Hard-hatted women

the long version

In this lively collection, twenty-six women talk about their experiences in "non-traditional," blue-collar work. Employed in a wide range of occupations - as ironworkers, carpenters, truck drivers, electricians, sprinkler fitters, subway operators, welders - the women vividly describe the large and small challenges of life on the job. Their candid first-person narratives express common themes: the drive to prove oneself in trades where women are still vastly underrepresented, the struggles with harassment from male co-workers, the growing self-confidence from new-found skills, the sweet success of conquering previously unthinkable challenges - and earning "men's wages" for it.