undue amount of energy has to be expended in developing strategies for survival" (Newman 1995. 11). This raises the issue of how to find a balance between adoptins the values of the predominant culture in order to survive, or in developing alternative ways of working. Cultural change in the workplace also results From organizational restructuring efforts to become, for instance, more responsive or flexible. These efforts can transform existing structures and hierarchies which may, for instance,

open up opportunities for women to be more involved in decision-making processes but which may also unintentionally create new barriers to women's participation (Newman 1995). Newman goes on to explore how gender relations are embedded in different cultural forrns, an issue that is discussed below in considering the dominant cultures of the workplaces under consideration.

Engenùering Change

Several organizational theorkts explore models of cultural change, with a focus on linking equality with organizational effectiveness; these are considered briefly in ternis of their application in planning practice regarding the development of strategies and the identification of barriers to supporting female integration into male-dorninated fields. Newman ( 1999, drawing on traditional management theory, points out that "diversity, difference and dissent are treated as problems to be ironed out rather than as issues to be explored or as positive sources of change" (2 1 ); she challenges the assumptions of cultural models, including the "ciosed society" or intemal focus that tends to neglect the impact of the wider society. This echoes feminist theoretical concems with the separation of the work sphere Rom the 'private' or domestic sphere, and points to the importance of making explicit the impact of gender relations in society and in the home on the organization's intemal gender relations. Another example considered here is the assumption of culture as an 'objective reality'; workers, as active creators of culture rather than passive recipients. are differentiated both from the organization and from other workers. "These include differentiation between women, who take on different kinds of gender identity and who deal with the gendered cultures in a host of different ways, drawing on a range of strategies" (Newman 1995, 23). Lastly, the predominance of ideas about culture as 'static' or passive negates the

substantial changes occumng in the workplace today where concepts of gender can be eroded or transmuted into new messages. Newman challenges the notion of the 'glass ceiling' as denying the fluidity of bamers to women. and points out the 'vicious cycle' that can occur when few women are attracted to or retained in certain positions due to the unwelcoming culture, which perpetuates the lack of female role models and the predominance of the male culture (Newman 1995, 24). Parkin and Maddock's (1995) research includes the identification within these patterns of possibilities for change ihrouph female 'change agents'. an approach which echoes Newman's theory that new structures can aid in transfoming concepts ofgender and positively affect the workplace culture. ttzen's case study of the gender and organizational change initiative carried out in a British local authority also contributes to this research strategies to bnng about changes in maledorninated workplaces. Her research highlights issues around the culture. structure and practices of an organization responsibie for the provision of planning services. and contributine to the planning processes that are aimed at improving the position of wornen. The objectives of her work were "to enhance the recruitment. retention and career progression opponunities" as well as "to improve the working conditions and the working environment" of wornen in al1 levels of the orçanization ( Itzen 1995, 128). Drawing on several models for implementing strategic change in organizations. she incorporated diagnostic tools used in pnvate sector strategic planning such as

SWOT (strengths, weaknesses. opportunities, and threats) analysis and key relationship rnapping, and relied on emergent strategy, supported in feminist sociology as a grounded theory approach that sees theory "developed as an active process in the relationship between the researcher and the researched" (Itzen 1995, 132). The centrality of research to the process. both in terms of

producing information which led to adoption of new policies, and the actual process of collecting it which itself creates change, converges with the feminist methodological approach discussed here and underscores the relevance of the study to the practice of planning by linking the object of study to activities and outcornes. Elements of the process she used to 'crafi' strategies are incorporated in the analysis and recommendations sections of this study. Organizational change theories, based on feminist sociological perspectives, prove relevant to the discussion of how gender relations are manifested in the workplace. leading to occupational segregation and unequal treatment of male and female workers. These perspectives help in understanding the experiences of women who overcorne the bamers of a male-dominated workforce. and point towards the developrnent of strategies to irnprove the workins environment and open up more opportunities for women in certain industries. As Little ( 1994) pointed out. these approaches do not. however. challenge underlying power structures. The next sections explore, on one hand, how these çendered processes operate in a spatial context. moving beyond orçanizational theory to incorporate feminist geography perspectives, and on the other. how considerations of material spatial realities drawn from çender and development theories can infonn strategy development which, in the long terni, does seek to change power imbalances.

2.6

Women, Work and Place Feminist theorists in the fields of geography. planning and history have contributed to the

development of an extensive body of literature that explores the intersection of gender with space, place and work, leading to an "increasingly sophisticated understanding of variations in patriarchy according to site and context" (Kobayashi a d.1994. xwi) . Their perspectives on the

complexities of gender relations are grounded in the spatial context, focusing on "women's use of space and their relationship with the built environment" (Little 1994, 9). Others are concerned in particular with the "changing circumstances of women's work and with the specific nature of these changes in different world regions, nation states, and urban areas" (Kobayashi et al. 1994. xiv). These theories grow fiom the understanding that the formation and restructuring of industry

and paid labour, while difficult to analyze on a macro level, produce outcomes that are specific to the local context. These perspectives offer to the research a conceptual frarnework for understanding how women's experiences both in the labour market in general and in the workplaces of nonhem comrnunities in particular are shaped by the gendered construction of space, and contribute to the development of strategies that link theoretical concems discussed in this chapter with planning concerns around labour force development and northem community developrnent discussed in the next chapter. "Society is constituted in space and, more imponantly perhaps. space acts as both a 'container' and a 'shaper' of social processes. Accordingly, social relations, oppressive and otherwise, are constituted iti and by space" (Laws 1995, 21). This is reflected by the consideration of male/female interactions within the workplace, a space created and shaped by workplace culture, corporate policy and industrial society at large; it also impacts on gender relations in homes and northern cornmunities. But how does space impact on social relations, or

as Laws states, "what does it mean to Say that oppression is constituted by space?" (Laws 1995. 2 1 ). The discussion above answered this question in pan, focusing on how social constructions of

gender can be embedded and reproduced in discriminatory practices and hostile culture of workplaces, as well as how forces operating in the labour market create and sustain occupational

segregation. Feminist perspectives in geography offer additional approaches for the consideration of how women's experiences in the labour market are aEected by location and by spatial constraints of the workplace, and how their home and comrnunity life are shaped by location as well as the gendered nature of built form. These approaches are grounded in material realities. and range from accounting for constraints on women to ways in which women respond to and structure their actions within those constraints (Kobayashi a A.1994).

Place

Feminist geography perspectives, challenging the individualist accounts of wornen 's labour market experience, locate their theones in examinations of t he demographic sources of women' s work (Kobayashi pr A.1994). As Laws (1995) observes, "transfomations in the unevenly developed space economy and the spatial structures ofjob opportunities mean that a person's location can make a diKerence to whether or not s/he experiences marginalization" (2 1 ). For example, participants in the Lancaster Regionalism Group's exploration of localities. class and gender, focus on how the consequences of planning processes for gender and class relations Vary by locality. They explore how location strategies of manufacturing finns in Great Bntain were

influenced in part by a preference for unorganized and unskilled, and therefore cheap, female labour (Urry and Warde 1985). This exploitation of fernale labour, accounted for in traditional industrial location theory on the basis of 'Nmble fingers' and based on sex role stereotyping (Massey 1994), is a theme addressed by women in development literature as well, which points to the use of cheap female labour in import/export zones in developing countries (Moser 1989. d s o p 1993, Bosenip 1970). Walby (1985) refers to studies that show correlations between

regional variations in female participation rates and regional variations in industrial structure; furthemore that a dernonstration effect in regions with industrial structures conducive to female employment as well as higher likelihood for "support facilities for women in paid work" (Walby 1985. 166) revealed even higher rates of female activity. On the other hand. location of industrial activity based on technical or economic grounds such as extractive processes. works in reverse to impose social change on local societies (Shapiro 1985). Both of these processes are explored more fully in the following chapter to understand how women's employment expenence is shaped by local industry demand for female labour.

A Ceography of Gendered Relations Walby cautions against relying on explanations of locational variations in women's participation in the labour market, callins for the consideration of the histoncal dimension: "Current patterns are in some ways continuations and accumulation of patterns which were fixed at eariier times" (Walby 1985. 164). Massey echoes this perspective. arping for a geography of gender relations in her emphasis that women's increased participation in the labour market and the shifks in balance between male and female labour that have occurred with industrial restructuring Vary across regions. and "depends on the prevailing system of gender relations" (Massey 1994. 8 1). She points to old heavy industry regions, such as the coaifields where, due to the nature of

employment for men, including the status attached to the work shifiwork requirements. and the demands on female domestic work, a strongly entrenched ideology of the sexual division of labour exists which has spread beyond the workplace to public life. Other studies also illustrate that gender-typing of occupations varies from place to place (McDoweil and Massey 1984). Thus.

what is defined as a 'male' job varies by place, often determined by old gender relations and the subsequent construction of new gender divisions in the labour market. Asserting the importance of place and space in the construction of gender relations and in efforts to change them they warn against the incorporation of essentialist approaches to explaining women's waged work in industrial areas, drawing attention to the geographic variation which shows that these gender relations are sociaily constructed (McDowell and Massey 1984, 78). Tilly and Scott's (1987) construction of a comparative urban typology. including the example of rnining communities with few employment opportunities for women. raises issues of similar concern to feminist theorists. While usefui to consider how locational constraints inform women's work expenence, their approach is critiqued by Kobayashi (Kobayashi

A. 1994) for

relying on a static notion of the family economy, overlooking the impact of industrialization on relations between male and female workers. Hanson and Pratt ( 1995) critique Massey's ( 1994) work on similar grounds, citing her tendency to treat sex-typing of occupations as a constant. such as in the example of the coalfields used above which defines women's employment in terms of men's. They point out that women worked in the mines untii the 1817 Mines Act prevented

them From doing so, and suçgest that a more cornplex and detailed account is necessary to explain why women were, until recently, excluded fiom paid employment in the mining t o m s of South Wales (Hanson and Pratt 1995). These perspectives on how place and gender interact. however. provide important considerations for exploring how gender relations Vary from region to region. contnbuting to the fiamework for the anaiysis of women' s employment experiences in northern locales.

Space

Ferninist theoretical perspectives on gendered space also provide a usetùl approach to considering the spatial constraints present in the workplace. Spain (1992) explores how spatial arrangements have reinforced women's subordination and status relative to men's. Her approach emphasizes how gendered spaces deny women access to knowledge, which, when considered in combination with theoretical perspectives discussed above, provide for a better understanding of the causes of women's inequality. particularly occupational segregation. Her point that spatial foms, once institutionalized, continue to influence social processes. echoes the earlier discussion on the way discrimination in the workplace is perpetuated by a gendered workplace culture arising from embedded gender. Geographical. architectural, and institutional foms are al1 considered as incorporating gendered constructions; most important to consider is the way the workplace is simultaneously spatial and gendered, resulting not only in jobs being delegated as male or female. but in male and female space (Spain 1992). Hanson and Pratt also draw on the concept of embeddedness, discussed earlier in theones of organizational culture, to explore how information and values are filtered through networks of personal contacts that bridge econornic and social divisions, workplace and household. The particular manifestation of these networks and the resources they represent, ihey claim. are crucial to understanding the contlicts that shape women's employrnent exper-ience.These include spatial segregation within the workplace, which separates workers frorn one another depending on organizational hierarchies and workplace practices, and can inform access to on-the-job training and social networking which provide support and access to skills acquisition and advancement opponunities (Hanson and Pratt 1995). They also include the institutionalization of gender

relations in the community that stmcture opportunities and decisions, such as local perceptions of what is appropriate work for women, access to job information, and job search methods. Thus, "what is judged to be possible and what is actually available as employment depends on the local place" (Hanson and Pratt 1995, 185).

Occupational Segregation

Feminist geography perspectives are useful in considering the contribution of theories of sendered space to understanding occupational segregation. Theories discussed above explored causes based on sociological and economic perspectives; Spain ( L 992), for example. emphasizes space and status. These mutually reinforcing processes are explained by the charactenzation of social institutions by gender segregation and the funher reinforcement by spatial segregation; finally, "the greater the distance between women and sources of valued knowledge. the greater the gender stratification in the society" (Spain 1992. 27). Hanson and Pratt also bring an emphasis on space to understanding occupational segregation. claiming that the debate. while "implicitly

-rreographical in the sense of attending to where the locus of causation lies" (Hanson and Pratt 1995. 6 ) . has focused on temporal relations, and when connections have been made between

home and work spheres. the geography of these relations is overlooked. Local environments. they claim, shape both employer demand for femaie labour and women's employment preferences. providing a stronger rationale for occupational segregation than other theories discussed above. They cite the fiction of distance. or the "distance and connections between home and employment" (9) as opposed to the 'context' of women's employment both as poles of a dualism that must be explored as a whole; "not only is it necessary to embed distance within a fuller set of

socio-spatial relations in order to understand the occupational segregation of women, but also the friction of distance and gendered divisions of labor are crucial to the constitution of places and local economies" (Hanson and Pratt 1995, IO), an observation that, while losing its relevance today, still speaks to the realities of northem communities founded around heavy industry.

Challenging Gendered Spatial Constructions The ability of feminist geography approaches to challenge patriarchal assumptions reflected in the built environment vary. Kobayashi emphasizes that, while feminist perspectives in geography have contributed to an understanding of the sources of separation of women's paid and domestic work, their spatial analyses have oflen failed to consider the interaction of these places; while focusing on the sites where gender relations are played out, "context becomes of crucial importance" (Kobayashi a 4.1994. d) Peake . contnbutes a feminist perspective to the development of urban-social theory that seeks to understand transformations in social relations. She suggests that theoretical perspectives of the domestic arena as autonomous fail to recognize the ways in which productive activities are linked with the household, recreating the myth of separate spheres. Acknowledging the traditional view that "it is gendered human agents who create, maintain, and transform structures in their struggles to create new urban meanings" (Peake 1994, 1 1). she points out the importance of including the changing forms of women's work along

with the spatial implications of these changes as a criticai dimension of these stniggles, calling for the inclusion of the meaning of waged work to women's lives in explorations of urban-social change (Peake 1994, 2 1).

Spain (1992) focuses on the degendering of space and the links between changing the

status hierarchy and changing spatial institutions. She emphasizes that her argument "does no1 assume that women's status automatically d l improve if they enter the same rooms as men" (Spain 1992, 2 1); spatial arrangements simply represent one of the conditions that reinfiorce male advantage and contnbute to gender stratification, and degendering space in the workplace "will improve women's status only to the extent that it also improves their acquisition of knowledge valued by society" (Spain 1992, 233). Her approaches to degendering space are considered more in depth in the next chapter as responses to women's experience in male-dominated workplaces. Hanson and Pratt (1995) point out that women, while not 'hapless victims' of their environments. nevertheless make decisions within existing structures of farnily, job opportunity. and place. As they point out, "organizing across these differences is no simple task. A first step is to recognize the differences and to understand how they are embedded in locally based work. household, and community relations" (227). They cal1 for a restructuring of employment that will accommodate Family and domestic responsibilities; they also point to spatial bamers that structure access to job information and the importance of female menton to challenge prevalent attitudes; it is through these place-based social networks that embedded gender relations can be challenged (Hanson and Pratt 1995). Other gender theorists also address the importance of challenging patriarchal assumptions about women's work; strategies such as Laws' (1995) responses to oppression and Moser's ( 1989) strategic interests are considered Funher as viable approaches to meetins long-ierm

feminist advocacy planning objectives that challenge women's subordination in the workplace. as follows.

2.7

Gender and Development Gender and Development approaches to addressing women's inequality draw on feminist

theoretical perspectives From a number of the fields of inquiry explored above. This perspective offers to planners an alternative approach that combines elements of sociological inquiry into the causes of women's subordination, feminist geographers' concerns with how space and place interact to inform women's experience. and economic approaches to facilitating sustainable development. Feminist theories applied to the study of women in development have moved beyond articulating the underlying reasons for women's continued marginalization in developing countries and present a course of action for developing strategies and programming to improve women's access to the benefits of development. This approach perhaps best reflects the intent of this research; to not only capture the experiences of women but to establish an agenda for change based on short-term practical interventions as well as long-term strategies to ensure women's full access to econornic opportunities. Feminist planners in developing countries have developed a framework for analyzing women's needs. most notably Moser. Her approach differentiates between practical interests. those which are based on their experiences and focus on women's needs for survival, and strategic interests. which are based on a feminist analysis of women's oppression and seek to challenge gender relations (Moser 1989). This approach is suggested as a usehl addition to planning theory. by providing "a framework for linking the descriptive 'women and . . .' literature with explanations of why gender oppression occurs and with programs for fundamental change" (Sandercock and Forsyth 1992. 54). Alsop (1993) identifies some of the problems inherent in planning for women's practical

and strategic interests. She points out the dificulties in the process of identifjmg appropnate project interventions: "This is especially true where long-term, or strategic, issues of equity are explicit in project objectives" (367). Her analysis is useful to consider here as a tool for analyùng the barriers women face in entering certain workplaces. particularly as it relates to the social and economic interactions between groups, "interactions that articulate issues of resource and benefit access and control" (Alsop 1993, 367). She argues that a recurrent problem of the approach used in development projects that enable women to become active outside the domestic sphere is that . . . consideration of short-term benefits within projects ofien neçlects to take into account the broader context of project activity in the tems of the relationship between men and women in any particular society. This can influence the longer term effectiveness. of what are perceived as immediate benefits. through failing to consider how the existing gender relations will impact upon changing circumstances initiated by the project . . . [this] can also work against the underlying issue of moving towards conditions of equality for women within that society (Alsop 1993. 368).

Asop argues that interventions focused on practical gender issues can also address strategic issues. but points out "that unless intra- and interhousehold gender relations are taken into consideration it will not be possible to predict, or account for. the effect that practical interventions would have on the strategic needs of women" (Alsop 1993. 368). This is an important observation; it suggests that the identification of interventions that would remove bamers to women's practical interests. such as improving access to paid employment. skills training, etc. must take into account gender relations and househoid tension before these interventions can be deerned useful in addressing strategic interests. For instance, initiatives to recruit women to cenain occupations that do not consider the possibility of resistance or hostility on the part of male CO-workers,with resulting workplace contlict and low retention of women,

may undermine women's strategic interests of full and equal participation in the workforce.

Moser's (1989) delineation of practical and strategic gender interests and needs in the contefl of development planning warrants further consideration here. t have already captured the difîerence between a strategic and a practical issue or intervention; Moser distinguishes as well between gender interests and gender needs, both strategic and practical. An iirtarast. or a pnoritized concem, is distinguished From a concretepimmirrg rirad, or the rneans by which the concem may be satisfied (Moser 1989, 1802). These categones prove useful for analyzing women's access to employrnent and developing appropriate strategies for intervention. A table developed by Alsop (1993). is reproduced below with my examples related to gender needs and interests in employment.

Table 2.

Women's Strategic and Practical lnterests and Needs

I Need

- to address the equity

strategic: - an issue or concem embedded in or denved from the subordination of women to men rg. Wurnrii 's ecorwmic eqtmiily Practical: - an issue or concem embedded in or derived fiom the everyday situations that women find themselves in eg. Emplcymerrf of ivomrtt i ~ skrlled irades work

- to provide women with

equipping mechanisms balance in gender relations rg. Support ivurnrti S rights lu eg. Full and eqz~al porricipcrtiotr i ~the i u~ork$orce fil[ employrnerti

t

- to identify thematic areas in

- to intervene at cntical points

which women have options for improvement in their status and standard of living eg. fi~suririguccess IO skifled work thnt pays w r l l and pra vides jo h secwily

in the existing system eg. Providirig skiils traiitirrg IO women

Alsop's analysis identifies the importance of understanding interactions between men and women at an intra- or inter-household level in order to address strategic interests through interventions focused on practical needs. The importance of acknowledging the diversity of 45

women's experiences was discussed earlier; Alsop (1993) adds that such difference in the interests and needs of groups of women "is one that varies according to both the intra (related to gender) and inter (related to class) household position of a person at any one time" (369). On the other hand, she points out that the activities women are engaged in reflect the e'risting cultural noms and the corresponding perceptions of women's roles. Thus. culture "prescribes not only the social positioning of a household but also the intrahousehold relations of production. the relative status of household members and the form that relations between men and women take" (Aisop 1993. 369).These manifestations of existing cultures may therefore mitigate the effects of intervention to varying degrees.

2.8

Perspectives on Planning Theory and Practice Theoretical perspectives employed above to explore women's entry into and experiences

in the labour market, while addressing issues beyond the scope of traditional planning processes. are necessary to enable a feminist analysis of planning theory and practice which is prescnptive as well as descriptive (Little 1994. 96). These perspectives. by illustrating how spatial. economic and social relationships that shape women's employment experience are gendered. infonn the development of a critical position towards the planning approaches considered here, as well as contribute to the development of a fiamework for the analysis of my research findings. Theorists such as Little ( 1994), Milroy ( 1991), Leavitt ( 1986). and Sandercock and Forsyth ( 1992) explore the contributions feminist theory can make to planning theory and provide a gender-based perspective on several areas of planning policy, praaice and education. The development of a gender-based approach to the research draws pnmarily on these perspectives. incorporating

critical analyses of planning literature, feminist methods of inquiry, identification of strategic and practical gender interests. and development of recomrnendations for planning practice that explicitly addresses women's access to employment.

A primary contribution. already addressed above. of feminist theoretical perspectives to planning is to facilitate an understanding of the diversity of women's experiences; "planning theory literature deals hardly at al1 with multiple oppressions by race, sexual preference. culture, and gender" (Sandercock and Forsyth 1992, 50). Feminist theonsts cal1 upon planners to address this diversity, and to "determine when it is appropriate to distinguish between specific categories and when the experiences among women of different classes. races. and other backgrounds are actually congruent" (Sandercock and Forsyth 1992. 50).Another important contribution of feminist theory to planning is in challenging the concept of the public domain. the arena which planning seeks to intervene in, as separate from the private or domestic sphere (Sandercock and Forsyth 1992. Little 1994, Milroy 1991). Many feminist theonsts argue that this separation between the public sphere and domestic life has been developed and maintained to men's advantage, suggesting that economic or political issues in the public domain can be contested. Sandercock and Forsyth, in explorhg the cornplexities in planning arisinç corn a reexamination of the place of women in the public domain, address the contributions of feminist theory in three areas: women's right to participate fully as actors in the public domain: creating public space for women; and in developing a new understanding of the nature and extent of the public domain (Sandercock and Forsyth 1992. 53). More specifically, Little explores women's roles in policy development and implementation in planning practice in Great Britain. She provides insights into wornen's lack of

access to power in the context of their participation in planning and decision-making processes. She claims that women's political power influenced the opening up of the private domestic sphere, citing a shift in the perception of women's roles in child-rearing and housework as centred in the family to political and ideological levels where the state adopted more responsibility (Little 1994. 73). She points out, however. that the focus of women on consumption issues in their political activity has been perceived as devaluing their contribution as "wornen have been associated with what are regarded as 'pnvate' and thus non-political issues" (Little 1994, 88). She claims their roles within planning and decision-making processes have been limited largely to informal ones. such as single-issue campaigns which she suggests may have diverted attention away from the real issue of women's struggle against male power. Planning approaches considered here are thus assessed with regards to their recognition of wornen as active participants in planning processes, particularly as to how decisions affecting their employment activity are made. Feminist theory has also challenged the definition of the pubiic domain. The feminist movement, by enabling women "to recognize and to demonstrate the politicai nature of what are generally seen as 'personal' issues" (Little 1994, 71). chalienged the separation of the private and public spheres. Exposing the connections between productive work in the home and the workplace changes the scope of what is considered to be in the public domain. with imponant implications for planning processes. An example cited is that of state policies "that attract industries wit h gender-segmented work forces to enterprise zones, t hereby reinforcing different job options for men and women" (Sandercock and Forsyth 1992, 53). Exploration of planning interventions in nonhern resource cornrnunities points to sirnilar implications for women.

challenging planners to respond with strategies that incorporate their needs by considering the interactions between, and inseparability of, home and work spaces. An understanding of how place. space and gender intersect, and the implications of

overlooking these co~ections,is echoed in Little's point that women's absence fiom planning processes "may result in the neglect of women's needs and in the automatic acceptance of planning strategies which perpetuate stereo-typical assumptions concerning the gendered use of space" (Little 1994. 78). Citing changes occurring in society regarding the structure of the tamily. women's movement into the labour force. and the feminization of poverty. Leavitt also argues

that planning cannot ignore the issue of sender in planning practice. She points to a 'gender gap'

in planning which reflects factors that disproponionately affect women such as location of employment. accessing education. waged work. child care and other services. and calls for a feminist advocacy approach to planning that makes gender visible by drawing explicit attention to it as a variable and focuses on the analysis of orban form and planning processes from a feminist perspective that considers the 'totality' of people's lives. "It should no longer be the spatial ordering that is central to urban planning, for example. but rather the complexity of ways in which human beings behave - the division of labour between men and women. the relationship of labour in the home to paid labour at an off-home work site, the varying demands and needs through the life cycle - within the spatial context of a neighborhood, city, suburb or rural area" (Leavitt 1986. 186).

Wornen's participation in employment and economic development are central to the field of planning, where processes and policies play a key role in deteminine the location and distribution of employment through the siting of development as well as the "creation of job

opportunities and the generation of conditions for econornic growth (Little 1994, 95). Planning not only affects the number and type ofjob opportunities open to women, but as more and more women respond to these opportunities, changes to their daily lives to enable their waged work become more pervasive. "Women have always had to balance the requirements of their different roles. Increasingly, however, they are demanding that employers, service providers and the state take some responsibility for these adjustments" (Little 1994, 55). Little calls on planners to respond, showing how planning policy influences employment availability and individual access through not only industrial location and site development, but by tackling women's related needs such as transportation, siting of childcare and other facilities, and initiatives relating to training and job information. Planning thus plays an important role in facilitating access to other resources and setvices that help to shape women's employment patterns. Feminist theorists, in discussing the contribution of planning to women's expenences in the labour market, move beyond a matenal perspective to incorporate issues in theoretical debate about women's roles and gender relations. Little points out how waged work "forms an important 'patriarchal structure' through which male power over women is expressed and reinforced" (Little 1994, 95). Milroy also contends that, as planners use formai employment as "the central organizing element of plans," planning incorporates a masculinist bias that elevates the status of work, a status that becomes embedded in social theory and practice and that "is prejudicial to developing moral, caring communities" (Milroy 1991, 15). She cites the development of policy tools to "ensure the highest prionty is given to the efficient handling of the foms of work identified as producing and diaributing goods and services" (Milroy 1991, 17). She also argues that the workplace was constnicted to cut workers off from unpaid work and home life, just as

women, echoing other theorists' concerns, have been excluded from the workplace and thus from sources of knowledge and power in society. The theoretical bais and the implications of the separation of work and domestic spheres for women have been explored above: Milroy adds that "ftom a planning perspective, the analysis of work is therefore directly linked to the ways in which community institutions and stnictures influence women's options for participation outside their homes" (Milroy 1991. 16). In suggesting that not al1 those representing a community's interests have equal voices ( 17). Milroy bnngs us back to Little's assertion of the importance of ensuring that women participate as active agents in the planning process. Bringing feminist perspectives to the process of planning as explored above is thus cntical

"in order to recognise the extent and nature of women's inequality within the built environment and to start to identi@ planning's contribution to maintaining and alleviating that inequality" (Little 1994. 43), Leavitt emphasizes that raising the visibility of women's issues is not enough: The plan must do more than merely identifi women as beneficiaries or increase their jobs or housing, but instead must transform the econornic and patriarchal systems. In this, wumen's equality with men must become part of but is not the whole program. Power relationships must change. Women thus become not just planning targets or objects. but their needs and strengths become an integral part of planning processes (Leavitt 1986, 184). This perspective echoes approaches explored above in its focus on engendering change. and in

particular reflects the fundamental concem of Gender and Development approaches articulated by Moser with long-range implications for intervention. These approaches challenge traditional planning practice to address the gender gap in access to resources and decision-making power and. in making explicit the impact of both short- and long-term planning decisions, to reveal the causes of women's subordination and to develop strategies that will meet women's long-term interests. As a final point, Milroy puts fonh another feminist critique of work which asserts that

"striving for the same working opportunities that men have is an inadequate goal, and that instead the whole focus on production needs to be revised (Milroy 1991. 19). These approaches are considered in both the analysis of my research and the development of recommendations for

planning practice that address both the process and the outcome of planning interventions.

