BFI - Why the solid waste business is still white-male dominated.

[Anonymous <no_email@fake.address>]

My story encompasses 5 years of hard work which I will distill into an all too familiar 
story.  My first year+ with this corporation was actually a very happy one. I was the 
only female in my district office and worked as the office manager there. My immediate 
boss was a fair, kind and extremely supportive man who helped me greatly in achieving 
my goal to progress up the corporate ladder to a better position. His advice and 
recommendations, based entirely on my work performance, helped to promote me to another 
state's office to a different job for this company that was a major step up for me. 
On hindsight, I should have stayed where I was since the experience I went through 
after my transfer proved to me I had been "spoiled rotten" by my previous good fortune.
After my transfer, I was placed in a high responsibility sales position overseeing large 
hospital and pharmaceutical accounts. When first starting out I was informed by a male 
collegue of the unfairness of it all since only the "pretty, slim girls got the
 larger accounts since they dealt exclusively with older white men..." First hint that 
something was extremely wrong. I stayed for 6 months in this position, up to the point 
when one of my clients wanted to do business in a topless club (which my superiors felt 
I should handle with "grace"). I was then granted a transfer within the same district to 
a management position in operations.  This is where my story becomes like so many other 
smart hard working women's lives.
At the age of 24, I was placed in charge of 47 teamster truck drivers in the solid waste
 business. I was (and remain) the only female in this area to have ever held this 
position - the only other females my office hired were clerical workers.  From the start 
I suffered for having the gall to tread into this all male domain. Suddenly I got new 
duties such as searching the trucks in the morning for pornography as my male boss looked 
on to see my reaction. I was sent to landfills to study the competitors loads without being 
"warned" that the drivers would stop in front of my car and relieve themselves - this was 
to prove a female could not do this job, since there are no available facilities and the 
men simply go where ever they happen to be standing. 
Far worse though, was finding out that my only co-worker was being paid $8,000.00 more
 a year, even though I had senority. When I asked about this I was informed that because 
he was married with a child, he deserved the extra money. Thoughout this I worked an 
average of 58 hours a week, 6 days a week (my co-worker was allowed to leave each day 
after 6 hours to pick up his son from day care since his wife worked full time) thus 
I covered his end day hours as well as my own work load. After complaining, I was 
informed by my immediate supervisor that I knew when I took this job I had to work 
3 times as hard because I was a woman. Naturally, he refused to pay me three times as much!
Each morning I would get up, get dressed and put on my psychic armor to prepare for another
 day. After filing formal complaints with my boss's superiors and having no action taken - 
I let them win. I resigned from a job I was good at, that paid fairly well and offered decent 
healthcare, because after 2 years of this I was too beat down to continue. I lost weight, 
couldn't sleep and turned into a hateful and bitter person until the end of it. Many people 
have asked why I didn't sue, I had a good case, witnesses, etc. But many do not realize 
that when you're working to survive and have battled uphill for so long, the thought of 
going to court can be overwhelming. There are things in my past which are no one's business 
but my own (like abortion) that I know 
would come out in court. The use of such information is ridiculous, but it did work in 
insuring I would never sue to claim what was rightfully mine (back pay). Later on, when 
I tried to get a job in this same business, I discovered that I had been black-listed in
 this industry. Across corporate lines, the best offer I received was for a receptionist 
position - I was a risk to hire. 5 years of hard work and specialized skill now serve no 
purpose for me since what I'm trained to do I cannot get hired for. 
I'm 27 now, back in college full time, and I lecture at my school to younger women with the
 hope that they can learn to spot the warning signs and will help make a change in the 
laws so that if they ever need to sue - they will not be intimidated not to. 
Even after time passed, this still makes me angry, resentful and very sad. If I can 
help one young woman understand that it is still out there, still going strong and
 that they MUST be aware, then for me, it was worth it.