Women break into traditionally man's world: today's working women challenge stereotypical roles.

• Author: Lowther, Paula

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Women have been breaking gender barriers for years in Alaska, and recently, BP Exploration chose to promote a female to the position of field manager for the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. In a place where, for years, jobs filled by women were limited to housekeeping, culinary or administrative positions, men are finding themselves working next to very capable women. While some women are asking what is taking so long, others have found a way to persevere in what was once strictly a man's world.

Sonya Lockwood tried many occupations before finding her niche as an environmental spill technician at Milne Point for Pacific Environmental Corp. (PENCO). She ran a daycare center, was a dental assistant and a bus driver before trying her luck with a union hall as a skilled laborer. As an African-American woman, she found herself being passed over for jobs, and figured the best way to make a name for herself was to take every class and earn every certification possible, ensuring her employability. That helped her secure some flagging and confined-space entry work, but she found that regardless of her skills and abilities, the "good ol' boy" network was still alive and well in the assignment of union jobs.

Her first assignment was responding to an oil spill in Port Arthur, Texas. She was assigned security tasks and proved her leadership abilities when responding to the environmentally devastating Selendang Ayu spill in Dutch Harbor, at the end of 2004. Cleanup operations continued through the summer of 2005, and Lockwood held the position of foreman for her crew. While the job itself wasn't very difficult, working with her supervisor was an extreme challenge as he was paralyzed at the thought of having to deal with women and the "problems that go with them." Lockwood worked as an intermediary but was surprised at this obvious supervisory weakness. But it wouldn't be the last time she worked with men who were afraid of her and her capabilities.

In 2006, Lockwood worked at various job sites on the North Slope before she was appointed project foreman for an asbestos abatement project. There, she encountered several laborers who just couldn't deal with being supervised by a woman. But Lockwood had come too far to back down from her work principles. She already knew what they would soon learn--that once you get over the male/ female thing, women in the field are very capable of being fair, "having your back" and performing exceptional work.

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