CK4PTER 3

WOMEN AND EMPLOYMENT IN RESOURCE COMMUNITIES

This chapter reviews academic literature and other relevant documents from different areas of inquiry to explore women7sexperiences in trades and technology occupations within resource extraction industries in nonhem locales, and to identi@ implications for planning policy and practice. The first section reviews theories of occupational segregation, considering how vanous explanations of women's exclusion contribute to the development of a framework for understanding the experiences of those who resist sex segregation to participate in maledominated workplaces. The factors afTecting women7ssupply of labour are then considered. drawing on both socioeconomic approaches and feminist perspectives from geography and planning, identifiing spatial bamers that interact with gendered social relations to shape women's participation in certain occupations. This is followed by an exploration of the demand for female workers by industry, considering the bamers to women7semployment in male-dominated workplaces and the experience of integrating women into the workforces of resource extraction industries. Factors affecting access and retention from both the supply and demand sides are summarized in Table 3 in Appendix B. and include constraints to women's employment in TT0 occupations as well as responses and strategies that positively affect women's integration into the workplace. A more in-depth exploration of women's response to gendered workplace culture follows, drawing on feminist theory to challenge the barriers to women's employment in T T 0 occupations, and identifi strategies for long-term change. The next section focuses on northern resource-based communities, and considers how these two processes of integrating women into trades and technology occupations on one hand.

53

and into the workplace of resource-extraction industries on the other. converge in a particular spatial context. The synthesis of these processes contributes to the development of a fkamework for the analysis of research findings, discussed further in the next chapter. Finally, the implications for planning theory and practice are discussed, considering the contribution of the model to an understanding of women's employment in northem resource communities.

3.1

Theoretical Perspectives on Women in Male-Dominated Workplaces Theories attempting to account for occupational segregation are discussed briefly here.

drawing on examples of women's expenence in TT0 employment to illustrate the relevance of theoretical concerns to the analysis of the research findings. Firstly, sex role theory offers to the research an understanding of the roles women adopt or are assigned in a male-dominated workplace. denved €rom wornen's socialization as the cause of their unequal participation in the labour market and resulting in the expectation. on the part of men and women. ofwomen's behaviour as conforrning to stereotypes such as bnununng' or 'expressive' and excluding them accordingly from work that is perceived in tenns of male noms of behaviour (Williams 1995). Thus. women, those around them, and potential employers may not consider certain work to be 'appropriate', limiting women's access to employment or. when women do enter into maledorninated work, sub~ectingthem to significant Yole conflict' and to stereotypes which may prevent access to further skills development or advancement opportunities (Newton 1987). Women's behaviour that is perceived to confirrn stereotypes, however. can be part of a coping strategy and an individual attempt to create a consciousness (Armstrong and Armstrong 1990. Parkin and Maddock 1995). suggestive of Laws' (1995) theory that one of the ways women

respond to oppression is to choose to consciously accept the dominant culture. Human capital theorists locate women's occupational choices as a result of rational thought derived from their interest in maximizing their (and their family's) eaming potentia,1 (Btau and Ferber 1992). Theorists assume that women's orientation to their families inhibit their investment in education. training and experience (Reskin and Padavic 1994). Thus, women may not choose cenain occupations which are perceived to involve a slow stan-up in terms of wages. such as apprenticeable occupations. or those which require more education or training than they are willing to invest in. or than their families cari afEord in terms of their time. Anticipating time out of the labour market for family reasons, furthemore. is seen to constrain women's long-term

commitment. also perceived as a requirement for many male-dominated jobs. While theones relying on market forces to explain occupational segregation have been challenged, they nevertheless contnbute to an understanding of social processes which shape women's access or attachent to certain workplaces, particularly regarding women's perceptions of bamers and their relation to domestic production. Siltanen's research has shown that the 'appropriateness' of women doing cenain tasks is less salient than issues of hours and pay as an explanation for occupational segregation. and that an individual's relations to domestic circumstances and aspects of their social background are more relevant in explaining gender imbalances in certain jobs (Siltanen 1986. 63). and perhaps in explaining factors affecting women's retention in TT0 workplaces. Further, women's interest in mavimizing their eaming potential clearly infom their occupational and career choices. Reskin and Padavic point out the need for both partners in most families to work for pay (Reskin and Padavic 1994.4 1). and Deaux and Ullman identiS, money as being one of the most important factors valued by women in blue-

collar jobs. Their findings "provide evidence that challenges the assumption that women value such factors less than men do" (Deaux and Ullman 1983, 33), and contribute to this analysis of women's expenences in the workplace of resource extraction industries. Theories of patriarchy also provide viable explanations for wornen's lack of access to and retention in male-dorninated workplaces. Men's perception of women as threats manifested in the workplace through dominance. sexuality and violence. including isolation. hostility. harassment. or denial of information and support (Reskin and Padavic 1994), contribute to the social and structural bamers present in male-dominated workplaces. This approach is echoed in organizational development theoq. Nicolson outlines processes of discrimination operating in organizations which reinforce patriarchal barriers to women's employment and include: 1) overt structural bamers. such as lack of mentors or role models and lack of accommodations for childcare responsibilities such as daycare facilities. leave policies. etc.; 2) covert barriers such as behaviour and attitudes which perpetuate the subordination of women: and 3 ) unconscious psychological bamers resulting from the impact of both of these on women's confidence and motivation (Nicolson 1996. 103). The impact of these bamers on women's job satisfaction, and thus retention, is imponant to consider when attempting to identifi points for intervention. Perspectives on the spatially constructed barriers to women's employment suggest that neither human capital theory nor patriarchy are adequate explanations for women's experiences in the workplace. Rather, different factors operate simultaneously to shape women's employment

options, some grounded in socialization processes. others informed by access to education and social services. The key factor that ties these processes together is the availability of employment

within a particular spatial context of community and home (Laws 1993, Hanson and Pratt 1995). How employment opportunities actively shape and are shaped by the communities in which they are located, and the impact of these processes on women's lives, is considered when explorhg how the particular spatial attributes of northem resource towns mediate labour supply and demand. Thus, theories of gendered space contribute to the analysis of women's experiences in the workplace and to implications for planning theory and practice. These different perspectives are usehl in conceptualizing the causal links between theory and practice. The approach used here to summarize the factors af'Fecting women's participation in male-dominated occupations l o o k at how bamers to both access and retention are manifested in society and the workplace. and includes the consideration of socia~/individualistfactors, Le. those based on attitudes and interactions between people. and rnaterial/structural factors. i.e. those grounded in location or spatial processes, that inform women's experiences in male-dominated workplaces. While identifjmg these processes and influences. it is important to recognize that they are mutually reinforcing. Matenal structures influence social relations. just as sendered interactions become imbedded in policies; similarly. factors affecting wornen's retention in the workplace operate to discourage or exclude women from entering certain occupations. just as barriers to access are perpetuated in the workplace.

3.2

Suppiy of Female Labour Drawing on feminist perspectives that range From research into industrial restrucniring in

Great Britain to the consequences of a patnarchal organizational culture on fernale employees in management occupations, this section explores the expenences of women entenng employment in

trades, technology, and operations work. The supply of female labour to industry reflects both the influences that 'push' women into the labour force and the constraints that limit their participation in employment. and are considered here with a focus on the bamers to training and ernployment based in household arrangements or individualist concems with appropriate work. as well as the responses or strategies which challenge these constraints and positively affect supply. The role of spatial structures and location in limiting or facilitating women's access to TT0 ernployment is also explored briefly here, factors which are explored more fùlly in the discussion of 'place' and of the northem communities which mediate the tension between supply and demand.

Sociaüindividualist Factors Affecting the Supply of Fernale Labour

Role conflicts. with decisions grounded in individualist behaviour. offer some explanations for women's labour supply decisions. Traditional definitions of sex roles influence women's career decisions in a number of ways, from lack of positive role models or parental support for non-traditional career choices to the intemalization of expectations regarding domestic and family responsibilities. Newton claims "the female scientist or technologist has often been viewed as 'deviant', and her cornmitment to her work has been seen as compensating for 'problems' with Ferninine identity" (Newton 1987, 183). Newton cites an early study that suggests girls choosing engineering are perceived as demng gender role expectations: it presents a 'masculine' image as well as "less prestigious blue-collar work"; they expect linle parental support for their choice and anticipate "resentment fiom future male colleagues"; and see it as a job "requiring skills and characteristics that women do not possess" (Newton 1987. 186). While more current sources indicate that these expectations are changing (Armstrong and Armstrong 1994. WITT National

Network 1997), these attitudes nevertheless convey the conflicts women who are currently in

TT0 employment must have faced as they made their career decisions. Newton's research indicates that contributing factors to young women choosing careers in technology included early childhood experiences. independence from their families in making career choices. a tendency to see themselves "as having more 'masculine' characteristics" (Newton 1987. 194). and an increased likelihood of having fathers who were in professional jobs. confirming the results of several studies "in suggesting that professional families are most likely to support a daughter's non-traditional career choice" (Newton 1987. 195). Nicolson clairns that this socialization to traditional ferninine values results in lower occupational aspirations for women (Nicolson 1996, xii); their aspirations change as they move from childhood to occupational employment. but they still face psycholoçical. social and structural bamers which have a cumulative impact. contributing to the conflicts and contradictions inherent in their lives and on the identities and experiences as workers within patriarchal organizations. Social constructions of gender. derived from processes of socialization and sex role stereotyping, become embedded and reproduced in social interactions. processes. and institutions that hnher shape women's choices, such as access to skills development. role models and mentonng relationships, availability of training, career advice, and employment services. and educational content. Skills training provided in public schools has traditionally been sex stereotyped and sex segrqated (Reskin and Padavic 1994), and teachers and employment counsellors have typically guided young women and men in different directions (Deaux and Ullman 1983). Apprenticeship training programs have traditionally excluded women (Reskin and Padavic 1994. Deaux and Wlman 1983). and post-secondary education and training cun-icula and

teaching met hods may retlect gendered expectations about employment . Programs that are designed to increase the numbers of women in TT0 employrnent challenge these stereotypes, ofFering alternative images of technology and encouraging students "to question traditional definitions of sex roles" (Newton 1987, 182). forms of positive action that are necessary both to attract women and "provide them with the support necessary to withstand the pressures they currently face when working in the industry" (Newton 1987. 1%). But. as

Deaux and Ullman point out, "Whatever the forces that have predominated, there is little question that, on the average, males and females amve at the employment threshold with different expenences and skills" (Deaux and Ullman 1983, 156). Gendered expectations are imbedded in processes goveming access to occupations and workplaces, such as hiring practices. occupational testing standards. and on-the-job training provision, more of which is detailed in the next section. Most relevant for the supply of female labour, however, is the effect on women's career aspirations or perceptions that exist about the hiring practices of employers and of access to job information. For instance. employers ofien recruit throueh informa1 networks. where gendered social interactions can favour men (Reskin and Padavic 1994. 66). On the other hand. social relationships can create opponunities for access to employment. Hanson and Pratt's findings show that: . ..women in male-dorninated occupations have relied very heavily on personal contacts, but ones that differ noticeably from those drawn upon by other women. Three out of four women in male-dominated occupations had used a persona! contact to obtain their jobs; this compares to half the wornen in other occupations. Further, women in male-dorninated occupations were much more likely to have received help fiom men, almost half (43 percent) of whom were family members (Hanson and Pratt 1995. 199).

This finding. however. underlines the strength of patriarchal gender relations in shaping the boundaries of women's employment experience, even when challenging norms of female ernployment (Hanson and Pratt 1995. 202). Employers' and society's gendered expectations. however, work more often to prohibit or constrain wornen3 entry into cenain occupations through accepted cultural noms. availability of skills training, and access to job information. Nevenheless. women do choose employment in

TT0 occupations and their preferences. while formed in response to opportunities provided by employers. indicate that choice-based explanations for sex segregation are inadequate. Reskin and Padavic claim, further. that "When employers open traditionally male occupations to women. neither custom nor occupational sex labels deter women from accepting them" (Reskin and Padavic 1994, 78).

MateriaVStructurat Factors Affecting the Supply of Female Labour The social construction of gender may also take the form of more structural bamers to the integration of women into male-dorninated workplaces, identifjmg certain occupations as exclusively male and creating and reinforcing spatial stmctures that isolate and prevent women from becoming fully integrated. "Though the specific foms of ideology rendenng jobs genderappropriate for women or men Vary over time and among different groups within a single society. they are often very strongly held (Murgatroyd 1985. 136). For instance legislation such as the Mining Act in Great Britain. which prohibited women fkom certain kinds of work, contnbuted to ongoing perceptual barriers to women's employment in those industries even after it was repealed (Walby and Baçguley 1989).

These barriers, then, are not simply erected by employers in response to preferences. they reflect the workplace structures and relations out of which preferences arise in the first place (Reskin and Padavic 1994). Lack of role models and female mentors, 'old boys' networks that exclude women from informal leadership and decision-making networks, patronage. and tight social networks extemal to the workpiace al1 reflect structural bamers to employment in maledominated workplaces which perpetuate stereotypes and establish clear boundaries for women's participation (Williams 1995. Harlow. Heam and Parkin 1 995, Itzen 1 995. Spain 1992). Location has been shown to play a significant part in women's economic decision-making and participation. Laws observes that "transformations in the unevenly developed space economy and the spatial structures of job opponunities mean that a person's location can make a difference to whether or not s/he experiences marginalization" (Laws 1995. 11 ). not only due to the physical location ofjob opportunities. considered in the next section. but also due to the way that gender relations differ from one place to another (Walby 1990. Massey 1994) and the way that social relationships that inform the development of skills or personal contacts Vary across place (Hanson and Pratt 1995). These give rise to what is considered 'male' work, and are grounded in historical patterns (Walby 1990) as well as the construction of new gender divisions in the labour market (McDowell and Massey 1984), and are particularly relevant to this research given the historical patterns of male employment in resource extraction industries, the impact the location of employment exerts on the local labour market, and the increasing acceptance of women in the workforce of these industries, reflecting new gender divisions. Thus. on one hand community expectations about 'appropriate' work for women may create perceptual baniers to wornen seeking TT0 employment (Tilly and Scott 1987. Massey 1984), but on the other hand rnay work

to encourage women to consider careers in certain occupations or industries, and thus through their presence in the worWorce and visibility in the community as role models contributing to an increase in female participation (Walby 1990). Location also impacts on women's employment expenence through their 'rootedness' in the community, which affects their ability to develop persona1 networks and access not only job information. but the other services necessary to support waged work, and offers to this study an understanding of the impact of women's tenure in northem resource communities on their labour supply to industry. In the same way, local environments shape women's preferences for certain work. as indicated by the 'friction of distance' (Hanson and Pratt 1995) between work and home or other support services. The location of an individual's home detines access to different kinds of work. and as Hanson and Pratt point out, may affect men and women differently "not only because of labor market segmentation, but also because most women and men have different commuting ranges" (Hanson and Pratt 1995, 1 19). Women's employment expenence is also influenced by the local provision of facilities and services that aid in accessing employment. such as education and training, child care and other family or social services. transponation. job and housing information or job search supports (Walby 1990, Leavitt 1986. Little 1994). This information is spatially biased towards the areas where women live and work. and thus "what is judged to be possible and what is actually available as employment depends on the local place" (Hanson and Pratt 1995. 185).

3.3

Demand for Female Labour Demand for female labour in the workforces of resource extraction industries is infonned

by several factors including increasing skills shortages, demographic changes affecting the supply of labour in resource cornrnunities, legislated/negotiated equity hiring targets, and the policy environments within which companies operate. This section reviews the constraints to the employment of women in male-dorninated occupations and industries that are based in the workplace. considering gendered construction of the workplace and the economy as a source of gender stratification. and including social bamers. matenal or stnictural bamers. and those rooted

in -place.' It descnbes the expenence of resource extraction industries in integrating women into their workforces and identifies various strategies developed primarily to retlect above factors of demand for female labour. including examples of employer-led initiatives to recruit. hire and train women in predominantly-male occupations in resource-based industries.

Gendered Social Interactions in the Mwkplace

Industry demand for female labour is inforrned by economic eficiency and. as theorists suggest. derived from historical shifts in production methods in industry which led to changes in the make-up of workforces. Capital's historical need for cheap female labour. however, conflicts with patriarchal interests in preserving male 'space' and status (Laws 1995). Feminist theonsts thus point to the challenges for industry which, on the one hand. is interested in promoting a healthy workplace culture in order to retain skilled female workers but. on the other hand. is recreating and reinforcing bamers to female participation through a workplace culture gounded

in sex-role stereotyping, male pnvilege. and resistance to women's success. This culture is particularly predorninant in resource communities, with expectations of women's full-time domestic role reinforcing traditional stereotypes (Luxton 1980), and reflected by the gender

relations that predominate in the male-dominated workforce. noted by Shapiro: Oil-related work shows a particularly strong version of 'masculinism,' often encouraged by empioyers, with a probable effect of defusing and diverting contlict and discontent. This accentuated discourse of masculinity, almost cultivation of brutality, is presumably related to the total immersion in this constrained single-sex environment, and the patterns of hstration and desire which this involves (Shapiro 1985, 90). Gendered social constnictions impact significantly on women's experiences in TT0 occupations. One way that male CO-workerscan control and exclude women frorn maledominated workplaces is through patemalism which. contrary to withholding support and information, involves providing too much help, such that women's ability to leam on the job and c a q out their responsibilities is constrained (Reskin and Padavic 1994). An overly protective attitude sets women apan. and combines positive feelings with discriminatory intentions. Tokenism is another way that women are made to feel unempowered in a male-dominated workplace, reflected through a process termed "boundary heighteninç" (Kanter 1977. in Reskin and Padavic 1994) where male workers ernphasize their commonality to isolate and exclude women. or where attention is drawn to women's numencal minority through social pressure to perform and a hiçh visibility of errors (Spain 1992, Williams 1995, Newton 1987). Token women are frequently subject to stereotyping. This process is manifested by casting women in peripheral roles that marginalize women by defining thern on the basis of their gender rather than their work skills, and inciudes typecasting women as 'mothers' , 'seductresses' , 'pets' or 'iron maidens' (Kanter 1977 in Williams 1995). Newman identifies a similar process operating in traditional male workplaces. where women are "offered quasi-familial roles and identities around a core of male hierarchies and privileges" including 'mothers', 'aunts', 'wives', and 'daughters'; some may be

cast into more collegial roles as 'sister', 'tomboy' or 'one of the boys', ofien at the expense of other women (Newman 1995, 16). Nicholson identifies the adoption of different roles by women in male-dominated workplaces as 'sex-role spillover' (Nicholson 1996. 80),discussed below as a response fonnulated by women to gendered expectations encountered in the workplace. a response which others suggest rnay be effective as a coping strategy (Armstrong and Armstrone 1990, Parkin and Maddock 1995).

Male workers often overtly resist women's entry into their workplaces. particularly when they have been traditionally male-dominated. This rnay be due to the motivation to curtail cornpetition, especially from those who might work for lower pay (Reskin and Padavic 1994). or rnay be an attempt to defend their territory (Little 1994). Their opposition is also attributed to fear "that women's performance rnay rnake men look bad. that women rnay not do their share. that women rnay use their sex to get out of work. that men rnay have to clean up their language or change their behaviour. and that women's very presence rnay diminish the prestige of their jobs or undermine the status men derive from doing 'real men's' work" (Reskin and Padavic 1994. 92). Williams daims men's masculine identity rests on the technical skills, male bonding, and 'breadwinner' ethic embodied in these jobs; thus, women's entry into what has been their exclusive domain is perceived as a threat to their sense of pride and self-esteem (Williams 1995. 16). In Deaux and Ullman's study of women in the steel industry, women reponed "difficulties with supervision and negative behaviour on the pan of male workers" (Deaux and Ullman 1983. 124). Men's hostility towards women entering traditionally male jobs is well-documented, with evidence of responses such as heckling, harassment, sabotage or worse identified in many sources

(Reskin and Padavic 1994. Nicolson 1996. Little 1994, Deaux and üllman 1983). One of the key ways men resist women's entry is by withholding information or support, or by failing to help train fernale coworkers (Reskin and Padavic 1994). Resistance, while not always intentional, is often ovenly expressed in informal groups or by individuals. tnstitutionally-derived discrimination and backlash. often more subtle, includes practices and policies that effectively prohibit women's retention or advancement (and are discussed in the next section). Hostility can be expressed through suggestive or sexual language, although this is also perceived as being part of the workplace culture, part of a pattern of male-bonding which women may feel exciuded from, and which may include joking and actions that make women feel extrernely uncornfortable. In occupations with a strong male sub-culture, like mining (Reskin and Padavic 1994), men may force women out through ovenly hostile actions, such as sabotaging their work. Harassment is particularly prevalent for women working in male-dominated occupations and workplaces (Little 1994. Deaux and Ullman 1983). Two studies both found that approximately one-third of the women in the study had encountered sexual harassment (Deaux and Ullman 1983, 34). Sexual pressures or abuse is used as a weapon to restnct, dominate or punish women who are perceived as attempting to improve their position. Martin points out the difference between sexual harassment and gender-based harassment: Whenever tradeswomen gather...one topic of conversation is certain to be sexual harassment: the unwelcome touching and requests for sexual favors that almost al1 of us have expenenced sometime during our careers. But we also face another pervasive and sinister kind of harassment which is gender-based, but may have nothing to do with sex. It is harassment aimed at us simply because we are women in a "man's" job, and its hnction is to discourage us From staying in our trades (Martin 1988, 10). One study cited showed the severity of the harassment to be greater among women with less than

two years seniority (Deaux and Ullman 1983, 34), suggesting a 'hazing' effect. Another reported that more than 25 percent of the incidents were initiated by a supervisor, which the authors daim points to the power differentials at play (Deaux and Ullman 1983, 34). Martin identifies harassrnent grounded in homophobia: Our competence by itself can threaten men whose egos are tied up with their image of doing a macho job, and they sometimes take refuge in the belief that we are al1 lesbians. As with racism, all of us - straight and gay - encounter hornophobia. Lesbian-baiting is one form of harassment often used to divide women on the job. In fact. sorne of us are lesbians, and many struggle with the question of whether to corne out of the closet to our CO-workers(Martin 1988, 14). Women's fear of losing their jobs or status. of experiencing backlash. or of physical violence often prevent women From resisting or speaking out. Harassment. in earerne cases. may cause women to leave their job or it may restrict them to a particular part of the workforce (Little), particularly when the abuser is in a position of authority over them. Parkin and Maddock utilize a 'gender typology' of organizational culture to describe how aspects of this male workplace behaviour are manifested in varying degrees within different workplace cultures. They identib six different categories, including: the gentleman's club. with its paternalist overprotection: the barrack yard. with its bullying hierarchy; the locker room, excluding women, using sexuality; the çender blind, pretending differences between men and women do not exist: the feminist pretenders, men assurning the mantle of ferninism; the smart macho, where profit is al1 that rnatters. (Parkin and Maddock 1995,72) This typology offers to the research an additional tooi for the analysis of the dominant male cultures manifest in the workplaces of resource extraction industries, where the culture can differ ftom area to area and shifk to shift, informed by differing workplace practices and social relations.

the impact of sensitivity training on the culture, and the extent of female participation. It is also usefùl to consider in exploring possibilities for change or identiSing intervention points, given the varied aspects of male workplace culture which impact on wornen and where, as the authors suggest, stmctural changes which benefit women are limited in their effectiveness given the "reality of white, male dominance" (Parkin and Maddock 1995, 68) sustained through organizational culture.

