"Empowering Women in the Electrical Trade: Exploring Support and Solidarity in Local 291"

According to Data USA, in 2022, out of the 877,258 people in the electrical field, women only made up 2.42% of the number. The fact that the electrical trade is predominantly a male-dominated field is not surprising. However, 2.42% represents 21,199 women - that is not a small number by any means.

Women have been making a difference in the IBEW for almost as long as it has been around. In fact, in 1896 - just 5 years after the IBEW was first founded - the first female organizer, Mary Hoznik stepped up to help bring solidarity and unity to the electrical field. Hoznik was not the first woman to make a difference in the IBEW and she certainly will not be the last.

In Local 291, the first IBEW Union Local 291 Women’s Committee was organized in 2020 by our very own Alicia Davila, a member of Local 291 since 2018. I asked Alicia to tell me more about being a woman in the IBEW Union Local 291 and what the Women’s Committee means to her. Her reply has only been edited for clarity and length, and posted with her permission.

I believe that the future of the IBEW Local 291 Women's Committee truly lies within the solidarity of the sisterhood we can bring to other women within the brotherhood of the IBEW. In this male dominated industry, with women so few and far between, we have to believe that we need and want sisterhood. We aren’t wanting to be secluded away from the men, but we are also not wanting to be coddled. Everyday, men AND women in the Union wake up and make the choice to drive out to our jobsite and put in 100% of our time and effort to this trade in a hard and dirty job. At any given time you will see men AND women on-site working hard. However, because we women make up so few numbers on the job sites, we need the capacity and space given to support one another, to remind other sisters in this brotherhood out there that they are supported, heard, and most importantly, valued.

The IBEW Local 291 Women's Committee operates with the mission to create capacity for our women. This means that we are going to get out there - in the field, on the jobsite, in the Union hall - and connect and support our retired, active and new women members. The Women’s Committee allows us to have a space to work through and discuss how we as women support each other, what it means to us to be in this field, discuss career strengths and how we can support future generations.

For a long time now, women’s voices within the field - whether that be at a leadership level or the number of women who participate at a Union level - are often overlooked. The Women’s Committee has a unique opportunity to show women in the electrical field in a positive light and foster sisterhood within Local 291. Each month we meet to discuss ways we can seek advice from our predecessors by taking heed to their experience and knowledge, reach out and remind our members that their voices and opinions matter, introduce ourselves to new members and make ourselves available for guidance and support. We want to make a solid foundation of true sisterhood.

Local 291 has been around since 1902 and will continue to be around for a very long time. Together we can uproot old thoughts about what we think of women in the trades and come together in sisterhood and build a future with women, for women.

If you would like to learn more about women in the electrical trade and how you can help the IBEW Union Local 291 Women's Committee, email womenscom@ibew291.org or visit their Facebook page.