Denise Leahy Snippet A

Dr. Denise Leahy describes her first job, working in a geotechnical laboratory at the massive La Grande hydroelectric project at Baie James. She was very excited to start field work, but was devastated to learn that, due to security issues, women could not work outside the laboratory. She describes being on a work site with 1000 guys and 100 women as "a learning experience". Eventually she and her supervisor realized that, after putting on the required Personal Protective Equipment, no one could determine her gender and she got out on site.