StructuruLlltIaterial Factors Affecting Demand Expectations of appropriate roles and resistance to women in male-dominated workplaces result in gendered processes that become imbedded in workplace structures and recreated not only in the culture, but through the policies and practices of the workplace. When these boundaries are transgressed, workplace practices and behaviour prevent women from "doing their jobs as easily and as well as might otherwise be expected. and have hindered their promotion both directly and indirectly" (Murgatroyd 1985, 136). Employment practices in areas such as recmitment, training, and supervision. even if not intentionally discriminating, may refiect unexamined stereotypes about women. acting to reinforce sex seçregation and impacting on wornen's productivity. On the other hand, employer-led initiatives which put in place policies and practices to facilitate women's integration in TTO.can act to reduce bamers to women's access and ultimately challenge sendered expectations in the workplace. Women's career aspirations in TT0 work reflect to some extent preferences formed in response to opportunities provided by employers. as noted by Reskin and Padavic ( 1994), and are considerably informed by matenal benefits gained through employment. Deaux and üilman cite

the results of early studies of women in blue-collar occupations who identified the most important factors in their choice of occupation as money, challenge, vanety, and accomplishment (Deaux and Ullman 1983, 33). Reskin and Padavic also identiQ women's economic need as a chief determinant in defining their preferences. They cite studies that claim women seek the same job rewards as men: good pay, autonomy, and prestige (Reskin and Padavic 1994. 77). and ask "Why did Afncan Amencan women take jobs in railroad yards and Kentucky women seek jobs mining coal? Because these jobs paid more and offered more freedom and self-respect than domestic work did" (Reskin and Padavic 1994, 78). Gendered processes are manifest in spatial constraints to women's work in maledominated occupations. Feminist geographers suggest that the creation of male 'space' in the workplace has implications for women's employment expenences (Laws 1995. Hanson and Pratt 1995, Spain 1992). -'Social relations. oppressive and othewise, are constituted itt and hy space" (Laws 1995. 2 I ). This applies to the consideration of male/female social interactions within the workplace. a space created and shaped by corporate policy and industrial society at large. But how does space impact on social relations, or as Laws states. "what does it mean to Say that oppression is constituted by space" (Laws 1995, 2 l)? An exxample she points to is the spatial division of labour in industnal locations: as women have traditionally been excluded fiom certain occupations, the work spaces are dominated and defined by men (Laws 1995, 23). "Spatial divisions of labor. culture, the state, and other social relations. encourage the development of spatial structures which themselves might be oppressive" (Laws 1995. 2 1). She emphasizes that this is not a one-way causal relationship; for instance, women experiencing harassment on the job may be forced into certain environrnents, but at the same time, institutionalized withdrawal of

support or lack of investment in policy development or safety precautions may Iead to increased wlnerability on the pan of female workers. Physical manifestations of the gendered expectations that become imbedded in workplace policies and practices include a lack of facilities such as bathrooms or change rooms for women: improperly sized tools, equipment and protective clothing and gear; or workplace practices that leave women wlnerable to physical danger (Ferguson 1994. Grzetic a A. 1996. WTT 1997). Nicolson cites overt structural bamers in organizations that discriminate against those with primary child-care responsibilities: lack of childcare facilities. long working hours. or meetings scheduled for early mornings or evenings (Nicolson 1996. 104). factors which are common in

TT0 workplaces. Siltanen ( 1986) refers specifically to the structural barriers inherent in TT0 occupations with regards to the difficulty employers have recruiting women to shifi work because of their farnily responsibilities. Employer-led initiatives often are able to address these physical barriers readily, if not the underlying gendered expectations which give rise to these spatial constraints, with changes to workplace policies. stmctures. and practices. Interventions can include flexible or part-tirne hours. on-site or supponed community childcare facilities to accommodate workers family and domestic responsibilities: re-design of equipment, tools. and facilities to accommodate women's physical needs; or policy development which responds to women's safety concerns (Ferguson 1994, Canadian Construction Association n.d.. Carroll and Cherry 1988, City of Toronto n.d.). Spatial structures also reinforce gendered social structures. As Hanson and Pratt found, "gender and spatial segregation of socializhg rnay perpetuate separate networks of fnendship and information'' (Hanson and Pratt 1995, 182). Separate rooms used for breaks. or gatherins in

separate places during work hours to socialize, can reinforce gendered social constmctions at the same time as they provide workers. particularly women who find they are isolated From male COworkers, with important sources of support (Grzetic a A.1996). The spatial segregation of work tasks or isolation of different categories of workers further denies women access to information and knowledge required to develop further skills or for advancement opponunities (Hanson and Pratt 1995), specifically in the case of apprenticeship training which is traditionally provided oneon-one by more experienced workers (Spain 1992. 2 1). Spain's argument that women's access to men's 'space' will not necessarily improve their status points to issues affecting women's retention and job satisfaction in the short term. and with a view to long-term strategic change in the way gender relations are imbedded in processes.

3.4

Responding to Gendered Workplace Culture Literature on gender and organizational culture has explored issues ranging from women

in management, sexuality in organizations, and the dynarnics of organizational change. drawing from theories of gender, diversity, culture and organizational behaviour. Feminist psychology ot-fers to this analysis an understanding of the consequences of the social and structural barriers women face as they pursue careers in male-dominated fields. The impact of these barriers exacts a price. either in loss of career potential or in other. more personai. ways. This has implications for self-esteem and gender relations both at home and in the workplace and is, as Nicolson points out. "critical for women who challenge traditional gender expectations" (Nicolson 1996, xii). This section explores the impacts on women of working within a male-dominated workplace culture, and identifies the possibilities for change through women's responses to their

work and home environments. Above sections identified practical interventions and responses onginating largely within social institutions and organizations that may positively affect supply and demand of female labour. As Parkin and Maddock pointed out, stmctural changes alone are limited in responding to the dominance of male organizational culture (Parkin and Maddock 1995. 68). Their perspective infoms a more strategic approach to the analysis of wornen's experiences

in the workforces of resource industries: not simply descriptive, it seeks to identiQ opportunities for change which will empower women to challenge patnarchal stnictures and gendered interactions that are imbedded in their work and community lives. Nicolson explores the ways patnarchal structures resist women's progress. identifying three stages of socialization into patnarchal organizational culture: 1 ) shock on entry into the systern. which rnay occur in delayed stages, and leads to 2) anger or protest. and a decision either to leave. or the development of a coping strategy or compromise. and 3) intemalization of values. which infers the acceptance of the culture, leading to two responses. either a negative evaluation

of oneself against the criteria, or the re-visioning of oneself as the exception to the nile of subordination (Nicolson 1996, 72). She suggests that perceptions of feminine identity deny women a Framework through which to explain their experiences and emotions, and points out that while not a11 of the stresses experïenced in the workplace are directly attributable to gender discrimination, they are linked to the fact that women are in the minority. do not have a long tradition of mentoring and providing support to other women, expetience isolation that they are not always prepared to admit, and that their lives have not prepared them for the roles they play in the workplace (Nicolson 1996, xiv). Nicolson claims that these social influences affect women by tending "towards keeping

them in roles of a status below their capacity and aspirations. This has a long-term negative influence both on those who submit and stay in the female 'role' and those who resist pressure to conform to gender expectations" (Nicolson 1996. 37). Key to women's success in their field is their ability to negotiate their psychological development over the course of their working Iives, and to maintain their own sense of "femininity/subjectivity within the context of sender-power struggles" ('Nicolson 1996. 37). She daims that while being female is undervalued in a maledominated workplace, being feminine is a gcompulsoryrequirement' to being a woman. Criticized earlier as an essentialist approach. her observation nevenheless reflects the gendered expectations of male co-workers which impact on women's confidence and sense of identity. Some of the responses to the experience of socialization include what Nicolson titles sex-role spillover. where the woman assumes the role of wife or rnother (Nicolson 1996. 80). or the adoption of inappropriate roles resembling stereo-typical female ones. where a token female may be cast as the 'depanmental tea lady' who takes on a servicing role, the 'seductress' who flins either for attention or because this is the pattern she has developed to be able to relate to men. or the 'feminist' who is perceived as anti-male, strident, and aggressive (Nicolson 1996. 84). Theorists differ in their interpretation of this process: while some see women as being 'cast' into these roles (Kanter 1977). an approach which reflects a tendency to view women as 'passive recipients' of patnarchy that has been challenged by Little (1994), others see women adopting these roles themselves, ofien as a coping mechanism (Nicolson 1996. Armstrong and Armstrong 1990, Parkin and Maddock 1995). Newman argues that women take on different kinds

of gender identity, "drawing on a range of strategies" (Newman 1995. 23). and calls for new structures to help transfonn concepts of gender, suggestive of Parkin and Maddock's ( 1995)

recognition of possibilities for change through female 'change agents'. Nicolson (1996) points out that the lack of role models or precedents for women entenng a male-dominated work environment combined with their isolation creates a disadvantage for women attempting to fit in: while this may create an opportunity for women to define a role for themselves. it is their experience. nevertheless. that they are being assessed solely on the basis of their gender. Little challenges theorists' views of the impact of patriarchal workplace culture on women, by identieing as focal points for change aspects of a gendered workplace culture such as trade union policy. management practices, and sexual harassrnent which work to exclude women from certain occupations (Little 1994. 109). Newman. however. argues that forma1 intementions through the development of policies and procedures may be limited in their effectiveness. panicularly in hostile cultures that "may be resistant and intractable" (Newman 1995. 1 1 ). Laws ( 1995) outlines possible responses to various types of oppression as discussed earlier. This is usehl to consider here as a tool for the analysis of women's responses to a gendered workplace culture. as illustrated by the examples relating to women in T T 0 workplaces

in Table 1. Appendix A. Laws' typology serves as a framework for lookinç at women's responses and strategies to overcome bamers in their employment, as well as challenges women face livins and working in nonhem communities, and offers to the research an understanding of women's different approaches to dealing with the layers of oppression occurring in the workplace. It also addresses Little's (1 994) concem by identifjing focal points for change regarding the impact of patriarchal workplace culture on women's employment experience, and contributes to the analysis

of the effectiveness of different responses with regards to practical and strategic interests and needs of women in TT0 employment.

Figure 1. Typology of Responses to Oppression

POTENTLAL RESPONSES

POTENTIAL RESPONDANTS Marginalked

Advocates

Marginali~ers III

Rcsistance

IV

VI

Scizure

VII

lx

Active

I

Source: L a w ( 1995. 13)

Type 1. the first type of response to oppression on the part of the marginalized. is a passive acceptance of the situation, the role of "the victims themselves who are socialized to behave in ways that make them act in complicity with the status quo" (Laws 1995. 12). Laws attributes this to two causes: either a consciousness of oppression is lacking or is simply not recognized as anytliing other than the innate attributes of a social group; or the oppressed may choose consciously to accept their status (Laws 1995. 13). Thus. women may not be aware of possible employment opponunities within a male-dominated workplace because they have never considered it work that women could legitimately do; they may not question that opponunities remain inaccessible to them because of their gender. Or they rnay accept their marginal position. either choosing not to seek employment in the industry as a conscious choice to not be subjected to other forrns of oppression in the workplace, or in the case of women employed in a maledominated setting who consciously choose to accept the status quo and put up with emotional abuse and sema1 harassrnent for fear of losing their jobs or nsking funher isolation by their colleagues. As Laws points out. "Acknowledging the conscious acceptance of an oppressive situation takes on special significance in the light of Young's cataloging of different forms of

oppression. It is ofien more expedient, and less threatening, to accept the cultural imperialisrn of a homophobic society than to nsk violent attacks" (Laws 1995, 14). She makes an observation that "oppressed people, especially when they are acting as individuals, develop tactics and coping strategies which rnay include what appears to be a passive endorsement of their circumstances" (Laws 1995, 14), one that is particularly relevant to women adapting to a male workplace culture in which it rnay be easier to become 'one of the boys'. A more active response to oppression is a resistive one, categorized as W . where

oppressed people will resist the stereotypes used to isolate them. Women's struggles to resist exploitation. both in the workpiace and at home. marçinalization. powerlessness. cultural impenalism. and violence work in unison or separately to challenge barriers, ultimately reshaping their daily expenences as well as creatinç opportunities for long-term change in attitudes. Laws' categorization of a manipulative response to oppression (VII) suggests that the oppressed will consciously choose to "wear the label of difference as a means of having their oppression made visible and politicized" (Laws 1995. 17). By 'seizing' the t e m s of oppression they can attach positive value to their experiences and remain 'at the margin' where. it is argued. they rnay have more opportunity to create new social relations based on equality than by "successfully adopting men's identities" (Laws 1995. 17). This observation is particulariy relevant to women working in an all-male environment where the pressure to adopt a male identity is not only institutionalized but is necessary often as a coping strategy to ensure their very survival. Laws touches on this point, o b s e ~ n gthat "the outcomes of these responses rnay be empowering or not, and these results rnay not neatly aiign thernselves with those we might predict by simply identimng the respondent" (Laws 1995, 19). Not only rnay there be multiple processes of oppression occumng,

but the relations between respondents are structural. imbedded in institutions and social practices

and not necessarily reflective of the intentions of individuals. Thus, theorists can offer to this research insights as to the possibilities for affecting change within the workplace through the various responses of women to the dominant workplace culture. The supplyldemand mode1 explored above, by surnrnanzing the factors affecting access and retention of women in the workforce of resource industries. and separating out sociaVindividua1 bamers from structural/material barriers, helps to structure funher discussion of possible interventions by identifying focal points for change. The identification of these factors also serves as a framework for exploring how both social and material barriers to women's TT0 employrnent in resource industries are mediated by location. The next section explores how these processes operate in northem locales, with a view to identifying possible points for intervention and implications For planning theory and practice.

3.5

Northern Resource Comrnunities Employment in single-industry resource towns in nonhern Canada presents a unique

challense to women. .4s women enter the labour market in increasing numbers. demanding work that is well-paid, satisfiing, and Me-enhancing For them and their families. isolated communities in Canada's Nonh are themselves undergoing changes as greater accessibility to technology. new rnethods of resource extraction and development. and demographic influences alter the very concept of "community" (Decter 1993. Bone 1992. Roberts 1984). Once regarded as the last fiontier outposts, northern single-industry towns are now linked to the outside world more than ever via electronic media, which brings with it the options of distance education, tele-cornrnuting

and more efficient communication links with the outside world @ecter 1993). Corporations seeking to mavirnize profits in an increasingly competitive world market are investing in more efficient rnethods of developrnent and extraction, including automation, fly-in operations, and removal of primary goods for refinement elsewhere (Dickie 1996). The resource industry has been charactenzed by labour shonages, adjustment demands, and challenges regarding turnover and retention of employees (Chaykowski 1992. Roberts 1984, Energy, Mines and Resources Canada 1976). Demographic considerations. including the aging of the current skilled workforce. higher

birth rates amongst abonginal populations, and the increasing entry of women into the workforce.

suggest changing patterns in human resource development (Whitehorse Mining Initiative 1994. Albena Chamber of Resources 1990). Added to this is the increasing autonomy of aboriginal populations, with on-going land claims and employment and benefits negotiations impacting on the development of new operations (Hamilton 1994. Bone 1997). Mining towns. which number over 150 in Canada with one million residents (Dickie 1996). have traditionally been defined by a sense of isolation. geographic as well as cultural. political. social and economic. Residents were often displaced. having moved to the town seeking work. and therefore iack eaended family nearby. A rnajority of the population came from other small towns of 5000 population or less, perpetuating a small-town atmosphere and the related expectations regarding services and infrastnicture of its residents (Roberts 1984). A high proportion was male, younger and more highly educated than elsewhere in the country, as well as more mobile (Roberts 1984, Energy, Mines and Resources Canada 1976). Thus characterized by high turnover, cornmunity instability, male dominance, and isolation (Bradbury 1980), these towns have. paradoxically, created in its inhabitants a strong sense of cornmunity. Bound together by a

comrnon sense of goals and pursuits and often of being there temporarily. at least in the early stages of development, people pull together to weather the climate. the isolation. and the feelings of dependency on their source of employment (Roberts 1984). The story of many single-industry communities has been summarized as "Life is hard and then the town dies" (Decter 1993. 136). The dominating presence of the company in their lives dictates occupational choices, as well as the social and economic structure of the community (Centre for Resource Studies 1984. McCann 1978). Hierarchy and status within the community is denved from the company. enhanced by the unstable population patterns with relatively fewer family ties (Roberts 1984. Bradbury 1980. McCann 1978). Explohg women's lives in these communities is important to understanding the contest in which they live and work. The next section highlights a number of relevant issues affecting women's lives in the nonh and in panicular their supply of labour to industry in nonhem locales. among them their sense of place within a community. social and cultural constraints. and access to education and training - al1 of which are chiefdetenninants of their access to employment and the factors affecting their retention in employment.

Women in the North

There are strange thitzgs ciorre irz the miduight mz hy the met1 who moi/ for goid These opening lines of Robert SeMce's 'The Cremation of Sam McGee' capture the image of the Nonh as a male domain. Northem landscapes, as expressed in mythology and literature. are inhabited primarily by men. Margaret Atwood asks "But what if it's wometr who are

moiling for gold, or do women moil. and if they do moil. is it likely to be for gold. and if so. is their moiling of the same nature as male moiling?" (Atwood 1995. 87). Male protagonists are portrayed outdoors. "They are out encountering the land - they penetrate it. they open it up. they stake it out, they grapple with it, they fight with it, they wrest its secrets and its treasures From it, they win or lose" (Atwood 1995, 97). In contrast. Atwood identifies three patterns in the ponrayal of women in the North: "the tourist, the coper, and something we might cal1 'dismayed"' (Atwood 1995, 97). Her "place" in a northem community is thus defined by her role. as the wife of a settler or miner or lumberman. relegated to the indoors. Several early sources refer to the rigid sexual division of labour within nonhem communities which hampers women's access to employment that is satisfying, well-paid. and secure (Tugwood 1989. Women's Research Centre 1979. Nonhem British Columbia Women's Task Force 1977). Meg Luxton's study of women in Flin Flon, Manitoba focused on the various forces that shaped domestic labour over several generations. With women excluded from most paid jobs. and with the limited variations in housing, shops. and leisure activities. their lives centred about the nuclear family and their full-time domestic labour (Luxton 1980). Her point that women's work in the home is hidden yet central to the industrial economy (Luxton 1980) echoes my earlier discussion of women's relation to production, and highlights the particular role women have played in primary resource communities. Luxton's study identified social and health problerns women face in northem communities. including stress and depression arising fiom economic dependency and the isolation of a nonhem locale. While men can blame the company, Luxton claims. women experience mistration and guilt (Lumon 1980). Other early studies which evaluated the quality of life in resource communities

also identified the common problem of high rates of depression arnong housewives (Bradbury 1980) and high levels of mental illness among the female population (McInnis 1986; Gill 1984; Evans and Cooperstock 1983; Women's Research Centre 1979; Govemment of British Columbia 1975; Energy, Mines and Resources Canada 1976). The creation of employment opportunities for women is recognized and promoted "as a means of alleviating some of the boredom which can so easily develop in an isolated settlement" (Energy, Mines and Resources Canada 1976.4). Employment for women in resource towns is cited as smoothing the adjustrnent: "The weather. the isolation and the monotony of life do not seem to afect them as greatly; some of these employed women Say they 'don't mind living here"' (Northern British Columbia Women's Task Force 1977. 27). The contribution of women's domestic production to the economy, as shaped by community norms and social and family expectations. however, points to the risk of a 'double burden' as more women seek work outside the home (Luxton 1980). Additional issues for women related to social norms or expectations include the impact of financial independence on family relations. and pressures on single women. both highlighted by one woman's experience in the oilpatch:

1 worked as a cook approximately ten years in the field. I was mamed for seven of those years. My mamage broke up because 1 made so much money playing cards in the field, I got independent. Well. I worked hard for my money and I didn't want somebody controlling it, so 1 decided I was going to control my own. 1 was divorced. The last three years I was a single woman. I never let them know that I was a single woman because you're better off to be a married woman in camp. (Anderson 198 1.233) Structural bamers to women's employment in northern locales identified in documents include access to appropriate education and training tied to employment opportunities (Gnetic gt

%. 1996, Women's Research Centre 1979). The Hibernia construction project. while mandated to

hire women, was criticized for inequitable decisions about training, hiring, and advancement. with even the limited policies to integrate women undermined by informa1 practices and day-to-day interactions in the workplace (Grzetic a A.1996). Other bamers include limited access to jobs in northem communities, particularly for young women. Robens identifies limited tumover of women in jobs as one of the causes: . . . the women who are employed have held the jobs for a long time. The result is that women who have recently graduated from high school or who have recently moved into the community have had no access to jobs because tumover has been almost non-existent among women (Robens 1984, 9).

While potentially reflecting women's employment satisfaction. it points to the issue of a lack of employment opponunities for a large number of women in the community. limited as they are to 'traditional' jobs. Other bamers at the community level, particularly to employment in TTO. include lack of childcare, especially that accommodates shiftwork; lack of access to informal networks that assist in job preparation and entry: lack of access to mental health services: lack of transportation; and lack of access to power structures at the municipal or regional levels which can influence women's access to employment (Nonhem British Columbia Women's Task Force 1977. Women's Research Centre 1979), al1 of which are identified as barriers affecting women in

TT0 but which have a stronger impact in the context of an isolated nonhem comrnunity Facilitating women's labour force participation necessitates the development of programming which addresses women's educational and training needs. Buchan and Johnson argue for educational models which provide women living in the north. particularly aboriginal women, with access to knowledge, and thus power, that is central to their experience and not simply a reflection of the dominant culture. They cal1 for not only changes to cumcula but a

'revisioning' of what constitutes knowledge, the stmcture and values of the classroom. and involvement of the comrnunity in programming, a "mode1 for teaching withirr rather than abolir the culture" (Buchan and Johnson 1998, 50). Also key to women's successful integration into TT0 employment is the changing role of women in the north: Women are taking mucli more control over their own [ives: when to many; when to start a family; when and how to get an education. More women are setting career paths to suit their interests, even if they are ones that have traditionally been male-dominated (Graerne 1989. 2). Thus, strategies for facilitating women's entry and retention in TT0 employment. programming which reflects women's particular needs living and working in a nonhem community. and recognition of the changing role of women in society as reflected in community noms and societal expectations. will work tozether to contribute to women's career choices and opportunities in northem locales.

Industry in the North

Factors affecting industry demand for female labour in T T 0 occupations were outlined above; these are considered here in the context of 'place,' specifically mining, oil and gas industries operating in northern cornmunities. Resource extraction companies operating in an increasingly cornpetitive world market face myriad human resource challenges as they invest in changing methods of development and extraction. Skills shortages are one of the most pressing issues for resource extraction companies operating in the nonh (Whitehorse Mining Initiative 1994). For example, occupational demand data for over sixty major resource projects in Alberta

point to the current need for skilled labour by industry and the urgency of the shortage. with over 40% of occupational demand for on-going, operational jobs located in the nonhem regions of the

province (Alberta Chamber of Resources 1990). Location decisions of firms impact on and are informed by the demand for labour. Pnmary industry location decisions have been the main cause for the settlement of Canada's Nonh, and company towns built around primary industries comprise the majority of communities in northern regions today (Hamilton 1994; Bone 1992; Nonhem Resources and Economic Planning Branch 1984). Location decisions of extractive industries are also. however. contingently related to the need for high-level management and a skilled local workforce (Shapiro 1985). as is the location of tertiary activities of fims. including smelting of minerals, pulp and paper mills. and upgrading and refining of oil and sas. Luxton, furthemore, points out the impact of the company on penpheral labour processes in the community of Flin Flon: "The direct relationship between the company and the city and their rapid growth have resulted in the underdevelopment of many seconda? or peripheral labour processes and services found in larger metropolitan areas" (Luxton 1980.25). At the same time. resource extraction industries are central to the economy of northem regions. In the former Northwest Temtories mining has been second in importance as a source of wages and salaries (Stabler and Olfert 1980). accounting for about 1 1% of the labour force and 25% of wages and salaries (Centre for Resource Studies 1984). Location thus plays a significant

pan in employers' demand for female labour. Laws observed that "transformations in the unevenly developed space economy and the spatial structures of job opponunities mean that a person's location c m make a difference to whether or not s/he expenences marginalization" (Laws 1995, 21).

As discussed earlier. constructed space perpetuates gender differences. and this is

especially notable in northem communities, not only with regards to the separation between economic and domestic production observed by Luxton. but within the workplace itself Luxton identifies strategies employed by the Company, such as the seMces provided, the hiring policy regarding aboriginals and women, and the establishment of two strata - family unit and transient within the populace (Luxton 1980. 26) which limit women's employment opportunities. Other early theoretical sources indicate the relevance of 'place' to ernployers' dernand for female labour: Shapiro considers the interaction between firm location, local interests and policies on development, and response to proposai development. using examples from oil-related development in the North of Scotland (Shapiro 1985). Unlike the 'spatial indifference' of most modem capital. he points out the unique form of the division of labour occumng in these communities, with high management. skiiled labour, and unskilled labour al1 located in the periphery (Shapiro 1985. 89). Forces which impact on a firm's location decision thus have traditionally acted as a disincentive for women's employment. But creation of employrnent opportunities for women has long been recognized as a factor in both meeting skills shonages and increasing cornmunity stability, not only as a response to wives' mental health needs as suggested by several sources discussed above. but by reducing the possibility of families leavinz the community if both spouses are gainfully employed, and by reducing turnover in the single male workforce due to lack of female cornpanionship:

In order to be able to attract workers to mining, it will be important in the future for mining companies to provide suitable ernployrnent opponunities for male workers' wives. If no suitable employrnent can be found by working wives in

rnining communities. married male workers may be reluctant to move to mining communities because it rnight mean a reduction in total family income (Energy, Mines and Resources Canada 1976, 13). Of course, what is meant by "suitable employment" is not clear. More importantly, however, industry recognized the contribution of women's employment to the community: Hiring female employees cannot solve all the manpower shonage problems, but surely cannot be considered neglible towards the improvement of the quality of our manpower and the human environment of our mining regions (Quote from employer in Energy. Mines and Resources Canada 1976. 5). Women's participation in the workforces of nonhern communities is also perceived to have a positive impact on the workplace 'culture' that predominates in industnal sites. and which is camed over into the community, especially those characterized by isolation. Stones of individuals working on oil ngs and in camps in an informal history of the oilpatch capture the experiences of men and women working in close proximity in remote settings. A male oil rig worker points out: I think there's a lot of misconceptions about women around oil rigs. 1 think there's always been a resistance to it in the past because it was thought it would cause problems having women. especially younger girls and attractive women. in the camps, because of the isolation and the great number of men. In my experience. that has not been the case. What has happened instead is. it gives the camp more of an atmosphere of home, a more civilized atmosphere. People relax more. There's less hstration. I found that the presence of women on board a drill ship or on an oil-ng camp in the Arctic Islands, or wherever. in isoiation. tends to bring out the better side of the men in the camp. They tend to be more couneous. ... There's less feeling of isolation because it's the absence of women that gives you the feeling of isolation, to a great extent (Anderson 1981, 233).

Strategies and recommendations to attract and retain women in TT0 employment in resource industries have taken many forms, whether initiated by industry. government. or the comrnunity. Presentations to environmentai assessrnent processes that identify socio-economic impacts on women, such as those initiated by women's organizations in Labrador regarding the

Voisey's Bay project, and the presentation to the BHP Diamond Mine by the Status of Women Council of the NWT, highlight the needs of women in the affected communities and make recommendations for their equal access to employment benefits (WITTlnnuInuit 1997, Status of Women Council of the NWT 1996). The Whitehorse Mining Initiative leadership accord brought together govemment. aboriginal. labour, environmental, mining and business representatives to adopt a strategic vision for a healthy mining industry. The accord refers to limited ernployment of women as a factor in attracting and retaining skilled workers. citins as goals: 'To improve access to training for workers not currently in the mining industry, especially for people in or near mining communities'. and 'To enhance employment and training opportunities for groups which have traditionally been underrepresented in the mining industry' (Whitehorse Mining Initiative 1994. 22). The Mining Industry Training and Adjustment Council which evolved out of the Whitehorse Mining Initiative cites the under-representation of women in the mining workforce as a human resource challenge, committing the industry to expanding participation through the identification of sector-based programs, establishment of non-binding benchmarks. and training programs (Mining Industry Training and Adjustment Council n.d.). Examples of hrther efforts to integrate women into resource industries include a Multi-Party Training Plan initiated by the Saskatchewan Government. local agencies and the nonhem mining industry (McKay 1996) and inclusion of Human Resource Development Agreements in surface land-use leases with various mining companies in several provinces and temtories, which speak specifically to employment equity targets in training and hiring. These identified initiatives suggest an increasing recognition on the part of industry of the importance of establishing partnerships with communities in the planning

process.

3.6

Implications for Planning Theory and Practice Planning literature and documents relating to labour force development in northem

resource-based communities clearly document the need for a skilled, stable workforce, and range from approaches based on economic efficiency to those advocating social equity (Gurstein and Cuny 1993, Roberts 1984. Stabler and Olfert 1980). Planning literature for the North has historically focused on identifjing challenges faced in large scale industrial developrnent, including the multiplicity of conflicting goals, limited power and local control. and limited capacity for new development : A small scale regional economy like the NWT presents the planner with another challenge because of its 'smallness.' especially in planning for accommodation of a new large-scale project. In the small region. the capacity to absorb large new dernands often does not exist . . . Thus, in order for the region to obtain optimum benefits of large-scale developments. capacity must be created in support sectors in anticipation of new project development (Stabler and Olfen 1980. 103).

This type of response has informed the development of many communities built around prima? resource extraction activities.

Many sources highlight the issue of employing women in male-dorninated occupations. calling for the development of policies and strategies to recniit. train and employ women to both rneet skills shortages and to promote the stability of the workforce with regard to decreasing tum over amongst male workers and ensunng a balanced population in the community, arguments that rely on econornic efficiency as the rationale for integrating women into the workforce. Roberts ( 1984) documents a

strategy for resource town planning specific to planning for a new town.

which includes the development of corporate social policy, a significant step in moving beyond the identification of strategies to attract and retain workers to incorporating the needs of community

residents. His strategy includes as policy recomrnendations the development of comprehensive programs to recruit, hire and train target groups; programs to advance target groups in the company. and especially in non-traditional jobs; sensitizing for managers; contractor compliance; removing artificial bamers to recruitment; and development of a women's advisory group within the company. These are initiatives which reflect many of the strategies for integrating women into

T T 0 employment but which have been developed from the perspective of a northern community and. more importantly, involve the community as a stakeholder in the process. More recent literature documents the evolution of planning towards meeting the needs of northern communities with a focus on sustainability. including incremental planning. public participation, local govemance, community economic development and social equity (Gurstein and Curry 1993). This approach recognizes the importance of processes that respond to new social and economic realities and that "recognize the need for gender equity by planning the community so that al1 its members would have an equal opportunity to realize their full human potential" (Gurstein and Curry 1993. 13). Whether based on approaches promoting a stable. efficient workforce that includes wornen as an economic unit of production or those that include women as entitled to an equal share of the benefits of development, most of the planning literature relating to northem resource communities is lacking in substantive recomrnendations as to the integration of women in resource industries. Community-based planning literature does offer to ernployment planning for women. however, a blueprint for identifiing points of intervention for single-industry comrnunities which builds on Roberts' ( 1984) poiicy recomrnendations, including: policy directions for communities. such as identification of diverse training needs via comrnunity self-assessment; policy options for

govemments, such as availability of adult training based on expertise and accessibility; and policy directions for corporations and unions such as human resource development which assists cornrnunity diversification efforts via cornmunity instruments (Decter 1993). Planning practice thus can build on this community economic development approach to include issues and needs specific to women. Drawing on literature relating to women and community economic development provides fùrther points for consideration. particularly with regards to planning theory. Aiderson and Conn's ( 1994) discussion of

features of women's community economic development include "redefining

the meaning of productivity". which echoes Luxton's recognition of the importance of women's domestic production to the economy of mining communities. and suggests practical strategies for making the workplace more family friendly; "establishinç a multiple bottom-line". which would reflect the impact of night shifls on farnily or comrnunity life. or the issue ofwomen's mental health needs; "developing collective resources". enabling women to exen more control over their lives, and "ensunng inclusivity", which requires "fundamental change based on a willingness to share power, create access to resources and ensure representation by groups that have been marginalized" (Aderson and Conn 1994. 199). Incorporating elements of these vanous planning approaches together with points for interventions identified earlier thus establishes a foundation for a feminist planning approach to women's employment in nonhem resource communities. The next chapter discusses methodologies used to identifi the factors affecting women's integration into the workf'orce as well as to structure the fiamework for analysis of the research findings, within the contexts of women's labour supply, industry demand, and community explored above.

CHAPTER 4

METHODOLOGY

The process of planning for women's employrnent in resource cornmunities involves not only the identification and assessment of issues pertaining to women's access and retention in the workplace, but also entails the development of a methodological framework which in this case incorporates feminist research pnnciples. This chapter reviews the met hodological principles which informed my approach to the study and the analysis, and establishes a rationale for applying a feminist perspective to the issue of women's experiences in the workforce of northem

communities. including the selection of research sites and participants. This is followed by an overview of the triangulation method used in gathenng data, including one-on-one interviews with women in TT0 as well as with key informants in the community, my own experiences as a participant observer. and focus group sessions with the interview participants. Data collection processes are outlined, followed by an overview of the dissemination of findings and follow-up contact with participants,. The chapter concludes with a discussion of limitations of the research.

4.1

Theoretical Perspectives on Research Design and Methodology My methodological approach was informed by feminist research principles. with regards to

the focus of the research on women's expenences, the objective of improving women's access and retention in the workforce and through this their participation and role in the community. and the selection of appropriate research methods which would aid in achieving this objective. Central to my approach was Fonow and Cook's feminist methodology, an ofien-cited reference point for

the nature of feminist methodological approaches, which includes the following pnnciples: to continuously and reflexively attend to the significance of gender and gender asymmetry as a basic feature of al1 social life, including the conduct of research; (2) to accept the centrality of consciousness raising as a specific methodological tool and as a general orientation. or way of seeing; (3) to challenge the nom of objectivity that assumes that the subject and object of research can be separated and that persona1 experiences are unscientific; (4) to be concemed with the ethical implications of feminist research. and recognition of the exploitation of women as objects of knowledge; and to focus on the empowerment of women and transformation of (5) patriarchal social institutions through research. (Fonow and Cook 1991)

(1)

These pnnciples guided the development of methodological tools. and were central to my approach, as descnbed below, given the focus of the study on women's persona1 experiences within a gendered workplace culture as well as the objective of improving the integration of women in the workforces of northem resource communities and thus seeking their economic ernpowerment and the accompanying transformation of the institutions shaping their workplace expenence.

A Feminist Methodology

The research topic developed primanly from an interest in exploring women's experiences as residents and employees in northern resource communities. an interest that evolved to focus on improving women's lives in northem comrnunities particularly through their access to the workforces of resource extraction industries. the dominant. and often only, employment opportunity available besides low paying seMce and retail jobs. Feminist research pnnciples, as

above, informed my decisions regarding appropriate units of study, the important characteristics

of the units, and the relationship between units @riscol1 and McFarland 1989). namely: femaie workers in TT0 occupations in primary resource industry, their experiences of access to and retention in a male-dominated workplace, within the context of the broader community, and a

the patterns of experience shared among women in one workplace, in the community in general, and within other northem resource communities.

Thus, in selecting units of study, I chose female workers in TT0 occupations in primary resource industries together with key infonnants with extensive knowledge of and insight into women's experiences, recognizing the centrality of consciousness-raising to the aim of the study, namely to empower women who live and work in northem communities and to transfonn the institutions that govem their labour market experiences. The validity of their personal experiences to the research also underlies my choice of women with personal experience in the industry, rather than women, for instance, who may or may not have aspired to careers in the industry and thus had no first-hand knowledge of the factors influencing women' s empowerment. Lastly, i recognize the exploitation of women as objects of knowledge. and sought to involve them as subjects in the research. able to define how they wanted the research used to funher their own empowerment. With regards to selecting the important characteristics of the 'units'. ferninist research principles contribute an awareness of the vaiidity of personal expenence and the significance of gender, and as gender is expenenced differently according to many factors. including race. age, and sema1 orientation, 1 sought women with a variety of persona1 experiences of race. age. and sexual orientation and how these different experiences were manifest in the workplace and community.

Findy, decisions regarding the relationship between 'units' were made in keeping with ferninist

research principles that point to gender asyrnmetry as a 'basic feature of al1 social life', and focus on the transformation of patriarchal institutions. Thus, the research explores the patterns of personal experience shared among women both in the workplace and within broader social institutions including the household/family and community, with the objective of leaming fiom wornen's shared experiences how these institutions can be transfonned in other industries and Iocales in the north. Feminist inquiry has emancipatory as well as critical power (Sandercock and Forsyth 1992. 52). The focus on women's experiences engendered a feminist methodological approach

which had as its objective the improvement of women's status. in this case both in the workplace and in the community. Feminist research principles point to the prescriptive nature of research. namely that it seek to irnprove women's status. This perspective infoms a more strategic approach to the analysis of women's experiences in the workforces of resource industries: not simply descriptive, it seeks to identify opportunities for change which will empower women to challenge patnarchal structures and gendered interactions that are imbedded in their work and community Iives. By linking the object of study with outcomes. my analysis aims to not only assess women's access and retention in the workforce. but to positively affect it. Principles of 'action research' explored by Milroy and Andrew thus influenced the research agenda, including the acknowledgment of "purposefulness in the research experience" (Milroy and Andrew 199 1. 177), the qualities of the methods. and the use made of the research. As they point out, "in the

process both the researcher and researched are subjects; no one is an object. This orientation proposes actions and solutions developed from within the group rather than developed by researchers and imposed by policy makers" (Milroy and Andrew 199 1, 180).

More specifically, feminist theory is concerned with the production of knowledge through the daily experience of O ppressed groups, which challenges the hierarchies of knowledge production. As indicated above. Laws ( 1995) identifies the creation of knowledge of oppressed groups as central to a methodological approach. She defines oppression as a social and power relation instead of the result of innate attributes of select groups. relations which are institutionalized or grounded in prevailing social structures. By viewing these as relations rather than as innate attributes, they can be challenged and destroyed. Thus. this research seeks to produce knowledge that can be used by women. panicularly those working in T T 0 occupations and in the resource extraction industry. to challenge prevailing bamers to access and retention in the workplace.

Methodological Approach tu Data Collection This conceptual framework thus shaped the techniques of data collection and analysis used in my research. The development of my research agenda and methodological tools was informed by several ferninist research pnnciples. namely: including women as active participants in the research Action research entails "the act of bridging the gap between researcher and group members, a gap occasioned by differing experiences. knowledge, and perspectives" (Milroy and Andrew 1991, 18 1). It involves suspending preconceived notions. attempting to understand others on their own ternis, and participation by those studied in the description of their expenence. Initial i n t e ~ e w with s key informants and with women on site contnbuted sigmficantly to the further development of the interview schedule and related lines of questioning.

Research participants themselves pointed me towards different and additional areas of inquiry. Open-ended questions enabled interviewees to provide as little or as much information as they felt necessary, and thus led to in-depth, unprompted discussions of their expenences often beyond the context of the initial query. Finally, the women were able to validate my initial findings and provide some group input into the issues through two interactive focus group sessions held at the end of the i n t e ~ e wperiod. The number of women who came to these focus groups, and the complexity and relevance of their input. stood as proof that the majonty of women intewiewed had become very engaged by the process. had additional input to make after a period of time had elapsed, and took the responsibility upon themselves to follow-up with their contributions. validity and importance of women's experiences As discussed earlier, Laws considers the five forms of oppression identified by Young

(1990) and adds to these a sixth, termed howIeJgt' dr,~infand defined as the exclusion of

oppressed people From the "mainstream of academic discourse as subjects. agents or authors of knowledge even though they are fiequently the object of academic analyses" (Laws 1995, 9). She claims that the knowledge produced by oppressed people and central to the process of changing social relations and stnictures is hidden by the "tendency of modem science to deny the importance of the Other" (Laws 1995,9) and furthemore, that the study of oppressed groups tends to situate them as the "analytical objects of research which reinforces their peripheral status since the research finds that the 'objects' deviate from the (white. straight, male) nom" (Laws 1995, 10). This perspective informed the development of rny research tools. resulting in not ody

the active participation of women in the research process. but the conscious effort to focus on

women's expenences and draw out their 'hidden' knowledge.

My role was to gather information on al1 aspects of women's experiences in the workplace, and to do so via "in-depth contact between the researcher and the people being studied (Driscoll and McFarland 1989, 187) which allowed for feedback. story-telling in their own voices, and my active participation. They themselves provided the emphasis on certain areas of importance to them; what evolved were then patterns of experience shared by different women. or by those working under certain conditions, with common family responsibilities. or with specific employment histories, etc. The qualitative. reflexive nature of the interview process served to validate the information and allow experiences to modify the analysis in an on-going fashion @riscol1 and McFarland 1989, 187).

communication as a social tool Feminist theory offers much to planning theory in the realm of communication. including the use of language, the constmction of meaning from language. and communication as a social tool. Differences in the way women and men use langage both to communicate and to construct and understand their worlds have important implications for how planners gather information and involve people in the planning process. Dominant forms of communication such as academic discourse that exclude less formally educated people from these processes. for instance, or the socialization of women that discourages them from asserting themselves or speaking out. provide examples of the disproportionate impact communication may have on wornen. Sandercock and Forsyth challenge the assumption that -'if given the chance, al1 interest groups will articulate their demands in a roughiy equivalent manner. Given the current socialization of women, particularly women who suffer multiple disadvantages because of class. race, education. health, and selfesteem, this simply may not be the case" (Sandercock and Forsyth 1992, 5 1). Thus. the research

methods used were sensitive to the differing abilities of the research subjects to cornmunicate their expenences, and focused on the relationship built up during the course of the interview to ensure the women's cornfort with relating their stories and expenences in their own terms. deconstructing the power relationship between researcher and participant

As a researcher landing in the midst of their workplace, I was aware that the potential existed for my i n t e ~ e w to s be affected by a power imbalance between the women as 'abjects' of study and myself as 'expert' acquiring the objective 'tmth' (Driscoll and McFarland 1989. 186). Initially, intewiews were conducted in a separate room. and always alone. The opportunity to be on-site myself. however, led to the majority of interviews conducted within the context of 'jobshadowing,' where 1 became the subject in order to negotiate their daily routine and job duties. where i was encouraged to expenence the full range of their work experiences. and where I was sought out in order to be shown some new aspect of their workplace. Thus. I became the one in awe of their expertise and skill. 'subjected' to their working conditions. and wholly dependant on them to avoid being crushed by heavy machinery. overpowered by fumes. or lost in the labyrinth of the piant in the middle of a night shifi. My 'difference' added to my outsider stance without constructing me as an 'authority.' The immediacy of the information-gathering also served to prevent, what theorists identiQ as a related concem, the imposition of inappropriate interpretive fiarneworks @riscoll and McFarland 1989. 187). a

the role of the researcher

Leavitt (1986) defined the cornponents of a feminist advocacy approach to planning, which includes the process of identifying oneself professionally as a feminist planner. Sandercock and Forsyth similarly argue for a stronger comection between the self and the 'object' of

research. A feminist approach asserts that "theorists must identify their personal position relative to the theoretical object" (Sandercock and Forsyth 1992. 5 1). Laws' typology of responses to oppression identifies the role of an 'advocate' and characterizes the responses of someone in this role to various types of oppression. As an advocate. one may respond to oppression passively. pursuing an accepting response which Laws sees as being govemed in part by the socialization of the advocate "within a society which erects oppressive social relations and stmctures" (Laws 1995. 14). A well-intended passive response may then entail providing short-term assistance, but cornes under criticism for contributing to the oppression by not doing anything to reduce or remove barriers. As academics, Laws suggests. we may take on this role "when we offer our 'expertise' to produce knowledge (and change?) that could not corne from those living in the margins without our help" (Laws 1995. 14). A more resistive response as an advocate is to, through research develop a strategy for resistance. or to resist "stereotypic power relations" such as using the pnvilege of education and status to "dominate the direction of discussions" (Laws 1995, 16). And finally, according to Laws' typology. the advocate can actively manipulate or seize the tenns of oppression by the explicit acknowledçrnent of differences in social groups and use these to reduce or remove barriers. As she points out. however, "autonomy-insistent actions such as these may have little more than collusive consequences in certain situations and may in fact be responsible for the reproduction of peripheral identities" (Laws 1995, 18). pointing to the responsibility one must exercise as an advocate in promoting an agenda of equality. Stanley and Wise (199 1) theonze about the interaction between a ferninist consciousness and the research phenornenon, or how the research and the researched 'change' the researcher. AS described above, the purpose or objective of the research discussed here is to effect a change in

the status of women in male-dominated workplaces; thus, it follows that in conducting the research the researcher oneself becomes part of the change. not only by infonning the research (and its subjects) with a feminist consciousness which affects the outcornes. but in a more reflexive way, is informed by the nature of the findings. In the short term there is the tendency of the research to dominate one's life, as suggested by some theorists regarding their experiences of oppression through conducting research (Stanley and Wise 1991. 174). and especially as a participant observer subjected to the working conditions and gendered culture of the workplace. My presence as a woman, never mind an external researcher. in a frequently sexualized environment, drew unwanted male attention on occasion and allowed me to 'share' the experience of rnany of my research participants, of being assessed on the basis of my sex. A long-term impact was also felt that challenged my own feminist consciousness. panicularly relating to my experience of the different ways in which 1 observed women responding to and coping with the dominant workplace culture: strategies, conscious or otherwise. that contradicted rny own response or approach but which informed the diversity of women's knowledge and how it is used. Kirby and McKenna suggest that this "conceptual baggage" is an important pan of the research record (Kirby and M c K e ~ a1989. 41), initially enabling one to focus on a topic. and to observe how pre-established objectives or assumptions may be infiuencinç how the research is developing N r b y and McKema 1989, 5 1).

The impact of my presence on the wornen did give rise to some concern about the ethical implications of rny research, pmicularly by exposing them to assurnptions on the part of their

male CO-workersabout the intention of research on 'women's issues'. the short-tenn effect of separating them out fiom the team, and its potentiai long-tem effect on their relationships with

CO-workers.Care was taken not to draw undue attention to the research objectives or approach in the presence of the women's CO-workers,and to focus on the leaming taking place as a researcher 'job-shadowing' the women with regards to the workplace as a whole. While this stands in some contrast to the need to consciously identi@ oneself as a feminist advocate. the main concem was the level of comfon of the i n t e ~ e wparticipants themselves. research design and objectivity

York offers to this methodological framework an understanding of the extent to which validity or reiiabiiity of the data can be established: "Validity refers to the extent to which that which was intended to be measured was actually measured. For a method to be valid. it must not only reach the target but must do so with consistency. which is to Say that it must also be reliable" (York 1982, 167).The development of the research agenda and methodological tools for data collection reflect the intention of this research to adhere to feminist research principles as descnbed above. Including women as active participants in the research and recognizing the value of their experiences, using communication as a social tool to bridge the differences in women's ability to communicate their experiences, participating myself as both a subject and an advocate. and utilizing qualitative methods to uncover the meaning of women's experiences. al1 served to 'reach the target', and to do so consistently. thus serving to enhance both the reliability and validity of the data. Rather than seeking 'objectivity'. 1 sought in-depth contact with the research participants. This added to the reliability of the information I was gathefing, given the close proximity to participants. the hours spent together, and the opportunity to hear fiom each woman her own stories, in her own words, shared on her own terms. My own expenence as a participant fùrther ensured the validity of the information, not only through observation of the participant

within the context of the experiences she was relating to me. but also through observation and sharing of other wornen's experiences in similar contexts. Although distancing myself from the perception of an 'objective expert,' and making my own feminist consciousness clear to the participants, 1found that the women viewed me as a neutral figure. in that they felt cornfortable in sharing difficult expenences, Free from judgement or preconceptions on my part. While that did not mean I was 'objective' in the sense of being free of my own agenda for improving women's working conditions, I was held to be independent fiom the Company. as well as lacking the knowledge of the history of women's experiences in the community and workplace and thus free from preconceptions or expectations about women's roles. 1 also was perceived to be 'entering' the workplace for the first time much as the women had done themselves. and they were aware of my first impressions and my ignorance of the workplace culture. practices, and 'language7 so that in a sense they saw me as an unbiased interpreter of their own experiences. Thus, my 'objectivity'

is limited as a researcher, relating to my intent to remain neutral and unbiased with regards to the content of the data. rather than with regards to how Iintend to use the data. namely to leam from the shared experiences of the women 1 interviewed in order to improve their position within the workplace and cornrnunity.

Meth odological Approach to the Analysis and Reconimendations The analysis of the research findings draws on feminist theorists and their contributions to understanding occupational segregation as discussed in Chapters 2 and 3 and reflecting the social. stmctural, and locational factors affecting access and retention of women in the workplace. These factors operate as both bamers or constraints to women7sintegration into the workforce as well

as responses or strategies that positively affect access and retention. A triangulation method served to validate information while incorporating various sources of data. The data, drawn corn one-on-one i n t e ~ e w s participant , observation, and focus group sessions. is summanzed according to the prevalent issues, and retlects both analysis of my own observations and key informant comments as well as the responses of interview participants. Relying on the validity of women's experiences as related to and observed by me. 1 souçht verification from at least three sources of each of the factors included in the findings and analysis. Beyond the prevalence of issues, I focused on the potential causes. the implications for women. and the possibilities for interventions designed to remove bamers and build on opportunities. A methodological approach to the analysis also draws on feminist advocacy planning and

gender and development theonsts. The forms of oppression identified by Young (1990) and Laws (1995) situate women (as the marginalized) in relation to institutions. the state, or oiher decision-

making bodies. As these forms of oppression ernbody the institutionalization of gender relations experienced at a household level, or between households as in a specific culture or social setting,

an analysis of the bamers of the gendered culture of the workplace is applied to the development of interventions which seek to reduce or rernove foms of oppression, at both strategic and practical levels. This approach also incorporates the different responses identified by Laws to various forms of oppression as discussed in Chapter 3. A process incorporatinç various responses

- passive and active, as outlined by Laws (1995), strategic and practical as put fonh by Moser (1989) and Alsop (1993) - to different forms of oppression would then look like this:

1. identifjmg strategic gender interestdneeds in relation to removing or reducing the impact of ( a h defined as an active response to) various forms of oppression

2. identifying practical gender interestslneeds and related interventions (active or passive responses) 3. identi@ng gender relations, as embodied by institutions or cultural norms (also identified as social or political interactions between oppressed and oppressor), at play when implementing practical interventions 4. accounting for the impact practical interventions will have on strategic interests.

This framework is used both in the analysis of the research findings and in the development of recommendations which propose interventions and solutions to address the bamers to women's full participation in the workforce.

4.2

Selection of Resea rch Sites and Participants

Site Selection

Fon McMurray was selected as the site for the primary research due to the single predominant industry, the self-contained community. and the high number of women employed in

TT0 occupations. Syncrude was selected in particular as the primav site for data collection, with regard to the number of women employed in al1 aspects of operations. the tenure of female ernployees in TT0 occupations, the diversity of occupations within the workforce. and the progressive nature of the Company regarding human resource management and training initiatives such as participation in CO-opand bndging programs. The selection of a site which provided such diversity in the sampling also facilitated the identification of practices and strategies that enabled female employees to challenge occupational segregation and the norms of a male workplace culture; thus, information was available that not only identified bamers and constraints, but contributes to an understanding of women's experiences working in TT0 occupations and the

challenges in seeking their full participation. The community of Fort McMurray also provided access to women who had experience working in other resource extraction industries in the north. with whom results of the experiences of women within one workplace could be compared. The lives of women in the community was a subject of the research as well, although no wornen were specifically inteMewed solely with regards to their perceptions about their community. Document sources have produced a thorough exploration of women's lives in northem communities. against which women working in TT0 occupations within a northem resource community can be cornpared. The community of Fort McMurray further provided access to key informants with a wealth of insight as to perceptions and experiences of women working in TT0 occupations. including employrnenr counsellors. college personnel, and apprenticeship staff Although initially several sites were considered. including rninins communities in nonhem Manitoba, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. tùrther research showed almost no women working at any other sites that would have provided additional perspectives on women's experiences in the workplace: a lack of company policies or programs promoting equity or diversity initiatives that would have served as a basis for assessinç and companng bamers to access; and difficulty with accessing data and information necessary to provide any cornparison with the pnmary sites. An additional factor influencing the selection of research sites was the

realities of market forces affecting the economies of mining comrnunities. Few resource extraction industries could daim an interest in labour force planning for growth: without the potential for expansion, there is liale incentive to recruit women to either the workplace or the comrnunity. The oil sands industry, however, is anticipating skills shonages, resulting from growing industry

demand for labour, high turnover of their workforces. cornpetition between employers for workers, and technological changes in operations requiring higher levels of skills. Thus, women are recognized as a potential pool of new recruits. and the possibility for intervention on behaif of women seeking to enter TT0 employment is increasing.

Seleetion of Parîîcipants

Initial key informant interviews were camed out with various stakeholders. including representatives from training and educational institutions in the cornmunity, community-based trainers and employment counsellors. contractors. and Company personnel in human resources. training, public affairs and administration as well as managers and supervisors in operations. A total of 20 key informants were interviewed in Fort McMurray. 16 of whom were affiliated directly with Syncrude in addition to four external i n t e ~ e w s . A total of 52 women were interviewed from Syncrude. selected on the basis of voluntary

participation and with regard to the diversity of occupations. working conditions. tenure of employment, participation in training initiatives, as well as age, equity group representation, family responsibilities and education. Three women with experience in other industrial settings in the cornmunity were also interviewed, two currently working at Suncor and one working with a local contractor. The decision to include only 52 interview participants was a result of several considerations. It reflected the in-depth nature of the interviews: only two or three were conducted per day, and the resulting data was extensive. Significantly fewer interviews would have provided the full range of factors presented in the findings. but I continued to seek representation from ail areas and occupations, tenure in the workplace and the community, and

demographic characteristics such as age, marital and family status. race. sexuality, etc., to ensure that the patterns and trends becoming apparent were reflected through-out the target population. Finally, limited resources allowed for a window of eight weeks in which to set up and conduct both key informant and participant interviews. When I stopped at 51. I was assured that 1 had gathered a widely representative sample of women. using a consistent approach, and had collected extensive data that went further than simply enumerating the various factors but added depth and richness to the discernable patterns.

The female participants were selected in several ways: initially with the help of staff' in the training departments to locate and contact women with direrent tenures. occupations. training expet-iences, shifts. work locations. etc.. and fûnher on throuçh word-of-rnouth. via contacts onsite initiated by myself or by women, and finally, by identifjhg gaps in representation from different areas, occupations, etc. which I was able to address açain with the help of personnel in the training departments.

4.3

Data Collection Information was gathered using a qualitative approach. A trianplation methodology was

employed, incorporating the findings from interviews, participant observer research. and focus groups.

Intmiews

Key informant interviews were open-ended, with unstructured interview schedules and ail relying on face-to-face contact, sometimes with additional follow-up. These interviews provided I O8

an initial wide-ranging, well-informed perspective on bamers and opportunities for women's ernployment in the industry, and within the Company more specifically. as well as indicating bamers prevalent in the cornrnunity and the range of services or supports which provided opporninities to women to access training and employment. The information gathered was used to establish the framework for the subsequent interviews with women. For interviewing women entenng or working in TTO. I initially developed an interview schedule for use over the telephone, intending to assess the aspirations of wornen regarding entry to TT0 work in the industry. This method was changed after the first several contacts with key informants and women, for reasons including the inappropriateness of the methodology. the expenence of conducting an in-depth one-on-one interview with experienced wornen. and the h the benefits of participant possibility of accessing a large nurnber of women. on-site and ~ i t al1

observation, as discussed above. The interview schedule continued to serve as a guide, however. and is included in Appendix C. Interviews were semi-stnictured. following a standard format developed in conjunction with key informant intewiews and evolvine funher over the course of the inteniew process. Open-ended questions and situational observations resulted in the i n t e ~ e w process varying widely between individuals. both in length of time spent with each individual, from as little as 30 minutes to over 12 hours dunng an entire shifi. as well as depth and cornplexity of responses.

The i n t e ~ e w with s key informants were conducted for the most part over the course of eight weeks dunng the surnrner of 1995, with an additional five during a week-long visit to the community in the surnmer of 1996. Participant interviews with women working in TT0 were al1 conducted in 1995, from approximately June 20" to August 1 Sh.

Pidcipant Obsetvation 1 also gathered information as a participant observer, conducting over two thirds of the

interviews while job-shadowing the women at their worksite. I was able to observe women working in various occupations in rnining, extraction. utilities. upgrading and central maintenance; spent entire shifts onsite, including ovemight; participated in team meetings and social gatherings; and rounded out my observations by speaking informally along the way with co-workers, trainers, and supervisors. This allowed me to maintain a balanced perspective with respect to the women's experiences, develop an appreciation of the complexities of the workplace interactions. and bring first-hand knowledge gained on-site to the final analysis of the interview data. It also entailed keeping personal notes documenting both an intellectual response to the research as well as an emotional one, in order to account for the conceptual 'baggage' from the topic at hand.

Fucus Groups Two focus groups were held at the end of the eight weeks of interviewing, during which the preliminary findings were presented to a total of 18 women at an off-site location at the college. Discussions and responses of the group to the information were recorded on video-tape,

and feedback incorporated into the analysis of the findings. An additional focus group was held dunng the sumrner of 1996, although not strictly for the purpose of gathering new data, but to present the preliminary findings to any of the research participants from the summer previous, as offered as part of the follow-up.

4.4

Dissemination and Follow-up As discussed with regards to feminist theoretical concerns with the production of

knowledge, the intent of this research is to produce knowledge that can be used by women, and can be used to challenge prevailing bamers to access and retention in the workplace and thus seek

to empower women and transfomi social institutions which uphold barriers to women's participation in employrnent. The findings From this study have thus been shared with the research participants in a number of ways. Preliminary findings were presented to any interested i n t e ~ e w participants during the three focus groups. as mentioned. Additional contact was maintained with several participants at their request, and is on-going. I have been able to present findings to management, trainers, and diversity/hurnan resources employees at Syncrude on several occasions, and the information has been the basis for a video-taping of discussions about recommended interventions as well as a written report to management outlining the bamers and making recommendations for addressing rhese. During my second and subsequent visits to the cornrnunity, a support network of women, many of whom originally participated in the interviews, was stmck and is continuing to meet. Finally. the completed study will be provided to several key stakeholders within the organization and the comrnunity. with summary documents available for anyone else invoived with the research who requests them.

4.5

Limitations Limitations of the methodology used in this research include the difficulty of verifjmg the

extent to which the identified b*.ers

to women's participation in employment affect the female

workforce both within the Company. and in the industry at large, including other sites, as weU as 111

accounting for differences in experience among women. whether related to age, tenure, race, education, sexud orientation, and household or domestic circumstances. The focus of the research was on the experience of individuals, as outlined above, considered in the broader context of women in nonhem communities and industry demands for female labour. The objective of the research was to identify the types of bamers and opportunities that have shaped womenos employment expenence, to draw out their responses to these. and to identie potential points for further consideration or intervention. The interview process explored the subtleties of their expenences and the range of responses. and was itself shaped by the accumulating information. Thus, the research was not intended to verifi the prevalence of barriers in any one company or area of the company, or even within the industry. Women's ongoing exclusion from employment

in the mining industry at large speaks to the prevalence of barriers to access and retention. and is well-documented in the literature. Rather, this research seeks to identify factors that contribute to their successful integration, including their unique and vaned individual strategies as well as more general practices or strategies at the Company, training institution. or community level that facilitates women's employment, and identifi points for intervention. A related area of concem is the potential for race and class bias. Cannon. Higginbotham.

and Leung's findings suggest, in interviewing women fiom different race and class backgrounds, that "Eiiling to recognize their expenences could greatly diston our conclusions about how they had reached their current occupations and class position" (Cannon. Higginbotham, and Leung 1991, 1 15). They point out that it is much more useful. in atternpting to generate theory. "if the srnall sarnples under study are relatively hornogeneous. since extreme diversity makes the task of identifjmg common patterns almost impossible" (Cannon, Higginbotham, and Leung 1991, 1 15),

but that this approach leads to the exclusion of cenain groups From research findings. This

approach also contradicts feminist theorists' arguments regarding the importance of inclusivity and the recognition of diversity amongst women. In my analysis. I do not attempt to separate out the findings based on race or class background, but identifj where possible individual expenences that suggest race, or sexual preference, or age, or education, or family status, may impact on women's expenence where they themselves have identified it as such. Again, this is not intended to ver@ the prevalence of bamers for these groups of women. but to explore the range of bamers and responses, and to identiQ points for fùrther consideration or potential intervention. A specific example is the issue of Aboriginal women and whether their expenences are consistent with those of non-Abonginal women. Many factors suggest they are not, including tenure in the comrnunity; adaptation to northern realities which contribute to retention in the workforce of northem communities; aspects of culture. family structure. educational experience, and employment history which interact with the dominant workplace culture differently; and the prevalence of hiring targets, special programming, and support networks aimed at reducing bamers specific to this group. My primary reason for not exploring differences with regards to Aboriginal wornen was my own lack of understanding and ability to speak to many of these aspects, and my cornmitment as a feminist researcher to not 'appropnate' women's voices or knowledge beyond what I am reasonably able to participate in or understand. Utilization of different methodological approaches may have led to more ability to venfi the findings for different groups of women and for the industries and communities studied. Using quantitative methods such as surveys, statistical anaiysis of interna1 Company data regarding turn

over, hiring of equity group members, representation of women in different occupations or areas.

etc. was a consideration but, as discussed above regarding time limitations and the appropnateness of applying quantitative tools to the in-depth exploration of women's workplace experiences, was not pursued. The availability of statistical data was such that an attempt to review confidentid hiring records was not ody beyond the scope of the research, but would have compromised my ability to include women as active participants. both in the collection and dissemination of data. Finally, what became apparent afier several one-on-one interviews, was the subtleties and contradictions inherent in exploring women's career aspirations with regards to the diffenng impact of comrnunity noms. attitudes of parents and educators. and perceptions of the women regarding employment 'opportunity' and their ability to adapt to the workplace culture. it would not have been possible to quantify women's aspirations and perceptions. For similar reasons, 1 chose not to survey women in the community regarding their career aspirations and perception of bamers to employment. So much of what influences women's career choices is based on information received via parents, role models. and social contacts, rather than published information or course calendars, and this information is mediated by social expectations. self-perceptions, and values that are intemalized by women and impossible to untangle. Knowing that two hundred women had either never considered a career in TTO.or had but hadn't been able to overcorne the bamers to such employment. is not useful unless I can explain why. Other limitations regarding the selection of sites. such as number of female employees. Company policies regarding diversity, etc. were addressed above. One additional issue is the 'northern-ness' of the Fort McMurray site. Although not isolated to the same extent as other rnining communities in the North, the city of Fort McMurray shares characteristics of many rnining towns, including its recent development as a 'new town'. its relatively homogenous

population, the mobility of its residents. the predominance of young, male workers not ody in the workplace but reflected in the rnake-up of the community, its housing stock, influenced primarily by the needs and resources of workers in the industry. and the reliance of its local economy on the

primary industry. The choice of industry also bears further explanation. While focusing on women in TT0 occupations within a male-dominated industry, the context for the research is northem communities. Other industries such as logging may have been explored. and would provide an interesting comparison to the mining industry. but resource extraction communities, by their very reliance on location of operations. tend to be more isolated and thus more homogenous and similar to one another. Mining communities also occupy a special place in the history of the country, and the 'community' that develops around such operations is the 'community' of the nonh. A large proportion of people in the comrnunity have lived in another mining comrnunity somewhere else in Canada, and thus understand northern realities and share informed reasons for locating their families to such places. The focus on women in TT0 occupations in male-dorninated workplaces. discussed in the literature review as to women's occupational segregation. allows the research to move beyond explainhg segregation to explore what happens when these barriers are transgressed. And to go further yet and address the issue of retention. as opposed to simply describing what works or doesn't work to get women into the workplace. Seeking means to ensure the retention of women involves the establishment of a 'cntical mas' of women. of progressive policies. and of issues relating to the community environment that influence women's long-term career decisions. And finally, the focus on women in TT0 occupations in industry allows the research to go even

further, and to explore how women c m be truly integrated into the workforce Rather than just addressing tum over, it points to wornen's productivity, job satisfaction, and meaning in their paid work. This gets to the core of the issue: changing the workplace culture to create 'space' for women. A critique of this approach might suggest looking at other industries or other occupations, and this is discussed further in the context of developing suggestions for additional research. but I would emphasize that rnining remains one of the last frontiers for women that rnining communities remain particularly challenging places for women. and that these factors

allow for original research into the interactions between wornen. employrnent. and placdspace that can contribute to the body of planning literature that informs Our understanding of women and cornmunity.

CHAPTER 5 RESEARCH RESULTS

This chapter begins with a profile of Fort McMurray, the workforce, and the specific workplace targeted in the research, in order to provide an understanding of the unique characteristics of the community and the factors which have influenced the development of its workforce, particularly the supply of female labour to the industry. This is followed by profiles of the research participants, including their occupations. employrnent tenure, and demographic make-up. The next section charts the major factors influencing access and retention in the workplace, drawing from the interviews, my experience as a participant observer, and the focus group sessions. This section attempts to document both the bamers to wornen's employment in TT0 occupations as well as the indicators for successful integration into the workplace. separated into factors affecting access and those relating to retention of women.

5.1

Community and Workforce Profiles Everyrhng about the Athabasca tar sandî is bigger than life and ahvays has been. nte place, the hisrory, the men, the reserves, the plants, al1 of them, stretch the imagrnation. It 's rough, rugged country. except for the river valleys, much of it muskeg "everlasting and eternai, " as Henry John Mobcriy said He built F m McMumay in 18 70.Many of the men who fozight their way through thut country and made slabs ut developing the tar smzh are Iegendary andjramboyant. (Anderson 198 I ,208) Coming of age dunng the 1970's, Fon McMurray shares many of the characteristics of

new resource towns. Relatively isolated, with a higher population of men than of women as well as a relatively high proportion of young people (see Table 4 and 5, Appendix D), it has

experienced significant inmigration since the development of the oil sands and thus growing

pressure on the housing stock and essential services (Syncrude Canada Ltd.. 1990), resulting in waves of building and municipal development in keeping with 'instant towns' characterized in Chapter 3. Mobility rates (Table 6 in Appendix D) indicate the percentage of movers in 1991 was 22.56 per cent in comparison with 16.35 per cent nationally. Like other primary resource-based

economies, job uncertainty fluctuates in step with market forces. contributing to a sense of transience and often reflecting workers' intentions to stay just long enough to make some money @one 1992). The oil sands industry in northem Alberta. built around extraction and upgrading of bitumen into cmde oil, employed more than 25,000 people across Canada in 1995. with 12.000 new permanent jobs expected to be added to the workforce in the following years (Syncnide Canada Ltd., 1995). Syncrude Canada Limited, one of two major firms Iocated in Fon McMunay, employed over 5000 workers at the time this research was undertaken, and is currently listed as one of "The Hundred Best Companies to Work for in Canada" as well as one of "Canada's Best Employers for Women", which reports that approximately 15% of its full-time and 87% of its part-time workforce are female. Of approximately 700 women employed at Syncrude, 450 were in TT0 or 'male-dominated' occupations (Report on Business 1995), due in

part to innovative programrning, discussed below, which has provided hands-on skills training to women dunng their transition to TT0 work. Syncrude reported in 1990 that annual staff turnover had dropped significantly to just over seven per cent in recent years (Syncrude 19901, suggesting that its human resource efforts, together with the establishment of the community and long-term economic prospects, had contributed to a more stable worMorce. Census figures fiom 1991 reveal a highly skilied workforce in Fort McMurray, with 68.12 per cent of males with applied trades or technology training compared to just 4 1.6 per cent

nationally, and 17.38 per cent with post-secondary education compared to 14.7 per cent across Canada (Table 7 in Appendix D). The figures for females reveal fewer with post-secondary education (1 1.56 per cent compared to 13.5 per cent nationaily), but match the relatively high percentage with applied technology or trades training, at 8.03 per cent compared to 3.53 per cent nationaily. While low, the number of women seeking training in technology and trades shows an increase with 1998/99data From post-secondary institutes in Alberta (Table 8 in Appendix D), with 10 per cent female students in apprenticeship training in Fort McMurray compared to only 4 per cent in Alberta. Furthemore, census data fiom 1996 reveal that the percentage of the labour force in the mining sector (includes mining, oil and quanying) that is female is 21.2 per cent in Alberta compared to 15.2 per cent nationally, pointing to women's ability to access employrnent in this sector more readily than elsewhere in Canada. Syncrude Canada Ltd.. as a Company committed to the value of diversity in the workforce, has both participated in and developed on its own a number of initiatives which have contnbuted to the high number of women working in TT0 occupations within the industry. Programming delivered within the community to promote careers for young women in TT0 has included the Alberta-wide "Careers - the Next Generation" program aimed at informing secondary school students about career options, particularly in skilled trades and emerging technologies; a program entitled "Operation Minerva," focused on encouraging girls' interest in maths, sciences and technology and facilitating their exposure to female role models; and "GETT Camps", a WITT National Network initiative designed to give young girls hands-on expenence in using tools and equiprnent, and delivered during weekend training sessions. Secondary schools in Fort McMurray and across the province participate in various types of CO-optraining programs, including RAP (rapid apprentice program). Similarly, CO-opprograms

are available at the post-secondary level, combining specific course instruction in several different apprenticeable areas with on-the-job training on-site at Syncrude. Within the company, bridging opportunities have long been available, most notably the Bridges program modelled on Metro Toronto's Bridges program. This program provides current female employees with access to rnentoring, job shadowing experiences, and hands-on experience for several weeks in different occupations through-out the company, providing women with the opportunity to 'try out' a job before rnaking a decision to transfer fiom typically female-dorninated administrative positions to a skilled trade or operations position within the company. Finally, Syncrude provides a number of educational scholarships for young women in the community to help them in accessing training, usually provided outside of the community, which will lead to employment in trades, technolog, or engineering with the company upon completion of the training. (Syncrude 1990, Syncrude 1995, key informant interviews).

While these initiatives are noted for their proactive attempts to recruit women to careers in the industry and to retain female employees in TT0 occupations, this thesis does not attempt to assess the efficacy or success of programs initiated by the company or in which the company participates. This is due in part to the limited scope of the research, which did not allow for a systematic analysis of policy or programming on the part of the company. Similarly, 1 do not attempt to chart al1 of the policies or programs which may assist women in their integration into the workforce. Rather, this recognition of various programs and policies serves as background information to the reader, given that many of the factors afFecting access and retention discussed in this chapter refer to such programs or policies; these are also included in the concluding chapter, where recornrnendations, when considering programs or policies as points for possible intervention, build on what has already been happening within the community and the company.

5.2

Key Informant Data Key infonnants, as discussed above, provided me with much of the background

information regarding various aspects of the industry, the company's policies and practices, and programs or seMces available in institutions or through govemrnent or comrnuniry-based trainers in Fon McMurray. These included in-depth information on the programs discussed above; the training opportunities available within the community, delivered through Keyano Cornrnunity College, through the Apprenticeship branch of Alberta Education and Training, or through several community-based services; the roles of comrnunity trainers and educators in working in partnership with local industry to identiS> and respond to training and employrnent needs; the main trends or patterns observed by trainers. employment counsellors, apprenticeship or college personnel, and comrnunity advocates regarding women's access to and retention in the industry in general and within Syncrude more specifically, and lastly, the identification of policy or prograrnming interventions needed to ensure a supply of skilled and qualified wornen to industry locaily. Key infomants within the company represented a vanety of different areas, from corporate diversity policy to delivery of training. They served as the initial contacts within the company, helped me to map out my approach to conducting interviews and gathering data, assisted in the identification of information necessary to complete the research, and provided me with an o v e ~ e w of the history and patterns regarding female employment in TT0 occupations at Syncrude. Many of their observations have been included in the section descnbing factors affecting access and retention, as confirmed by the i n t e ~ e w with s women or by my own observation.

5.3

Profrles of Interview Participants Information gathered from the participants during the interviews provide some insight into

the occupational and demographic characteristics of the group. While these data are useful in establishing the nature of the participants, it must be cautioned that given the relatively small sample size and the selection process, the information is not intended to be used for drawing conclusions about which factors pertain specifically to which groups, but rather for disceming broad patterns existing in the workplace and community.

Occupationî and Areas of Employmenf Fifty-two interviews were conduaed with wornen with work experience in trades. technology and operations occupations. Forty current employees in TT0 were intewiewed. representing al1 four areas of the company, with 18 From Mining, 12 From Extraction, six from Utilities, and four ffom Central Maintenance and Upgrading. Several others had experience working in different areas of the company but were currently in administration or training (3). employed with contractors (6) or in other fields ( l ) , or unemployed (2). The range of occupations included heavy equipment operators (9). electricians (7). millwrîghts (3). heavy duty mechanics (3), welders (3). power engineer (3), process engineer (3). instmmentation (2). scaffolding (2),

materials handling (1), pipefitter (l), drafting (1), and carpenter (1). in addition to other occupations not identified. Exarnples of occupations and areas of employment are represented in photographs of several of the female i n t e ~ e wparticipants, included in Appendix E. These images of women in the workplace are intended to provide some visual context for the type of work wornen are engaged in at the company, as well as the working environment and conditions. but are not meant

to reflect the full vanety ofjobs and conditions women are working in.

Job Tenure and Related Evperience With regards to their employment experience, the women had worked in TT0 occupations for 7.6 years on average, and had been employed by the company for an average of 6.9 years. Of those with work expenence in the company, 10 had less than three years expenence, 1 1 had between three and six years, 15 had between six and nine years experience, and nine had over ten years experience with the company. Several women (13) had acquired additional experience working in TT0 occupations pnor to their employment at the company, and 1 1 women had worked for the company for several years before switching to TT0 work. seven of which had been participants in the Bridges program. Five wornen were currently or had been CO-op apprentices, for a total of 29 interview participants with prior workplace experience in TT0 occupations a d o r an employment history with the company. Eighteen women had entered directiy into TT0 employrnent with the company without relevant workplace expenence. although several had acquired relevant training elsewhere. and five women had no employment experience with the company.

Dernographic Characteristics With regards to tenure in the cornmunity, the 52 women i n t e ~ e w e dhad lived in Fort McMurray for an average of 14.6 years. 20% of respondants had grown up in the cornmunity, and 25% had lived in Fort McMurray for less than ten years. Additional demographic characteristics

include the average age of interview participants of 33 years. Eight (1 5.4%) of the interviewees were Aboriginal womes three (5.8%) were visible minority women and two (3.8%) of the

women self-identified as being lesbian. Fony-five per cent of respondants were manied; twentyone per cent were living with partners; twenty-four per cent were single, and twenty-one percent had been divorced. Twenty-three women had children; the average number of children for al1 women was .94 per person, compared with the average number of children per family in Fon McMurray of 1.5 and the national average of 1.2 children per family (Statistics Canada, 1991 Census).

5.4

Factors Affecting Access and Retention in the Workplace The demographic and occupational characteristics tell us who the women are and what

they do. This section summanzes their expenences entenng or working in TT0 occupations in the oil sands industry. Drawn from the interviews, from my own observations as a participant observer, and from the focus groups sessions. the factors aEecting access to the workplace are differentiated from those bamers or opportunities afYecting retention. This allows for an analysis of factors influencing women's decisions to enter TT0 work in nonhem cornmunities. including the material or stmctural bamers or supports at the household, community, and workplace levels that interact with their individual aspirations and perceptions. Factors affecting the retention and advancement of wornen are, on the other hand. largely represented in the workplace. with the location of empioyrnent and social or structural influences located in the household and cornmunity less variable and acting more to influence job satisfaction than actual tum over. This is explained in part by the Eict that the majority of interviews took place with women currently employed at the Company, whereas interviews with women who had lefl employment would likely reflect more barriers located in the household and community. However, as discussed in the previous chapter, interviews with women currently employed in TT0 reflected the intent of the 124

research to draw on workplace experience to explain the integration of women in TT0 work in northern cornmunitius. A list of the factors affecting access and retention are presented in Table 9 in Appendix F.

These are sumrnarked below, with examples related in the words of the women themselves presented in italics.

Access: Cweer In/orman'on The geographic location of employment, in this case the company's pervasive influence on the local economy with regards to hinng opportunities and good salary levels, contnbutes to a strong local awareness of career opportunities. Syncrude's visibility in the community ensures a high level of career information, panicularly regarding the need for skilled labour. This was particularly evident amongst women who had grown up in Fort McMurray, had a parent working in the industry, or had completed a portion of their secondary schooling in the city, with these women entenng employrnent in TT0 at an eariier age. At the same time, most women knew little

of what to expect in the workplace or of the job itself and had chosen to enter the industry for other reasons including level of pay and skills training. While few women knew other females directly who worked in the industry, a general recognition that there were women on-site contributed to their level of interest in working in TT0 and was often the catalyst for entry:

They were hiring wornen irr it [truck-driving] - rveryorte htew they were there. n e y weren 't adverfisingbtct 1phomd and appled and called tortil I got a reqonse. Few women had any relevant hands-on experience prior to entry, which was a major factor contnbuting to their lack of confidence. Several cited it was their lack of mechanical skills

rather than strength that created barriers regarding their own perceptions of their abilities. their initial cornpetence in the job, and their acceptance by CO-workers.Those who had such experience were more confident of their career choice, more determined to succeed, and better prepared for the demands of the job, ail of which contributed to their initial acceptance by CO-workers.

Access: Educatiun~SkilfsTraining Literacy and educational levels played a role in access to employment in TT0 for very few

of the women, but for those with low levels of literacy or formal education it proved significantly more difficult, and took much longer. to access training and employment. Upgrading opportunities had made it possible for several of these women to obtain the necessary education and skills-training to access employment and. although readily available in the community. the cost and time invoived was a burden. Women who had obtained some sort of hands-on or technical training pnor to entry. however. experienced a much easier transition to the workplace. As noted above with regards to career information. their confidence levels were much greater, and

their credibility with CO-workerswas enhanced if they came into the workplace with pnor training or experience. This was tme especially for women who had completed post-secondary training in technician or technologist programs. Recognition of CO-workersof prior technical training or experience rernoved an important obstacle to women being accepted by their peers. At the same time, programs offered through a college which involve leaving the community, no access to childcare, or lengthy periods without an income were cited as a barrier to women with young children, especially to single mothers. One woman noted:

I wanted to get into a tmde Iike insîrumrrrtation techniciun, but the industry was taking people with two-yem diplornas orfrom the three-year program at N U T [Northem Applied Institute of Technology]. It wanl 't an optionfor me - I have a

Female apprentices who received a combination of in-school and on-the-job training alongside a journeyed tradesperson did achieve somewhat more credibility with their peers with regards to their forma1 training, but there were many complaints about the attitudes of instructors, with women feeling that they were being 'set up' to fail. One woman noted:

7he in.stmctor wasn't supportive. He worriddt answer questiorlr. In his introciuctiort to the ctuss he said "Weil,p y s , these women are going to gel better marks than yozi. " irhe guys that h l 't even know yoic dori 't like yorr right off The on-site portion of training for apprentices as well as the training of heavy equipment operators on the job were consistently cited as problems by the women. as discussed below, but the women emphasized that combined work experience programs had been the only way they felt they could access skilled employment. Co-op or RAP programming provided several women an opportunity to gain vaiuable hands-on expenence in a supportive leaming environment. These programs were cited by al1 participants as strongly influencing their choice of career and their access to employment; the only difficulties encountered were a lack of choice of occupation, the limited intake (regarding numbers of students and timing of intakes during the year), and the biases occasionally expressed by those involved in the apprenticeship delivery system towards women's participation. Co-op programs were deemed to be more successful than comparable programs offered through the college such as the process operator program, and were cited as ofien the oniy option for training for single mothers who could not a o r d to take two unpaid years to complete a college program. Pre-employment programs or proprarns which enabled women to move from traditional employment into T T 0 employment were cited to be successful at increasing career awareness, interest in TTO,and confidence, al1 valued equally as important as skills competency, and to a

lesser degree increasing women's acceptance into the workplace. Greater acceptance of women was on occasion offset by male co-worker resentment regarding 'special treatment' accorded female participants in such programs. The advantages of bridging programs, while providing an excellent opportunity for accessing TT0 employment, were also offset somewhat by a lack of choice in the instance of organizational restruchiring, where declining to move to a TT0 occupation could lead to job loss. One of the factors lirniting access to the workplace cited by key informants was women's lack of interest in training programs, as illustrated by the relatively small number of female participants. Many of the women, when questioned about earlier interest in training programs, cited lack of career information or knowledge about training opportunities. lack of parentavpeer support for their participation in such programs. as discussed above. as well as systemic barriers or lack of accommodations in training programs. Thus, it was not necessanly lack of interest per se that resulted in low numbers of female participants but a variety of barriers operating on both an individual level as well as within the programs themselves. One of the problems cited were systemic barriers in accessing training, such as a requirement that trainees be eligible for unemployrnent insurance (UI) benefits. a condition which disproportionately affects women and aboriginals as relatively fewer of them have amassed enough paid work hours to be eligibible for UI,now known as EI, or employment benefits. On the other hand, prograrns specifically for SARS (social assistance recipients) were cited as important

in providing a supportive leaming environment for women, as the programs are largeiy femaledorninated and incorporate life skills training. Severai women also pointed to a lack of accommodations in the delivery of training as barriers to women's participation. Examples were cited such as lack of childcare provisions or class times that conflicted with family responsibilities.

lack of appropriate facilities for female students. or equipment and protective gear that were too large. An additional factor cited by several women that facilitated their entry to employment were programs or skills training that incorporated ways of learning deemed more reflective of women's training needs. Relational leaming, hands-on training, fernale-only prograrnming and content that incorporated life skills. assertiveness training, etc. were al1 identified as increasing confidence and competence, and providing better access to training and employment.

Access: Employment Opportunity

Again, geographic location plays a crucial role in stnicturing employment oppominities. especially for a resource-based company in a 'new town'. One of the women noted: Whe??Ifirst came z p here they said that men ozrtrnrmbered women ten to one. *fie company was reaily pushitig for families to come and settie becatise the men wanted to work for a cozïple of yrars and thrn get mit.

Women who had been living in the community for a long time pointed out that as more wornen moved to the community with their families, women's expectations for paid work increased. and the company became a logical place to seek employment: I 'dfigired if1 'mgoing to iive here I 'dmtght as weli work for Syrmude and make good money. One of the most important facilitators of access to TT0 employment was the perception of a comrnitment to equity and diversity initiatives at the corporate ievel. Almost al1 of the interviewees identified their awareness that the company 'was hiring women' as the strongest factor in their decision to pursue employment in TT0 occupations. Similar in effect to the presence of role models in the cornmunity, women felt that a clear demand for their skills by the

Company enabled them to make a choice that was supported and sanctioned, often in contrast to the level of support or encouragement at home or school. At the same time, some women expressed a concem that a backlash effect could limit their credibility and leave them vulnerable to male CO-workers'resentment of their 'special treatment'. This was especially evident in the experiences of aboriginal women. who often faced a double burden of proving themselves. A bamer that was identified regarding corporate commitment to hiring women was the shift to contracting out. It was perceived that the majonty of contractors did not share a commitment to diversity, either because they were under less 'pressure' to hire women, or were less cornmunityminded. Sirnilarly, women's awareness of the company's recruitment and selection processes or of special initiatives such as the Bridges or Co-op programs positively afFected their access. The perception, and indeed the experience, that Syncrude's processes were fair and open facilitated their interest and commitment to entering TT0 work. Programs such as Bridges or Co-op were deemed to be very successful in facilitating access for women to empioyment, often the only way for women to be able to develop the skills and confidence needed to succeed while accessing secure employment. At the same time, they perceived that CO-workersoccasionally questioned their credibility or their right to be there, again based on perceptions that women were 'taking men's jobs' and receiving 'special treatment' through the company's hiring processes or prograrns. A barrier to access was also identified with regards to the hiring and selection processes of sub-contractors, which were perceived as generally more closed and reliant on 'who you know'. Many women discussed the fact that aside fiom corporate commitment and policies that

facilitate access, a genuine awareness of and sensitivity to gender and cultural issues existed on

the part of management and other company personnel. This welcoming environment, where identified, had a large impact on women's self-esteem and confidence in their skills. It was noted by several women, however, that the company needed to put in place more support networks. The company n e e h a support system for the wumer, - they shouid have dorx something long ago. They knrw they werr hirirrg women, and the problems they were huving getting goirg. And ihry neai to takr a look ai the movemerit of women rzow - how they 're progressing.

Progression within the company was a big factor for women entenng the workplace - many saw taking a job as a labourer or truck driver. or participating in a special program, as a 'stepping stone' to a career in the skilled trades in the fiiture.

Access: Comrnunity/Social A nitudes While a growing awareness of career opportunities for women in Fort McMurray supports women's choices. this is still largely offset by Society's expectations ofwomen's roles in the home and regarding 'appropnate' or 'desirable' employment for women. Several women cited the lack of support for women in 'non-traditionai' roles as a significant bamer. partly due to the fact that the visibility of women in TT0 resulted in a lot of discussion about women 'stealing men's jobs. or that wives often felt threatened by the thought of their husbands working alongside women. Despite the increased likelihood of empioyment in TT0 if a parent was in the workforce pointed out above, knowledge of what women would face in the workplace contributed to an initial lack of support from parents for their daughten' career choices, especially from fathers. This, combined with a 'blue-collar bias' prevalent arnongst parents. was expressed as concem for women entering TT0 workplaces:

Dad thought it wam 't so gwat ut first - he warned me, said I wouldprobably be put through hell, see my name on many a bathroom wall. He told me not to put up

with any crap, to get rnyfoot in the door und go for it. Ijpossible, get an apprenticeship so 1wodd be working with people wilh a higher education - if would be easier to get along.

Once establishing themselves in an occupation, however, parental concem changed to pride, especially where daughters were following in their father's footsteps. Despite local awareness of career opportunities, a bias is still prevalent amongst teachers and guidance counsellors regarding 'blue-collar' jobs, particularly so for women. Several women reponed being actively discouraged by school personnel and stafFat the local college from pursuing a career in TT0 with the Company. As a result. many women staned off on other career paths before finding their way back to employment in TTO;those who persevered initially and those who participated in CO-opprograms delivered jointly by educational institutions found they adapted more easily to the workplace. Similarly, attitudes of peers at a young age were a factor in delaying entry to TT0 work. Blue-collar bias, perception of physical demands of the job. and attitudes about femininity held or assumed to be held by peers often affected women's choice of career, and particularly affected their access to technical classes at the secondary school level. Many women cited peer pressure as steering them away fiom TT0 work until later in life. often even despite what they identified as earlier 'tomboy' tendencies. Many women expressed their family or partner's support as being crucial in their decision to enter TT0 employment; however, a significant number shared that often their partners were strongly opposed to their wives or girlfiends seeking work in the industry: My hsband told me that I could go arrd work on site on& when Hellfreezes over - well, the first winter I wus here the coke silo exploded and there was black snoiv for weeks - everywhere - it was minusforty and there were these h g e black ictcles hmging everywhere - and I thocight, so hell hasfiozen over! Many husbands were threatened by their wives' choice, pariicularly, it was felt, by the prospects

of their partners' independence, their relative eaming power, or by the male-dominated workplace environment:

My first hsband di& 't want me in the job, didn '1 want me to be beiter than him, di& 'Zwant me spending night shifls with ail the girys, but I set my goals a d awuy I went. I'm remarried now - it doem 't matter to him, I'm already iri the trade - he wozildti 't have had a say m~yways. Mentoring or support fiom other wornen was not a crucial factor for the majority of women in entering the workplace, other than as simply a 'way in' given the inroads women were making onsite. While the lack of such supports was seldom mentioned by women as a bamer to access. their initial isolation in the workplace and eariy lack of confidence could be mitigated by such support. One woman cited a CO-worker'sexpenence: Another HE0 [Heavy Equipment Operator] came irz urid was crying her eyes oiit orice a month. When I came on shij shr was hziggir~gme and cryitig, sayi~igshe was so giad to see me - shr didn 't even know me. She takes rverything to heart and is afraid to say things ... afraid they 're going to attack her or set her cip or make her look bad I told hcr !O corne see me -for S2O al1 hocir I'lIgive yoii bitch Zessoris.

A ccess: Personal Characteristics

Limiting self-perceptions about the physical demands of TT0 work or comprornising their femininity Sected many women at an earlier age; however. the fact that the women interviewed had overcome these perceptions, together with the social pressures discussed above, speak to their determination to succeed in a male-dominated workplace. Many, however, felt that they had to compromise their 'femininity'

- descnbed variously as being able to Wear make-up, talk about

'girl stuff, flirt with the guys, or dress in flattering clothing - somewhat to adapt to the workplace. Lack of confidence and assertiveness were major factors in the ability to enter TT0 work.

It not only afEected their self-perceptions about their competence. but afFected their acceptance by male CO-workersas well as access to skills training and informal leaming on the job. One woman described her initial fears:

I wanted to work outdoors, watited the challetige of ieaming new skilis, but I was reafiy nervozrs about whether I cozrld do the job. One of my major worries was what the guys wozrld think of a woman worhig in theirfield - how they wozrld treat me. I did some job shadowing to ser how they woiild accept me. Yoir really have to be aggressive - ifyou want to go into a trade yozr have to be really i~tterested:they 'II do it ailfor yoir ifyozr let them. Nov I like to say 'doyozr think I got my ticketjor my looks? '

The ability of the women i n t e ~ e w e dto persevere in their choice of career strongly affected their access to the kind of work they wanted to do. This was often motivated by pride, to show their family and fiends that they could do ir, and by retùsing to let their own fears get in their way. For a majority of wornen, however. it was the promise of a good saiary. independence. and job secunty that was the motivating factor:

"I had girlfien& workitig here in ~ioii-tradwho encoiiragrd me to appiy. I came here and worked iii the bar. and didti 't apply to the indtrstryfor two more years. I was intimidated by lion-ira4 I had a feur of heights,frar of the trnknowti - it 's szich linfamiliar tem'tory - to step into somethiiigyotr huven 't a clire aboirt frghtenirig. I felt completely helpless. But it 's a m i r i g what );ou 'II pzrt tip with for the money, to get what yozi want - the indepetidence to do what ymr waiu tu do with that money - it opens a lot of doors. "

Few women cited household management issues as barriers to their entry to TT0 employment; rather, these were issues for women working outside of the home in general, although less prevalent for younger women. Most of the women living with a partner or spouse indicated that the majority of household chores fell to themselves, and while this had not precluded them from entering the workplace it did raise concems about their ability to balance

paid work with their other responsibilities. Many of the women i n t e ~ e w e dwere single or divorced mothers; they ail cited the demands of shift work as a potential bamer to their participation, but also recognized that employment provided the opportunity for financial independence for them and their children.

Reîention: Career Information Access to career information, including interna1 training or skills upgrading availability as well as advancement opponunities. was identified as a factor influencing retention in the workplace. Many women cited a problem with communication and information at the Company. and perceived that information was oflen passed on via the 'old boys' network and that they were excluded from the loop. or had difficulty asserting themselves in order to obtain information necessary to their advancement. The career development process also raised obstacles to women's career advancement. As pointed out above. many women saw casual work or certain entry-level occupations as a 'foot in the door' and were committed to advancing given the opportunity and relevant information. At the same time. several others identified that it was ofien difficult to move out of an area or to move up into a new position. and that the processes were unclear or closely 'guarded' by those resistant to their advancement: I've been doing office dutyfor threr months because I was asked to be back-rcp for vacation, ilhess. and training. In rnyfirst year I p n t 60% of my time behind the desk and they wouiah 't let me out - I had tojight to get out. and it qffected my training in a big way. People expected me to know more thun I did. I was told I cou& 't get my test starts [a cornpetency criteria for heavy equipment operators] even though I k nw them becutcse I didn 't have enough time on the dorer, yet they still put me on the bucketwherl - it dorsn 't make s e m . and I havedt been abie to get to the next trainee [pay] levet where I should be by now.

An important source of information, directly or indirectly, was via other wornen working in the

Company. These women ofien serve as role models, illustrating by their example avenues for advancement or further skills development, and were cited by many women as "a way in" even though few felt that individual mentoring or suppon fiom other women was a factor.

Retention: Workplace Training/Skill Developrnent

A majority of the inte~eweesidentified the initial training and orientation process as

crucial to their successfùl transition to the workplace. ofien a very trying time: It mcked.

I hated goirtg in to work wheti lfirst came here - birt I had to. I tieeded the job. The training wus a rrightmare. I criedfor the first three months. !didti 't know what I was doirig - I felt completely helpless, utrd like I coiildrl 't talk to atiyorze.

Several, particularly in those areas where most of the skills training occurs on the job such as heavy equipment operation, identified a lack of adequate hands-on training as a bamier. Video training was viewed as iess relevant and less likely to contribute to the women's sense of confidence in her acquired skills, compounded by a lack of s u p e ~ s i o nand the tendency to be left on her own while training: Wheri I was on the bzrcket wheel traitiirrgfor the first time, you ir~~raliy have a team of three plus someone tu oversee the trainee - I hardy ever saw the fourth person. mey jirst relayed imtmctions over the radio on the ground - no opportunity to ask questions, and very fnrstratirg whm yoic 're Qing to learn.

Pro-active training programs such as Bridges or Co-op were perceived to be much more successful at instiliing the confidence as well as the cornpetence required at the outset. An important observation was the need to be prepared for the attitudes prevalent in the workplace with several women citing the importance of learning various strategies to deal with the

workplace culture, particularly wit h regards to skills acquisition and leamhg styles. An initial 'testing' period by CO-workers,while mainly related to workplace interactions discussed below, was strongly linked to skills training. Women identified that their level of technical and physical competence was crucial to their being accepted in the job. Barriers to training and education explored above emphasized the gap between men and women coming onto the job site, and suggest that women start out with considerably less acquired technicai competence, again particularly in those areas where on-thejob training is the main source of skills training. Women perceived that they were also judged much more harshly for their lack of technicai cornpetence. compounding the problem of initial disadvantages in hands-on, technical skills. Women identified that it was much easier to prove oneself in technical areas, which were based on logic and communication, versus areas where teamwork was more important in getting the job done and where the dominant male culture led to certain 'testing' behaviour or isolation. They noted that while untrained men may face the same challenges re acquiring technical competence, they can 'brazen it out' better and are more likely to be given the benefit of the doubt. Women have to 'prove' thernseives repeatedly, a theme mentioned by almost al1 of the women. Several cited instances of being tested or forced to needlessly prove oneself

Umalk'y two men change out a grease barrel together in pairs - they 're a cotq~fe of hcnaked puun&. i was told to go clown and change them myself; while they were icp there laughhg unfilyou proved yotcrself - my boss, ncpentisor, and a couple of other workers refised tu heip me, jiist stood and laughed ai me. Others responded that you have to be younelf and not try to prove anything in terms of physical strength, but rather rely on technical competence and different ways of doing things:

I had one guy where you cozcld do a job with an eight pound sledgehamrner ... where he wmld like to go and get a 20 pmnd h m m e r - und I said 'go ahead und

lise a 20 pozrnder and while yozi 're nt the tool crib pick me rip an eight polinder. ' They 'd rather use their muscles than their head A majority of women indicated the strong influence of team dynamics on the learning environment. Supports or hints fiom CO-workerswere crucial to acquiring skills and to working together as a team, so interpersonal barriers to team work or exclusionary behaviour by the team compounded barriers to skills development. The women also relied on the ability of the trainer to be a teacher, not just someone with experience. and cited many difficulties with inadequate instruction and supervision during the training process: The experienced guys ivho have bee?~nitrr~itlgthe rqtiipmentfor yeurs gel fR1strczted und yell at you - they might be teliing yozi something blit you 're hearing something else. Yotijtrst have to mriddle yozir wuy throzigh it ort your OWtJ,

-The p y who had to trai~lme ivas a?]assholr. He warited me gone - he told the others there was no wuy any pmsy was gotrrg to stuy on his quad. Weil and I 'm still here - he 'sgone. A strong reliance on CO-workersfor informal leaming and access to on-going training and

upgrading was found to pose bamers for women when the workplace culture kept women isolated. Women identified that they had to be more assertive and better able to speak up in order to get fùrther, even to simply acquire needed information. Those who complete a trade were generally perceived to be more assertive and confident, as well as judged on a more equal basis by CO-workers,as discussed above regarding technical competence. The lack of clear understanding about the career development process compounded the bamers to accessing learning whether from trainers, supervisors, or team members. Several wornen expressed disappointment that they hadn't been able to advance as quickly as they had hoped, pointing to this lack of clear processes and workplaces practices that facilitated learning. Some cited that circumstances leading them to

work for certain penods in the office, whether for health reasons or as the result of a transfer or

filling in for someone else, often resulted in ineligibility for funher training or advancement opportunities, where they were required to have a certain level of 'hands-on' expenence.

Retention: Workplace ConditiondCorporatePolicy

Many women cited the working conditions as providing an on-going challenge to their full participation in T T 0 employment. Shifk work and overtime in particular were identified as being hard on their families. on their bodies. and on their sense of well-being: FYomen don 't take care of lhrmselves 011shijtwork - we don 't eat wrlf,b z ~ozrr t asses on the job, and then go home and do ail îhe work ihere. I rzever seem tu catch up on my sleep.

Several women indicated a reluctance to work overtime with strangers or on the night shift, in unfamiliar surroundings or with a different team. This was perceived to potentially limit their advancement, as opportunities for skills development typically arose from taking on overtime. Several women discussed their perception that it was easier to get onto a better shift or put on day shift in the shop, for instance, if you were male. and that women had to fight harder for the same accommodation. Barriers in the physical nature of the work were raised by some women who acknowledged the difficulty of tackling some of the heavier duties. OAen it was due to their reluctance to ask a male CO-workerfor help, with the pressure to prove themselves capable and with the prospect of being teased or judged not 'up to the job.' Others noted they often were assigned tasks needing a srnall person to fit into a tight space, or able to reach a m u r e with a tool awkward for a larger person, and overcarne their reluctance to ask for help, recognizing that they had daerent ways of doing things:

I had trouble operaring a valve so I told this mir guy who was ahays teari,ig me

about not being strong entnigh, that I had a job for him. that it was something I needed a man to do because it repired bnïte strength and absolirtely no intelligence.

The majority of women, however. cited that physical strength was not a bamer. and in fact had been surprised at their own ability to cany out al1 the work tasks. Women did cite barriers in the physical design of the workplace and the equipment, however, ranging kom poorly fitting equipment and clothing to locations of on-site facilities. For the most part, those wornen who had been working at the Company the Iongest identified changes to equipment design and fit that had met their needs and improved their ability to cany out their jobs. but several felt that there weren't enough facilities for women. or that shared facilities were unable to be locked or were unclean. Women operating equipment in the mine in particular indicated that expectations of supewisors regarding the work Pace and allowable breaks often didn't meet their needs. particularly with regard to ferninine hygiene:

My periods got a lot heavier a f i r I started drivirzg the trucks - I needed a iut more bathroom breaks. It 's hard oiz yoiir body, takrs it toll. No one rver t a b about ir orit here. Firzuily I got a hysterecromyfor cotwerzience 'ssake - I 'm pretty sure I don 't want kih arzpay. Several cited health problems as a result. discussed further below:

I kept getting bludder infectiorzs, becmise of ail the bolrncirrg in the truck, and I hated to stop cven to go pee. The trucks ahuays have to go go go - yozr carz never stop. My immediate mpervisor was very hard on me . . . My doctor told me to drink more cranbeny jsice, thett I 'd be stoppitg more than ever. The giys jiist go off the side. Atzd 1have to see if! Corporate policies and workplace practices affecting organizationd structure were identified as contributing to bamers for women. Several women identified that changes in supervisory roles and the delegation of decision-making to teams had in many cases led to difficulty in asserting their voices and needs. Communication with an entire group was often

found to be more threatening than communication one on one with a supportive supervisor or team member. The flattening of the organization thus was seen to have some potential negative impacts on women, particularly those who were new on the job, were isolated due to team dynamics, or who were lacking confidence. Sirnilarly, barriers were identified due to differences in how men and women were perceived to cornmunicate and often compounded by the systems or practices in place. This problem was greater for those women fiorn diverse cultural backgrounds whose comfort level with certain communication styles was different From other CO-workers.Delegating tasks and assertiveness in requesting direction or additional responsibilities were potentially difficult areas for some women. An Aboriginal woman pointed out: Natives have a d~fferetitccrlicrre, a d~flerentway of commtinicatiiig, thai comes across as crnerrthsiastic or somethirig. Especiah'y the women Their modtsty mearrs they won 't promote their abilities, or &hi to prove rhemselves. They don't show the same kind of initiative that everyotte exprcts out hue. It makes i f hard in evaltraiions or ob] competitioiis.

Several women cited the need for some form of communication or support system for women. including mentoring opportunities. Mentoring relationships did develop through alternative programrning such as Bridges or formal job-shadowing arrangements, which were found to facilitate women's participation and retention, leading to new skills development, increased confidence. increased awareness of career opportunities, and advancement opportunities. Perceptions that such prograrns were equated with lesser ability, however, offset the advantages, such that women could potentially be viewed as 'tokens' or as receiving 'speciai treatment'. which could ultimately undermine their credibility and that of the program. This was especially noted for abonginal women, who often deait with perceptuai barriers regarding their competence:

There 's an attitude that the company is desperate to@d enmrgh qtralified natives, and the perception is that they dori 'i have the sktlls. Its worse for women there 's the ass~rnptionihat they 're dumb, und a real unspoken hostility about the hiring issue, abotri special programs. ifsjtist a s1ereotypc, and it isn 't mie. Zhere 's no dferertce in thtir qtrulz~catiorzs.

Policies dealing with family responsibilities and health issues were raised by many women who identified barriers in issues such as accommodations regarding their reproductive health, childcare support, and scheduling of shifis for parents: blyjob was threatet1t.d whiie I wus off on rehab. I had to have a hysierectomy. and my famiij docior woirld have had to sipr LI paper say@ I was 'disabled ' Personally. I think ir was a12 exalse to grt rid of me - my supervisor didn 't like working with women. He thozight I wasfuking my hralfhproblems. My doctor told the company to go to Iieli. anci i got two-thirds wages while 1 wrni hack to school. I 'm siill irying to get back out, if they cujr fttid me a positio~i. Severai women cited the need for company support in accessing childcare, clairning that there were no formal childcare options in the community that accornmodated shiftwork. One option. aside from private care. was to work an opposite shift from partnen. Other women wanted to be able to work the same shifi as their partners, so that they would have time off together. Many women cited that it was often difficuit arranging changes to shifl schedules. especially if they were trying to move to a day shift from a night shift. A final issue relating to workplace conditions and policies was the effectiveness of the

grievance process. While many women had relied on their access to Employee Relations to solve disputes or lodge cornplaints against CO-workersor supervisors. the consequences associated weth taking formai action were cited by several women as bamers to their acceptance. Lack of confidentidity, the backiash experienced by women who had brought cornplaints such as sexual harassrnent fonvard. and the general rnistrust of the process by CO-workersresulted in the system often being used ineffectively. Several women had expenenced a backlash effect from CO-workers,

compounded by confidential information being leaked:

Syncrude has a good system set irp - ER - but ifyoir use ir yoir gel lubelled as a trouble-maker - you 're history. i t 's like you 're rattittg on somrone, at?dno one s ~ ~ ~ t s yagazn. o z r The whole team shtitsyot( otit, rven ifsome of the g q ~ thozrght yoir were right. Lots of women have brrti transferred off iheir tearns afler using ER - but no other teams want them either. Word gels oirt. Retention: Community/Workplace Relations Barriers and opportunities to working in TT0 are shaped by the social noms of the comrnunity, as discussed above regarding access to the workplace. Women generally felt their career choices were supponed by the larger community. and once working for the industry they became pan of other 'communities' that revolved around the workplace where wornen's presence is more visible and becoming more accepted. For some wornen. however, especially those with partners who did not work in the industry or whose close fnends lived out of town, it was more difficult to 'fit in' and find acceptance with their community:

My ht(sbmd'sCO-workersdid,t 't irnderstatid it ivas a real shock to uitr frirttds that I 'm doing this - they dott 't irr~dersrandwhy. My frie!idshzps have had to change, especialiy becaim I 'mworhttg shgt. i don 't have the samr close frirnctc. anymore. On my days offI bwy myseybt my book and tirver go oiit. Many women with young children also felt they were not meeting community expectations regarding their farnily and domestic responsibilities. not oniy from other wives and mothers. but even within the workplace where they were ofien subject to criticism about being away from their children for twelve hour shifis or not being at home to make dinner for their husbands. Aside from the burden of their family responsibilities, discussed further below, these women felt the pressure of cornmunity expectations which in turn hampered their social relationships. Social life was constrained for many women employed in TT0 work due partly to the working conditions and the realities imposed on their lives with changing shifts. Involvement in

sports and recreational activities was cornmon, but were often shaped by work relationships, especially with tearn sports, which tended to be male-domiiiated . And t heir increased participation in the workforce and growing acceptance is not reflected in the inclusion of women in the social Life that revolves around CO-workersand teams:

If the boys are tatking about goit~goui for

I thitrk it 's becatrse their wives wotr 't irrrderstard I definitelyfeel excluded A t d these are my buddies - I 've worked with themfor years! n Jrink. thry worr 't irrvite me.

One of the bamers to community life experienced by many women was the responses of their COworkers' wives who felt threatened by the fact that their panner or spouse worked with wornen. This was manifest in social gatherings as well as in everyday life in the community. where fnendships at work could not be easily sustained outside of work for fear of repercussions from

['II see some grys Jowt~towtiwith their wives md they wotft taIk io me - trot rvrtr say 'Hi '! The wives gel jealoirs becairse we 're workzrrg twelve hoirr shrfrs f ogether. At a company barbeque i 'II go and tatk tu the boys arld the wivrs are really cold one eveli looked me over and said to the others 'I thoughr she wm reallyfat and irgly! ' - that 's what her hisba~ldhad told her. Workplace culture accounted for the majority of identified bamers for women working in

TT0 occupations. Aimost everyone interviewed raised the issue of adapting to a different culture: We 're still in a man 5: worid It 's their errvironmerrt - that 's the way it 's berrzfor twenty years. Whal am I goitrg to say, 'change il? ' Ifir in Iike one of the p y s .

It S iridirstriuf langtiage - it 's mrpvhere artci everywhere yoti go. Many women pointed out, and as 1 observed, the 'culture' differed from area to area, tearn to team, and occupation to occupation. Many women working as equipment operators, for instance, would change tearns to encounter a very different environment with regards to supervisory expectations, training delivery and workplace practices. Others observed differences in how the

culture varied according to the occupational Ievels represented in each area, as noted earlier with the higher 'status' or credibility accorded technical workers who had attained a higher educational level. Other differences were noted with regard to working primanly on one's own, versus a team environment, or being relatively mobile on the job and fiequently working with diRerent people. Workplace culture was based largely, however, on interactions between CO-workersand the accumulated history of team dynarnics, including the extent of women's participation. Several women identified their treatment by supervisors as potential bamers to their retention. They cited high expectations for female employees. a low tolerance for mistakes compared to male CO-workers,being treated differently by the boss, and communication styles. discussed earlier, as being issues:

I felt singied out by my boss. He Iimited me to one piece of eqiripment. gave me bad evaizmtiorn, tried everythitlg he coziid to grt rid of me. Luter he wns trans$erred atd a nrw boss came 111. I 've haci no pro hiems sirrr - my rrew boss said 'I biow now it wasli 't you. ' Interactions with CO-workerswas judged to be one of the single rnost challenging bamers to women's participation in TT0 work. Difficulties ranged fiom social isolation on the job to being constantly 'tested' by CO-workers.

My ftrsf day or1 thejob they gave me a siedgrhammer und toid me to break rip this 400 pound biock of ceme~it.I thozight it was part of the job, and look ir serioiisly. Then I reaiked they were ail standing around and watching me, fmrghing their heaak O# I was so mad I didn 't stop wttxl it vas biisted into a hzirlcired pieces. Women found that their credibility was never a given, but that they had to prove not only their cornpetence repeatedly, as discussed earlier, but also their ability to accept teasing. OAen this behaviour was felt to be more threatening, including being set up to fail or concerted efforts to ernbarrass or humiliate. Almost al1 of the women interviewed had experienced some degree of hostility or resentment on the part of male CO-workers,with the result that almost no one felt

initially welcorne on the job by al1 of their CO-workers,which in tum effectively prevented them from becorning 'one of the team': Apparently they were told by the boss before I started tu take down all the [poster] girls and not tu swrar irifront of me. Of cowse. their attitude was therr k e don? want this person ozif here - we doti 't want to have to change - eighty girys -for one woman ' - their backs were rip before I çven got otlt there.

This behaviour was generally perceived as resulting fiom the sexism of the workplace culture. the tearn dynamics. and frorn resentment of women's advances. particularly what they perceived as 'special treatment' through alternative programming or diversity targets:

I feel resetitmetit becmise I 'mriative, especiallyfrom some of the oider met]who feel their chiIdrett are missitig oiii or1jobs. I duri 't take it persmially - its directed towards riative people iti geiieral. Biit whe~iother natives scrm rip. it 's tioticed, and it makes it hurderfor me. Severai women pointed out that some men. especially the older ones or ones with less education or training, felt threatened with women's ability to cany out their jobs: A loi of men zip hem - this is thrir Iivelihuoci - everything deperidv on it. They live beyund their meam, have Iess education, car1 't do arzything else. IY;heti he S harassing yoir, what he 's suying is 'this is my job atd I cari do it wrll - yoic may not be able to do ii as welf, but yori cati do it - andyoii ca~ido a loi of other thirigs and I 'mthreatened by zhat becairse I can 't do miythirig else.

In many cases, CO-workers'behaviour was part of the Iarger team dynamics and could be traced to the team's pnor experience with other female employees. If the team had worked with a 'trouble-maker' previously they were reluctant to give the next woman the benefit of the doubt and were perceived as having theu 'backs up' even before a woman arrived on the team. K on the

other hand, a fernale predecessor had proven herself competent. while there was more acceptance for a new woman on the team, there were inevitable cornparisons to her predecessor. Thus, women were not able to relate with male CO-workerson their own ternis but were highly visible, representative, and rarely able to be simply mediocre or anonyrnous. Much of this behaviour was

blamed on the dominant workplace culture, unused to a female presence in the industry and especialiy in male-dominated occupations; attempts were made to typie male behaviour much in the way that men typically assigned women a role that they may or may not have chosen to play. Their observations thus resulted in revealing dichotomies: older men were the problem - set in their ways, threatened by women's progress. and resistant to change; older men were not a problem - helpful and chivalrous, if a little patronizing; young men were accepting, given that the majority of their wives worked; younger men were the most resentful because women were 'stealing' their jobs. Women's attitudes towards and perceptions of other women on the job also ranged widely. Several indicated that women attempting to 'change' the workplace culture were asking for trouble. Others perceived that a cntical mass of women in the workplace wouid start to affect the dominant culture. Those who had been working with the Company the longest had in fact observed that things had changed, due to both the growing number of women and changes in corporate policy and suppon for women. Newer women saw other women's presence as contributing to their own acceptance on the team. and relied on their advice and support. but often didn't appreciate the bamers more experienced women had faced. Older women often were a source of resistance, feeling that they had to fight hard to be accepted and resented things being relatively easier for young women, and that they had lost some of their own status in the process. But they also were willing to help other women:

Girls look afier the girls. I'd hdp ariother girl îwice as rntrch as I 'dhelp another guy. I I ' muke sure she tit~derstooci.where I rnight just teil a giy.

Many women felt that other women undermined their own success, a result of every woman being judged according to the rnerits or shortcornings of the entire sex, and often retlecting sexual

stereotypes. Several of the women identified Yoles' that men assigned to other women that confirmed expectations of their sexuality, such as the 'flirt' or the 'tramp', the nurtunng 'mother', the 'sister' or 'one of the guys'. Women who resisted cultural stereotyping and challenged the dominant male behaviour were perceived as 'trouble-makers' or 'feminists'. It was pointed out that not only did women become slotted into these roles, but often actively chose to play them, as a way of adapting to male expectations or of 'fitting in'. Several women were critical of other women choosing to adapt certain roles: She 'smch a tramp - it gives the rest of lis a had ilame. The grys are always asking me when I Zn goitig to p~rtoirt - like I have to tu get aheud, or like its inevitable. Whenyotr 're ~reatedjrst like one of the p y s yoii [ose out - [ose some of yoirr femininity. And the gtrys dori 't respect yotr. either. Even ifyoir think yozr have that rapport with them - yoir m w r really do. ntey let yozr i>i5.0 fur htrt wheherr somethirig goas wrorlg they don 't sturrd zrpjor yotr. As mentioned above. most women generally felt that their CO-workersheld higher

expectations for women: that they could not be simply 'mediocre' in their jobs. let alone get away with abusing the system.And while many male CO-workersreacted with distance or 'testing' behaviour in an attempt to make the women prove themselves. others were perceived as trying to do their work for them in a misguided attempt to be chivalrous, which proved to be patronking for the women. On the other hand, many women cited lower expectations on the part of men regarding their abilities. and oflen derived from perceptions about 'special treatment' or 'token

hiring' reducing the level of competency required on the job. One woman cited the expectation of her new CO-workersthat she would not make it through the training:

mer1 I sturted driving trzicks the guys made wagers on me that I w m 1 't going to make it - I fotcnd ozrtfrom [my trainer] abozrt the bels, and that he made a lot of money - I war never SI^ whethrr he just had a lot offath fi1 me or had a lot of money in it.

Several women cited that men were ofien unable to take women's contributions seriously, ofien out of a sense that the woman's income was secondary to her household and thus her work not as valuable or as important to her. Many women experienced social and physical isolation in the workplace. not only on the

job but at break times and meals. Most women claimed feeling that they were essentially 'on their own', a perception noted with regards to access to training and support, discussed above. as well as in everyday communication and socialkation. Several pointed out the need for 'women's space'. citing the benefits they got from being able to 'hang out with the girls' during breaks: Female space is very importmt. We need to get together ami talk abozit girl stiiff I 'm sick of lisfeni~~g to stories about fzshirlg. or grrtting n moose. I need sonteone to talk to abozit my babies.

I observed this first-hand one night. when breaking for lunch in the middle of a twelve hour shifl. Several wornen from different areas got together in the women's locker room to eat. and the camaraderie and openness between the women was a complete change fiorn the interactions with the men. There were eight wornen, dirty and exhausted at four AM, with their coveralls rolled up and their work boots up on the table, comparing leg waxing and shaving techniques. But the majority of women didn't work witli any others. or worked in areas or on equipment where they were isolated from other wornen. Here women also expressed, if not the possibility to share space together, the need for fernale fnends who understood what they faced in their work. and with whom they could be themselves: m e job makes it dzflcult to relate to rny friertds - not a lot of thern do this hrid of work. Sometirnes il rnakes me feel a little less of a wornmr with my dirty nails mid 110nice clothes. Ifyourfrirrirlr cari'; iincirrstartd what yozi do. how car1 I taik to them abozit it?

Socialkation that took place outside work hours usually excluded wornen, as discussed above,

but occasiondy was extended to some women, much to their surprise:

Afer being otit here for three years I still cari 't call irp arzy of the p y s [O go out for a beer - they 'II think I 'm hot for them or somethirzg. I had o had d q and talked to one gziy on the bzis mi the way home abmit it ard luter that night he called me and invitrd me out with him ard a couple of other guysfor a drink. I coiild tell he wasjtîst beingfrierzdly and I wasfToored I think I even thanked him. I thoirght that was cool -jzist that one tirne.

Knowledge denial was another barrier arising from social relations in the workplace. As pointed out above, women were fiequently not provided with the informa1 hints or help fiom COworkers which were an important pan of learning the job as well as fitting into the team. whether

in a deliberate attempt to isolate and deny access to power. out of intimidation or awkwardness. or out of fear being threatened with harassrnent charges. Several women noted this in particular, citing that stories from other teams. together with ili-informed interpretations of the company's anti-harassrnent policies. often led to their CO-workersbeing afraid to get too close or to provide too much help to women. especially those new to the team. Teasing or joking was an accepted pan of the workplace culture, however many women

felt uncomfonable with the nature of the joking if it was sexual or degrading to women. or directed personally at them. Many felt that the teasing masked hostility or resentment. which was focused on them through humour shared between their male CO-workersand intended to 'put them in their place':

I was havittg a bad day. and the p y s teased me abolit beitig 011 the rag. I cati take most of the trasing, but that 's a little roo persortulfor me. I ended iip crying on the loader - no one saw but I fold [a coworker] abozif it - big mistake. He told everyone and they still tease rnme about ît. No more m s t there. Almost al1 women recounted experiencing some f o m of hostility or resentment expressed towards them, often taking more overt forms as discussed below and including spreading mrnours

about women's personal relationships, contacting spouses with suspicions of infidelity. and conveying threatening messages: ntere is one gziy or2 my shifi that IfitzaIly found afrer a year - we became best bu& - he realiy helped me, msrered my qtîestior~s.irnmadiately it w a s that I was screwing him - al2 the gnys thozight that - I don 't understand why. Jealousy? We fcnigh, we joke, he ahvnys heiped me - the otily one. Someorie sent an moriymoirs Ietter to his wrfe t e l h g her I was a snake arid that we werr spemiing the whofe night shvt together in the truck - we ufI got together and talked about if - she 's my friettd, too - but I wasfloored hy it. so much hote - artd I stifl dot2't h o w who did it.

Several women reported being physically intimidated at some point. ranging fiom verbal threats to domination and aggression, and usually as part of an escalating pattern of abuse. One woman had put up with a CO-worker'steasing and rough-housing, including incidents of being shoved into othen or tripped when canying heavy tools. until it became more threatening, with him suggesting that she should request a transfer if she couldn't 'take it'. When she was assigned to patrols with him alone in a vehicle, sometimes dunng night shifis, he played on her fears, sometimes leaving her alone out on site or putting her in dangerous situations. Others had experienced CO-workersputting foreign objects in their dnnks when they were out of sight (inciuding one team member dipping his penis into her drink), and practicai jokes that involved fnghtening women. using physical strength to intimidate or restrain, or setting women up to h m themselves with equipment. Harassment by men in the workplace culminated in sexual harassrnent or abuse reported by several women, often with severe results to the well-being of the women. Women claimed being verbdly harassed over the radio in front of others, by members of their team when they were out of hearing or sight, and being intentionally subjected to pomogmphic materials: One time this gcry pit on this tape and it w m disgzisting. I tried to ignore it but he kepr tuming the volume iip zintif I got iip and fef. Another tirne I heard sex noises

over the radio - they pied tu preterzd it was corningfrom me.

Almost al1 of the women reported that if they were single. or when they had been. they endured constant ovemires by male CO-workers.Some found afier being divorced these escalated, because they were suddenly 'available'. Many women had experienced corne-ons in uncornfortable situations, such as alone at night with individual CO-workers,or when shanng a vehicle with a tearn rnember. Their sex lives were open to comment. fnendships with men always led to speculation about a relationship. and relationships were risky undenakings: You 're constant& doittg somrom out hem. Yoir h m to he marrieci to br snfe. I'm now seeing a griy I work with. ami if ii rver got oirt I il be rtiined. ICI have to start fightbrg off ail the others afl over aguit~.I'd lose a loi of respect atrd I wotrldri 't be one of the giiys anymore - the btrti of evrryotze 'sjokrs. Y021

couid never be open& gay in thisjob. They wotrfdcnrcrfy yoir.

Retention: Individual Respomes An important part of women's ability to respond to the barriers they encountered were the

team dynamics. As suggested. women largely felt on their own with interpersonal difficulties. and in any case generally preferred not to be 'singled out' if they were having a problem. They usually

claimed that interpersonal problems were best dealt with by handling them on their own. It was widely reponed that "the guys won't stand up for you in Front of the others" out of allegiance or of not wanting to get caught in the middle. A lack of trust in her CO-workers,hurt at not being protected by tearn mernbers, and anger and bittemess at having rheir fears dismissed or having the men 'close ranks' to protea one of their own were al1 expressed. On the other hand, women reported that personality clashes would becorne arnplified if male CO-workerswere too intimidated to attempt to address them through humour or support in the way they rnight with other men.

Women also reported that once pegged or if one made a mistake in responding in a certain way. it took a very long time to recover and regain the trust of CO-workers.But the general response was that it was difficult to address issues on an individual basis - they had to deal with the whole team,

and work within the particular culture of the team. Women's persona1 characteristics determined their responses to the baniers they encountered, with varying degrees of success. The best response to personal conflict cited by most wornen was one of humour, while setting limits as to what they would or would not let pass. Several claimed it was necessary to respond in kind to the joking and teasing: When they start with the rmmchyjokes I corne bock with somr of rny owti. Like M y is a man like litmleirrn - because ifyou lay it right the first fime yoii can walk al1 over it the rest ofyoiir Ive' - they didti 't mech likr that. but I have lots more.

Many claimed it was necessary to be aggressive to be able to acquire the needed skills and confidence: You have to be really piishy - they 'd rnove rn frottt of yoii atd do it themselves otherwise - eveti take the tool right ozrt ofymir hnd. Others changed their penonalities to fit in. or to avoid being singled out. especially given the dominant culture and their sense that they wouldn't be accepted for themselves: To 6e really honest with you I 'm tiot myseyhere at all. They d m 't see who I am I don 'tjoke aroiind, I sit pietfy. It 's not rny choice, it S Iearrred behavioicr. rny comfort level. They woirld tiever accept a Irsbiart.

Many women reported that dealing with problems face-to-face was preferable. rather than reporting difficulties or making a scene in front of the whole tearn. But several cited their discodort at confionting problems:

I tried once to confont someone otrean-otw a d it didi 't work. i spoke with rny supervisor and he uked the guy to lay offme. If's not so rnzrch having someone else fight my battles - but I reaiize I 'mjzrst not cornfortable in having n confrontation with someone. But it has to be reallj bad or bzfgme for three days

before I 'll go to my nrpervisor. Almost al1 women reported feeling wlnerable at the outset, which changed over time as they 'toughened up'. The sense that women needed to develop a thick skin, become more assertive, and deal with men on their own tems was a consistent message, and boiled down to two maxims or responses: to never let them know they get to you, and to dish it back as good as you get. Coping strategies were vanous, and included the 'roles' discussed above. singly or at difEerent times with different people, and were effective to varying degrees depending on the situation. But ovenvhelmingly, women said that it was difficult to be themselves. that they were always adopting a persona of some kind on the job:

I feel like I huve to go throrrgh a trmsition rvery time I go to work. Who I am at home and who I am at work is completdy differtr~~t. Women also fiequently represented themselves as the 'old guard' who were protective of their earned stripes, as fighters who had suffered and become somewhat disillusioned and bitter. or as those who had entered fairly recently and who didn't perceive any bamers at all. Many of the younger women who were just beginning their careers in TTO,for instance, perceived fewer barriers to their integration into the workplace culture. ofien as a result of the women who had gone before them or the increasing awareness of diversity and the effects of the training carried out by the Company which aEected different teams and diflerent areas as noted above. Their denial of barriers, however. more often reflected a lack of expenence in the workplace, and while older women entering for the first tirne anticipated more difficulties, young women tended to have confidence in their abilities and their choices and lacked insight into barriers to women's employment in general. While the adoption of roles identified above, whether consciously or unconsciously,

sometimes contributed to divisiveness arnongst women, the importance of supportive relationships with other women in the workplace was recognized by most. While a few women dismissed the support of other women as irrelevant, most women cited the suppon or mentoring of other women as crucial to their well-being. Sharing stones and jokes, bonding with individual women who shared similar experiences, and establishing on-going relationships with mentors were al1 cited as coping strategies that drew on networks of support. This was especially imponant as

many women noted that their fiiendships had changed since beginning their careers in TTO.

Retention:

Family and Health

Similar to issues for women's access. the responsibilities women had towards their family members affected their participation in TT0 work. Parenting in panicular was identified as a challenge for those working shifts and weekends. or feeling tired after several long days of work: My first JO b is I 'm a mothrr. My secund is a mil~wright.I work twrnty-fot~rhoirrs a day. My hwband will corne home ar~dkick his boots ofjarxi relax. . . whrn I come home !'II make supper, do the lato~dry,get the kius lo hcd, pack the funches...

Lack of adequate childcare facilities in the community also presented an obstacle, and most relied on in-home caregivers for their childcare needs. Partners' or spouses' shift schedules also presented problems, both with meeting childcare needs or with tirne for relationships. Relationship stress was also expressed by many women, with several claiming that their mamages had ended as a result: It would have beelr an e&r iramition oti him if hr had berri a tradespersott too he had d~fficultieswith the image of me as a truck driver. and didn 't like my shifft schedttle, the fact that I was ne ver home to make hirn ditaler. Maybe r ven because I made more money than him.

Whether due to their new independence, the demands of the job, the threat of infidelity due to

long penods alone or close relationships at work, or the way that their work experiences had aKeaed thern, changing their own self-perceptions, many women reponed their relationships suffering as a result:

My husband is threatened by my working with men, he 'il sny 'stay home, don 't work with those men arymore :It was a big scary tirne when I s t a ~ e here. d He works su if1 lose my job I 'II have a backup birr ['II lose my in~dependence.He totaliy supports me beitg ai home - prefers it - bttt m w we have a îwo-irlcome [festyle, so it wottld be a big adjirstmer~t. Several women expressed health concems stemming from the physical demands of the job. Injuries were reported as ofken due to over-compensating on the job for physical limitations or in trying to 'prove' oneself. often with male CO-worker'slack of support or 'testing' behaviour cornpounding the potential for injury. Several women cited reproductive health concems, and had chosen to undergo stenlization procedures due to chronic problems and to avoid problems with pregnancies, a decision ofien made in combination with the demands of parenting indicated above. Two of the women inte~ewedindicated that they had chosen to have hysterectomies carried out to relieve symptoms such as heavy menstrual bleeding and chronic pain. which they perceived were related to working conditions and related problems with pelvic inflammatory disease. bladder infections, etc. Women who had been injured and had taken time off reported in several instances that a lack of understanding of women's health problems. or the impact of the particular environment on them, contnbuted to misunderstanding and conflict with supervisors and health care practitioners.

5.5

Conclusions The issues identified above refiect the myriad factors affecting women's access and

retention in the oil sands industry in Fort McMurray. Separated by categories that reflect

women's progression from accessing career information to adapting to the workplace culture. the presentation of barriers and opportunities attempts to map out the impact of the community, family, educators, employers. and CO-workerson women's employment experience. as weil as the individual's response to her experience. Reviewing issues relating to 'access' separately from those relating to 'retention' allows for the identification of strategies and interventions fiom the perspective of different stakeholders, which follows in the next chapter with the discussion of recomrnendations. But pnor to addressing solutions for women's integration into TT0 employment in northem cornmunities, these factors are discussed in the context of the findings fiom the literanire review. Thus, the barriers to access and retention are analyzed wirh regards to both their materiai/structural and their sociaVindividua1 aspects. which rnediate between the supply of and the demand for female labour in northern communities.

CHAPTER 6

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The process of employment planning for women in resource development communities is informed by the findings of the literature review in Chapters 3 and 4, drawing from ferninia theoretical concems with women's experiences of marginalization as well as fiom various sources detailing the particular factors afTecting supply and demand of female labour within the context of a northern community. In an attempt to reconcile these various approaches, and acknowledging the scarcity of relevant matenal specific to women employed in TT0 work within resource extraction industries in northem locales, 1 propose that such a process should include the following areas of inquiry: the range of factors influencing women's access and retention in the workforce of the dominant industry how these are differentiated by their relation to labour supply and to industry demand for female labour how these are manifested in matenal and social barriers to participation how these bamiers are mediated and interact within the context of location the diversity of individual responses to barriers and opportunities the identification of issues for funher exploration the identification of areas and focal points for possible intervention the potential to build on industry practices which may facilitate access and retention the development of policy responses to syaernic barriers. The conclusion of this research aims to address these areas, beginning with a discussion of the

main factors and issues afTecting women's labour market participation in northern resource communities. These are addressed fiom the perspective of supply and demand discussed in Chapter 3, in order to differentiate interventions by industry fiom those developed or implemented at a community level. Similarly, material or structural factors are separated fiom those derived

largely fiom social or individual causes, with a view to identifying interventions that cm address specific material baniers and potentialiy influence social constraints over time. Both factors related to supply and demand, as well as those reflecting structural or individual baniers, are mediated by the particular context of comrnunity, as represented in Figure 2, which on one hand may limit the possibility for intervention but on the other helps to isolate and define the problem. Imponant to note is the diversity of women's responses to their marginalization; this warrants particular consideration as to my findings, where the congmence of women's expenences in the workplace is distinguished From the experiences of certain oppressed groups in particular, and points toward issues for further exploration before consideration can be given to potential strategies for removing bamiers. Interventions, in order to be successful, must address both women's practical and strategic needs, taking into account these direrential needs and how responses. whether passive or active, rnay impact differently on specific groups. The discussion concludes with the identification of areas for potential intervention. including strategies at the level of the workplace or comrnunity already demonstrating some success, as well as policy responses which go beyond practical efforts to reduce the impact of barriers in attempt to remove barriers altogether. Finally 1 identify areas for further inquiry, retuming to ferninist theoretical concerns about the nature of 'knowledge', the diversity of women's experiences, and the centrality of advocating for the improvement of women's status which a ferninist approach entails.

6.1

Women, Work, Place The recognition of the relationship among people, the work they do, and the place they

live is central to cornrnunity planning. The following analysis of factors pertaining to women's

Figure 2.

Women, Work, Place: Factors Afiecting Supply and Demrnd Li. Feniale Labour in Northem Resource Communities

PLACE Geographic Location Career InformationlRole Models Education/Technical Skilis Entryfïraining Prograrns Accommodations/Special Needs FamilyIDomestic Responsibilities

Material / Structural

ErnploymenUAdvancement Opportunities CommunicationIlnforrnationlRole Models * Recwitment/DevelopmentProcess Corporate Diversity PoliciesIPrograms TraininglSkills Developrnent Workplace ConditionsIStructureslPractices

(Demand)

Social 1 Individual Workplace Culture Social Isolation/Expectations SupervisorlCo-Worker Relations JOking/HostilitylHarassment/Abuse Persona! CharacteristicslStrategies Support Networks

Community Noms EducationlParent Attitudes FamilyIPeer Support MentoringIFernate SuppoR Self-perceptionslidentity ConfidenceIDetermination

SPACE

access and retention in the workforce of the oil sands industry in Fort McMurray is conducted within the framework illustrated in Figure 2. 'Women', as both subject and object of the study, represent women employed in trades, technology or operations work within the Company, or the 'supply' of female labour to the industry. 'Work' represents the aspects of the industry that impact on wornen's expenences in TT0 occupations, or the 'demand' of industry for women's labour. Both supply and demand are mediated by 'place', representing bot h the place-based material or stnictural factors affecthg access and retention, and the sociaVindividual factors shaping wornen's work experiences and which are constmcted in 'space'. The figure reflects the process of women's integration into the workforces of northem resource communities, encompassing the factors of supply and demand within the context of cornrnunity and emphasizing the spatial attnbutes of the interactions between material and sociological factors.

Structural Barnomto Employment Mthin Commirnity and Household

Material factors influencing women's choice of career were clear: early identification of career interests and aptitudes; opportunity for relevant education and training; awareness of employment opportunities and of other women in the industry; access to entryhaining programs in the community as well as to seMces and supports necessary to facilitate access to the labour market, and the constraints of family/domestic responsibilities. These factors, reflecting many of the identified barriers

in the literature, were more often opportunities for women seeking entry to the workplace: the tangible supports available in the community enabled wornen to overcome some of the more pervasive social barriers. The geographic location of employment opportunity was a large factor, as was the visible

presence of role models, such that young women growing up in the cornrnunity can not help but be informed as to employment opportunities in TT0 work despite societal or farnily noms which. while showing gradua1 changes in response to locational factors of employment, still reflect embedded biases to the contrary. This echoes feminist geographers' considerations of the relevance of place to employment opportunity (Laws 1995) as well as how the construction of new gender divisions in the labour market can lead to a reconsideration of what is considered as 'male' space (Hanson and Pratt 1995, McDowell and Massey 1984). The ability of women to access skills training and entry-level

prograrnming is constrained, for instance: lack of choice regarding career options, limited 'window' of availability, lack of hands-on skills inhibiting job readiness and confidence, and difficulty balancing training with family responsibilities were al1 cited as bamers. The role the community plays in mediating access to employment supports and services, however, in response to industv demand. offseis the limited options. such that young women seeking access to TT0 employment wiil be able to overcome the material bamers located in household and community.

Employment Opportunity and Structural Barriers

The location of employrnent, and the predominance or visibility of an industry in a community. both work to shape not only the career awareness of young women but to structure employment opponunity. Factors related to the structural baniers located in the workplace again for the most part presented the women with opportunities. Many of them had entered employment through special diversity prograrnming, had been exposed to role models or were aware of the presence of other women on-site and thus hiring opportunities for women with the Company. or were able to use an initiai job opportunity as a stepping stone to a skilled trade. Place thus mediates the factors of supply

and demand, given the dominance of the industry and its visibility in the community, together with interventions and opportunities at the community level and within households as discussed, such as informal access to career information or accommodations for family responsibilities. Furthemore. material benefits such as high wages, cited by almost al1 the women as a strong factor in their retention, reflect some theorists' claim that women's economic need is a chief determinant in their choice of occupation (Reskin and Padavic 1994, Deaux and Ullman 1983). On the other hand, bamers derived from sociological or individual factors on the demand side become imbedded in the structural institutions and workplace practices as discussed earlier. and thus policies, informa1 practices. and processes including ciimmunication systems. career development. and awareness of advancement opportunities are impacted by the dominant workplace culture. Women cited bamers in the workplace relating to interpretation of policy, workplace practices. career information, and advancement opportunities which digered substantially according to location. and reflected embedded cultural biases, echoing feminist theoretical concems (Spain 1992. Parkin and Maddock 1995) with the spatial aspects of gendered culture. However, a commitment to diversity incorporates a commitment to change, and the Company clearly values the benefits of diversity in the workplace and is committed to engendenng change both within the workplace culture and with respect to community noms. Thus, identification of bamers within stmctural/material aspects of the workplace can serve as focal points for change, echoing Little's (1994) argument, and provides the opponunity to reshape the community noms through both its visibility and its actions.

Cornmunity Values, Person al Characteristics and Career Aspirations

Social bamers to women's participation expenenced on the supply side, that is, within

community and household and derived from individualist factors. were related to community noms, including attitudes of parents, educators, peers, and partners, as well as to the availability of mentors, self-perceptionsabout ferninine identity and physical or technical competence, and one's own level of confidence and determination. Al of the women had overcome these barriers to enter employment in

TTO,and many cited some of these factors as opportunities, such as the role of female mentors or supponive families in their career decisions. The majority, however. pointed to the difficulty in acquiring the self-confidence necessary to overcome self-perceptions regarding abilities. suggestive of theorists' claims that socialization results in lower occupational aspirations (Nicolson 1996, Newton 1987). While many felt they had developed the skills and confidence necessary to carry out their work

and were beyond needing to 'prove' themselves. others still struggled with trusting their own abilities and needing the recognition of their peers and the acceptance of their career choice as reflected by family, workplace, and community values. Sirnilarly, role conflicts charactenzed many of the women's employment expenences. particularly with regard to balancing the gendered expectations of the workplace, discussed in more depth below, and domestic or family responsibilities, echoing theorists' discussion of the prevalence of domestic responsibilities in shaping women's employment expenence (Hanson and Pratt 1995. Little 1994). These sociai factors interact, as discussed above, with matenal or stnictural factors Iocated in the community or household. Thus, although career aspirations may be limited by family values or social attitudes, the geogaphic location of employrnent, the visibility of role models in the community, and the oppominities manifeaed by education, skills training, and employment progamming al1 are constmcted in place and serve to impact on the sociaüindividual barriers

affecthg women's labour supply.

Social Relatiow and the Gendered Workplace Culture The most chailenging issue for women was fitting into the workplace culture. Bamers representing sociological or individual factors in the workplace were cited by almost al1 women, including social isolation; expectations of women's performance and conformation to sex-role stereotyping; social relations with supervisors, CO-workers,and within the team; and behaviour ranging from hostility to harassment and abuse were al1 reported as frequent, pervasive. and an accepted pan of the dominant workplace culture. These impacts were myriad. Whether it was a matter of 'adapting' - of accepting and trying to live with the predominant attitudes; of being 'one of the boys' - joining in on the sexist behaviour and denying one's own identity; or of challenging the attitudes. standing up to the 'old boys' and attempting to remake the culture; the costs were heavy. Women had to live with on-going interna1 conflict and denial of their identity as they stmggled with the compromises required to fit in. Some women changed who they were, adapting personas at work that bore little relation to their real selves. suggestive of theorists' claims that gendered expectations cast women into roles based on sexual stereotypes (Newman 1995, Williams 1995). Many felt isolated in their work lives, and sought social connections with peers, especially with other women, and especially so for single or divorced women. Others actively chose to separate their work lives from their social lives, especially those with young families or strong partnerships. Many experienced hostility on an on-going basis, whether it took the fonn of teasing, overt resentment, or emotional or semal abuse, echoing theoretical descriptions of women in male-dorninated workplaces subjected to various patterns of abuse (Reskin and Padavic

1994, Deaux and Ullman 1983). Others, while aware of the prevalence of male hostility in the

workplace, refused to take it personally or be victirnized by it and worked to eam the respect of their peers. Almost al1 of' the women reported having had difficulties in this area at some point in their work lives, and even though the rnajority of women had corne to terms with it. developing a variety of coping strategies to 'fit in,' the underlying conflict had hampered their ability to feel accepted. to feel fully confident in their skills, and ultimately had affected their job satisfaction. The majonty of women i n t e ~ e w e demployed a passive response to their oppression, conforming to the status quo and either consciously or unconsciously accepting the predominant culture. Many women, in choosing to 'fit in' or adapt to the culture, had made a conscious decision to do so. claiming that it was easier "not to rock the boat", and for these wornen this seemed to be the best route for s u ~ v a lin . fact, they accepted that the culture of the workplace had developed around a set of dominant male characteristics that included at its worst sexist humour. testing and bullyinç of more vulnerable newcorners, teasing of weaker members of the team. isolating and exclusionary behaviour towards 'outsiders'. and aggressive hostility towards those perceived as a threat. The women who were aware of these nesative attnbutes of the workplace culture tned to resist intemalking them, but othenvise felt 'safer' not challenging them. They had few expectations that their male CO-workerswould be willing to change as long as they were. as a group. in a position of relative power over the more vulnerable workers, but they recognized that a "critical mass" of female employees could engender change in the culture. Cornbined with cultural awareness and sender sensitivity training beginning to be brought in at the time, the culture could and would change. with sorne resistance from men, especially the older 'dinosaurs' who had to leam to accept them and to

to the workplace. This conscious acceptance of the cultural norm can be viewed as an effective coping strategy. as suggested by theorists (Laws 1995, Armstrong and Armstrong 1990). while holding out possibilities for change. 'Fitting in', however, ofien entailed adopting a female persona that was not representative of the women's true selves, reflected in Nicolson's description of 'sex-role spillover' (Nicolson 1996). This compromise, as well as upholding male expectations, generated intemal conf'iict within wornen subjected to this stereotyping. While some claimed to enjoy being appreciated by their male CO-workersas, for instance, 'ferninine' or 'motherly' or 'sisterly' women, many wished that they could just "be themselves". Those who adapted by becoming 'one of the boys' lost something in the process, not only their own sense of ferninine identity, but aiso the 'respect' of the men they worked with, a response tied to the sexist expectations of the cultural norm which. although not welcoming to wornen, was 'turned off by women attempting to be men. However, a tum off is safer than being a walking target for sexual harassment and, in the cornpany of other women, many of the 'tomboys' reverted to 'girly' behaviour, made equally sexist jokes or remarks about their male COworkers, and sought frorn other women a sense of cornrnunity. and of 'female' space. Those women who chose a more active response, characterized by Laws ( 1995). to their oppression in the workplace, i.e. by resisting the status quo and challenging the dominant culture, may not have had a well-developed 'ferninia' consciousness, but clearly were not willing to put up with less than equal treatrnent. They were viewed as 'tough' and 'pushy' and distrusted as likely to use the system against the men and 'set up' their male CO-workers.They often earned a gnidging respect as 'trouble-makers' and 'bitches' and were less likely to be subjected to sexual harassment (for fear of getting caught), but they were the ones who suffered the most in ternis of isolation, hostility, or

exclusion from the camaraderie of their CO-workers.They were also the ones who, by challenging the stanis quo, were advancing corporate recognition of internai baniers and discriminatory practices, and who were perceived as pioneers by other womeR if somewhat aggressive at the same time. 1 observed that rnost women responded differently in different situations or with different

groups, such as the 'tomboys' joining in with the more 'ferninine' women in private, the 'sisterly' women flirting with a new crew they had been assigned to, the 'daughter' wiping the patronizing srnile off her CO-workerby besting him at some skill, the 'flirt' tuming the tables on sorneone who had confused sexuality with permissiveness (although being pegged a 'cocktease' was almost as bad as being a 'feminist'), or the 'bitch' reduced to tears by being excluded from the group. This reflects the diversity of wornen's responses to their oppression. and seemed to be an effective coping strategy in some regards, engendering flexibility within the roles women were typically assigned, which enabled women to retain some sense of their own identity and exercise control over their situations, and which served to confuse the men, challenging their expectations and beliefs, educating them about the complexity of their female CO-workers,and briefly rendering them powerless. 'Comrnunity' is of great importance: it values and reflects one's identity, it forms the basis of social relations, and it protects its own from ham. If women had a community outside of the workplace, ofien of their own making, they were better able to withstand and meet the challenges of their work [ives. If they relied on the male 'community' that predominates both in the workplace and the surrounding environment, constructed largely around CO-workers,they often expenenced a conflict between sharing in the camaraderie at work and being excluded outside of work, especially with regards to social relations with the wives of their CO-workersor participation in recreational activities. Many women fell between the cracks, neither welcome in the dominant social networks

derived fiom workplace relations nor able, because of their schedules and the lack of extemal activities of interest to them, to participate in any other cornrnunity life. Community is thus both the problem and the solution, and as such presents particular challenges for plamers attempting to locate barriers within community or utilizing community as a bridge to bring wornen and work together within a new construct.

6.2

Women and Industry in the North: Interests and Needs Here I retum to the feminist theoretical concerns with addressing women's oppression in

terms of women's strategic and practical interests and needs. The research findings point to the need for interventions to facilitate women's access and retention in the workplace of northern resource communities. According to the feminist advocacy process identified in Chapter 4 which cornbined aspects of Laws' (1995) passive and active responses to oppression with Moser (1989) and Asop's (1 993) strategic and practical responses, the following steps are necessary to ensure the successful

development and implementation of interventions: Identification of strategic gender interestslneeds in relation to removing or reducing the impact of various forms of oppression (active response) Identification of practical gender interestdneeds and related interventions (active or passive responses) Identification of gender relations, as embodied by institutions or cultural norms at play when implementing practical interventions Accounting for impact practical interventions will have on strategic interests. Strategic gender interests in relation to reducing or removing the impact of marginalization of women

in the labour force of northem resource cornrnunities would essentially involve seeking full and equai opportunity for participation of women in the workforce. Of practical interest to women would be ensunng access to and retention in skilled work, with practical needs reflected in the following

interventions regarding access and retention. Improving Access includes: Increasing the level of interest in TT0 employment and with the dominant industry Increasing the intake of women into training prograrns that supply the skilled workforce Increasing the recruitment and hiring of women into the workplace Ensunng a successful transition to employment, including the commitment of the individual to her career choice as well as the support and cooperation of her CO-workers. Facilitating RetentiodAdvancement refers to: Reducing the tum over of female employees Increasing job satisfaction and performance of employees Ensuring advancement opportunities for employees Showing leadership in the community as a model employer These needs are discussed more hlly below with regards to specific recommendations for those involved in employment and community planning processes.

6.3

Facilitating Access and Retention in the Workplace: Recommendations The research findings are gathered and presented fiom the perspective of individual female

employees. These issues, identified as bamers or constraints to "Access" or "Retention." are of relevance to many stakeholders in the planning process, including the corporation seekins to facilitate the integration of women into TT0 employment; the community trainer seeking to help youns women make informed career decisions and develop the skills necessary to access employment in TT0 occupations and industries on one hand, and employers with trained and qualified new entrants on the other; and community planners seeking to ensure that gender equity is central to a11 labour force planning in a community, with regards to the development of a local training culture and the provision of a skilled supply of labour to industry. Strategies for addressing the barriers and building on the oppominities identified above are

presented below. Those recommendations which arise directly frorn the research conducted in the workplace are presented first, followed by general recommendations developed from the broader research findings, including the literature review and subsequent on-going collection of data from a community and a social perspective.

Facilitaring Access

Ldentified strategies for improving access arising from the i n t e ~ e w with s women include: Hands-on training in credit courses that prepares young women for entry-level jobs. building on the RAP and Co-op models currently in place Work experience programs that enable young women to develop skills and readiness for the workplace Access to a network of role rnodels and mentors who work in T T 0 occupations in the industry Orientation program for female employees in TT0 that prepares women for the particular demands of the workplace and that builds confidence in their acquired skills. including asseniveness training, etc. Review and development of training policies that provide women entering T T 0 work with hands-on training to enhance technical cornpetence Mentoring program for new female employees Gender sensitivity and cultural awareness training for trainers, supervisors and CO-workers Bridging or job-shadowing programming that enables women already in female-dominated jobs to explore TT0 occupations, building on the Bridges mode1 employed in the past Establishment of arms-length advocacy and support network for women in the workplace. Recommendations arising from a broader social and community perspective include. in addition to those identified above: Career exploration initiatives and programs aimed at young women in high school and earlier that assist them in explorhg career options, building on ones such as Operation Minerva or GETT S u m e r Camps (Girls Exploring Trades and Technology) Community-based career information for women in transition, especially geared to overcome marginalkation Access via the intemet, especially for isolated communities, to role models, career resources. other youth programs, forums, etc. Training in GenderICultural Awareness for school personnel, cornmunity-based trainers. and college instructors

Recruitment strategies aimed at attracting young women/women into T T 0 jobs Establishment of human resource development agreements for new projects, especially those established in partnership with aboriginal groups and surrounding community Establishment of self-help networks with the aim of addressing power imbalances in decisionmaking forums Advocacy and support for comrnunity seMces to facilitate access such as childcare.

Facilitating Retention and Advancement In addition to strategies identified above for improving access. strategies to be considered for facilitating retention and advancement arking from the results of the interviews include: Review of communication systems and outreach strategies to ensure career information is accessible to female employees Development of ongoing support network for women employed in T T 0 occupations Review and enhancement of developrnent and progression targets and policies that support women entenng entry-level work to advance or obtain additional training Team-building strategies and support for informal leaming processes Review and enhancement of employee recognition and performance appraisal procedures which recognize and enhance credibility of intemal training processes Review and enhancement of accommodations policies, including parental supports and accommodations for couples and single parents' needs Ongoing review of equipment and physical space design to address bamers related to gender or body size Review and enhancement of employee grievance procedures Review and enhancement of policies regarding sick leave and work-related injuries. panicularly with a view to women's specific health care needs. Recommendations which build on these to reflect broader research findings include: Acknowledgment of female employees' issues and particular knowledge relating to needs in the workplace Recognition of domestic, Eunily and community responsibilities and how these are manifested in conflicts with employment Identification and development of rneasures which address these, such as on-site childcare. flexible scheduling, job sharing, etc. Creation of female 'space' within the workplace through use of facilities for recreation, meals. or leisure Development of conflict resolution procedures such as rnediation and alternative dispute resolution Leadership development and training provided to assist women in advancing into positions of authority and decision-making power within organkation

Advocacy and support for cornrnunity-based harassrnent and sexual abuse counselling Development of monitoring agreements and compliance measures for human resource development agreements Identification, assessment, and further development of industry 'best practices' that can be shared and implemented in partnership with other stakeholders Outreach and partnerships with community or industry-based employee groups in other resource comrnunities.

Suggestions for Planning Theory and Practice The research findings, infonned by the feminist advocacy approach taken in the development of the methodological framework for the data collection and analysis, point to several suggestions for planning theory and practice. Tnese considerations are in addition to implications discussed previously for planning theory and practice as informed by the review of feminist theory in Chapter 2 and the supply/demand mode1 explored in Chapter 3. This concluding chapter has attempted to demonstrate how employment planning for northem resource communities entails the identification of factors affecting women's labour market experience, within the context of the community and the demand for female labour by the dominant industry. As such my findings can contribute to the theoretical knowledge of planners with regards to this intersection of gender. work and place as well

as to the practical strategies employed by employment and community planners in northern regions. The focus of the research on women's expenences was twofold: the approach dealt explicitly with women's needs and interests in accessing employment in northem communities; it also involved the identification of a feminist research agenda for developing and applying feminist theoretical principles to removing the barriers that contribute to women's marginalization. Bnnging this approach into the realm of community and employment planning for single-industry resource communities in the North presented several challenges. Literature deding specifically with women's

labour market experience in resource extraction industries is scarce; rather. observations on women's lack of access to paid employment are part of discussions pertaining either to women's domestic role in the households of mining cornmunities or to the needs of industry regarding skills shonages, mobility of labour, and the stability of the community. The separation of domestic and employment exPenences reflects feminist concerns with the separate spheres of the household and the public domain. This research contnbutes an analysis of the intersection of household and community with the workplace, as represented in the analytical mode1 by the intersection within the community context of material/structural and sociaVindividua1 factors reflecting both women's supply of labour and industry demand for female labour. Additional challenges of the research included accounting for the myiad causes and effects of oppression as well as for the diversity of women's responses. reflecting further feminist theoretical concems with the lack of representation of multiple oppressions within planning theory literature, and the need to distinguish between specific categories of oppression and when experiences of oppression are actually congruent. The findings thus atternpt to identiS, the shared experiences of women, which allow for the identification of interventions at several levels, while ensuring that a diversity of perspectives are voiced, in keeping with theoretical concerns regarding knowledge denial and the tendency of women to be excluded as objects of research from its objectives. The feminist analysis of planning theory and practice in Chapter 1 provided a prescnptive as well as a descriptive account of the way in which spatial, econornic, and social relationships that shape women's employment experience are gendered. This research thus attempts to not only describe the intersection of women, work and place in northem cornmunities: it attempts to, by bringing a feminist consciousness and a feminist advocacy planning approach to the issues, identi@

strategic and practical points for intervention. in order to focus on removing bamers to women's marginalization at the level of the workplace, the household, and the community. Suggestions for funher research reflect earlier concerns with capturing the diversity of wornen's experiences and seeking to ensure that women's 'knowledge' is valued and respected. Thus, additional research might address the question of how women's expenences differ within a comrnunity or workplace. For instance, abonginai women who participated in my study often had unique perspectives on vanous issues, especially as they brought a different culturai contes to the question of community n o m s and values that influenced women's career choices as well as to the question of dealing with or 'fitting into' the dominant male culture. Thus, other communities of interest could be explored further. Sirnilarly, other types of communities based on different resource industries could be investigated, such as logging or fishing. An interestins study could be conducted on the 'community' of the North. that is, the loose affiliation of single-industry towns that ofien share the same transient population of workers; different aspects of this larger 'community'. defined more by common geographical constraints and reliance on pnmary industry than on common values or

aspirations. could be explored such as the impact of such industry projects on aboriginal communities. Another area of interest which anses fiom this study is the question of how to effect 'change' within the dominant male culture; exploring perspectives of male CO-workers,of supervisors, of women in traditional female jobs within the industry - dl of these would offer to this study a broader focus on the inherent qualities of a male-dominated workplace culture and how these acted as bamers for al1 workers, or in ways that were advantageous to some groups. Finally, aven unlirnited resources and a means of assessing such intangible notions of career 'aspirations' or the 'impact' of femaie role models. I would suggest pursuing an understanding of

how young women make informed career choices, given the various factors operating in the household and the community at large, via stnictural/material constnias or individuaVsocia1 perceptions. This area of research provides the key to understanding how wornen's labour market expenences are constrained, because it is at this point in women's \ives when their choices regarding farnily, education, and career, and the myriad influences on these fiom the wider community, can serve to illuminate the kind of community they wish for themselves, and how they envision 'finding their place'.

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Appendix A. Table 1.

Forms of Oppression and Respons Forms of Oppression

Responses to Oppression ---

Exploitation - women paid lessfor same work as men or denied a h c e r n e n t opportunities - women 's urpaid labozir in the home

-

?assive - socialized to confom to staîus qiio 4ctive/Resistive - challeqys double burden of work -

Marginalization - excludedfom certain types of employment - competitionfor limited service jobs - hours of work conf7ict with domestic re~ponsibilitieslimiting access to labour market - location may lead to involtrntary iinemployment or iinderernployment

Passive - lack of awareness of rnipliyment opportunifiesin certain industries - conscioz~schoice not tu seek T T 0 work Active/Resistive - challenge barriers IO çmploymenr - seek skills re/training - establish diversity policies which accommodate domestic responsibilities

Powerlessness - under-representatiori of womewïnability to participate in decision-making fonims affecting accrss to the labour market - community n o m s grant greater privilege to other decision-makers

Passive - accept 'innale' attributes of social group Active/Resistive - establish eqiri~diversityprogram and cornpliailce meunires - women S uhocacy groups to raise issties

Cultural Imperiaiism - predominance of certain noms of behaviour negating women 's experience - creation of gendered spaces/sepuration of home and work which refect dominant male values

Passive - develop coping strategresmdoptiig mule identities that seem to endorse statlrs pro Act iveResistive - develop sep-help rietworks - establish un-site childcare program

Violence - mbject to physical or emotional abuse Rom CO-workersor supervisors - experiencing semial harassment:abzise in the workplace

Passive - accept abzcse~~serucrl harassmentfor fear of losirigjob or isolation by colleagies ActiveResistive - mrdiutim cornplaintsprocedures

Knowledge Deniai - ms~imptionsof genderless spaces - rvomen 's voices not hedsilenced - appropriation of women 's stories

Active/Resistive - advocacy planning cipproach

1

Sourcc: Young 1990, h w s 1995

Appendix C.

SURVEY INSTRUMENT: Women's Participation in Non-traditional Employment in Oil and Mineral Extraction Industries in Northern Communities Introductory Address instructions to interviewers are indicated in italics. Dialogue is M e n in regular pnnt.

Hi. My name is lngrid Bron. I'm a graduate student studying cornmunity planning issues and I'm in Fort McMurray to cany out some research into women's employment in

northern communities. I'd like to ask you a few questions about the women who are living in your household. Do you have a couple of minutes? (Vanswer is 'NO") Is there a good time that 1 could perhaps cal1 back?

(Record cal/ back time below)

Thank you. l'II try again later. (lf answer is 'Yes' then continue with the dialogue below)

Thanks. These questions should only take a few minutes to answer.

1

1 1[

Identification #:

Telephone #:

Date of 1st contact:

Statuslcall back:

Date of 2nd contact:

Statusicall back:

Date of 3rd contact:

1 ~tatuslcalI back: 1) tat tus: I

Date of 4th contact:

( 1

QI.

Can you please tell me how many women live in this household and what their ages are, beginning with the oldest?

- questions about employmentlmarital status, etc? (cross-reference with chart to determine who to speak to)

Q2.

I'rn trying to make sure that I get a cross-section of women that live in Fort McMurray, and I'd like to speak to

if possible. Is she

home right now?

- cal1 back stuff lf home . . . Hi. My name is lngrid Bron. I'rn a graduate student studying community planning issues and I'rn in Fort McMurray to carry out some research into women's employment opportunities in northern communities. I'd like to ask you a few questions about your experiences living and working here. The questions will only take a few minutes to answer, and your name won't appear on the suwey so the information you give me will be kept strictly wnfidential. If you are interested, we can also send you a summary of the results when the study is completed, in about four months. (If not hterested) Thank

(If interested)

you very much. Sorry for the inconvertience. (Record response )

Thank you. Your will input will be very helpful. (Record response)

Q3.

Respondant wiiiing to participate in survey ?

(1)

Yes

(2)

No

1

(

PHASE I A.

INDICATORS

Make-up of household

- how many people in household? - what are their ages?

- relationship to interviewee - how many of these people work at a job outside the home?

B.

MaritallÇamily status

- married or common-law? - children? - number?

- ages?

C.

Mobility

- how long have you lived in Fort McMurray? (group by 5 yrs or less, 5-1 0 yrs, etc.)

- family history, ie. how many generations back? - intentions re staying in community

D.

Education Level

- did you do your schooling here? 192

- what level did you cornplete?

- what type? E.

Ernployment Status

- are you working outside the home currently?

- what kind of work are you doing? Post-code according to occupation.

- full-time or part-tirne? - how long? Month

Year

- incorne range . . . -job satisfaction . . .

- previous work experience? - what kind? - full- or part-time? - how long?

- income range . . . - level of job satisfaction . . .

- have you ever considered working in the oil fieldlprocessing industry? if no

- do you know of any training programs targeted at women? if the Company has encouraged wornen to apply? etc.

- do you know of any women who work in . . .

- why would you not consider working in . . . Thank you for your time.

if yes continue on to Phase II PHASE Il Q.

INTEREST/EXPERIENCE IN INDUSTRY EMPLOYMENT

How did you first becorne interested in working in this field? Choose one only. Prompt if necessary. (1 )

Co. recruitingiadvertising

(2)

Place of Employment

(3)

Union

(4)

Employment Centre

(5)

Friends or family

(6)

High School

(7)

Collegeluniversity

(8)

Employment Counsellor Other

(Describe)

Post-code according to vanety of responses glven.

Q.

Why are you interestedlhave you chosen to work in this field? in own words

Postcode accorciing to vanety of reasons given. If more than one reason given, ask:

Q.

Which of these would you Say was the main reason?

Q.

Were you aware of any women working in this industry before you became interested?

Q.

Q.

(1)

Yes

(2)

No

,

-

,

-

Do you know any women who work in this field trade now? (1)

Yes

(2)

No

, -

Would you Say that knowing other women who work in this field has been important to you in your interestkhoice? (1)

Yes

(2) No (3)

Q.

1 Don't Know

Why has this been important to you?

Postcode according to variety of reasons given.

Q.

Didldo you have any hands-on experience working with tools or equipment before you began working in this fieldlbecame interesteci in working in this field?

Q.

Can you tell me about the kind of hands-on experience you had?

Prompt if necessary. Family-centered activities High-school courses Hobbies/interests Volunteer work Former Training

Former Employment Other (Describe below)

Post-code according to variety of responses given.

if has experience working in field. . .

Q.

Did you feel that you had enough hands-on experience before beginning your work in this field? (1)

Yes

(2)

No

(3)

Don'tKnow

ifno.. . Q.

Did your lack of experience give you no difficulty, some difficulty, or much difficulty in completing your apprenticeship? (1) No dificulty

-

(2) Some difficuity

-

(3) Much difficulty

I'm going to read out several things that some women have had difficulty with in finding and keeping work in this field. Please tell me whether, (in your experience, you have

had/YOU THlNK YOU MlGHT HAVE) no difficulty, some difficulty, or much dificulty with each of the following:

Q.

OidlDOES getting information about opportunities in this field give you no difficulty, some difficulty, or much difficulty? (1) No difficulty

Q.

-

(2) Some difficulty

- (3) Much difficulty

How about finding employment? DidIDO you have no difficulty, some difficulty,

or much difficulty? (1) No difficulty

Q.

The physical demands of the job? (1) No difficulty

Q.

- (2) Some difficulty - (3) Much difficulty

- (2) Some difficulty - (3) Much difficulty

Balancing your family responsibilities? (1) No difficulty

- (2) Some difficulty - (3) Much dificulty

Q.

The attitudes of your supervisor towards women working in this field? (1) No difficulty

Q.

- (2) Some difficutty - (3) Much difficulty

The attitudes of your CO-workerstowards women working in this field? (1) No difficulty

Q.

-

Feeling part of the team on the job? (1) No difficulty

O.

-

(2) Some difficulty

- (3) Much difficulty

The location of in-school training? (1) No difficulty

Q.

(2) Some difficulty - (3) Much difficulty

-

(2) Sorne difficulty

- (3) Much difficulty

The time of day in-school training was offered? (1) No difficulty

-

(2) Sorne difficulty

- (3) Much difficulty

if experienced in field . .

Q.

And finally, I'd like to ask whether your expectations about the training you

received were met. On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being that none of your expectations have been met, and 5 being that your expectations have been exceeded, what would you Say your experience has been?

Appendix D.

Community Profile Statistics Table 4.

Po~ulationbv Ses

1

Area

Canada

Table S.

% Female

25,495

23,490

47.90

27,296,860

13,454,575

13,842,285

50.70

Average Age of Males 28.30

1

1 Canada

34.47

1

1

% Males

Average Age of Females

1 Fort McMurray 1

1

27.20

% Females 20 39 yrs

-

-

20 39 yrs

1

27.79

(

29.42

Mobility Five Year Mobility % Movers

One Year Mobility

Area

Population

Canada

Population

% Movers

47,750

22.56

43,995

57.30

26,430,890

16.35

24,927,875

46.68

% Females w/ Post-Secondary Education

% Males w/ Applied Trades or Technology

% Females w/ Applied Trades or Technology

Fort McMurray

Table 7.

1

Female

Population by Age

Area

Table 6.

(

Male

49,000

Fort McMurray

r

1

Total Population

Education and Training by Sex

Area

% Males w l Post-Secondary Education

1 Fort McMurray 1

17.38

(

1 Canada

14.70

1

1

Sourcc: 199 1 Census, St;uistia Canada

11.56

1

68.12

(

8.03

Table 8.

% of Students in Post-Secondarv Education and Training that are Female

Trade/TeehnoIogy Related Program Electrical and Electronics Engineering (general and relat ed)

1 1 1

Alberta 8% 10 %

1 Fort McMumy* 1 24 % 1 19 %

Mechanical (engineering and related)

6%

12 %

Heavy Equipment Operator* *

13 %

13 %

Apprenticeships

4%

10 %

Source:TndeTcthnology R e l M Ptogrjms in Post-Second. hitutes for 1998199.r\mdemic Yeu, . - U hWITT. 2000. Kqano Coilege. Fort MchIumy " Kquio Collcgc is the only Pwt-Secondary institutc deliveringthis program in .-übr7t3

Appendix E.

Images of Women in Trades, Technology and Operations in the Oil Sands