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| Judy Whitlock, left, and Bev Friend, are longtime employees of Hibbing Taconite. They say they had good relationships with most of their male coworkers, but had to earn their respect. (MPR Photo/Stephanie Hemphill) |
Hibbing, Minn. — Judy Whitlock and Beverly Friend settle into folding chairs in an upstairs office at the American Legion Post 8510 in Hibbing.
Judy Whitlock is a slender woman with curly brown hair. She works at Hibbing Taconite. She started back in 1979 at a different mine -- National Taconite. She says she had to be persistent to get that job -- she called the office over and over, for months.
"I had three brothers-in-law that worked in National Tac. And not one of them would help me get on over there. They says 'You don't want to work here.' Well, yeah I do. But they wouldn't help me, no-how. I suppose because of the men harassing and stuff," recalls Whitlock.
"And when I started at National, I was approached, propositioned out there. And I just says, 'no thank you,' and that was it," Whitlock says. "If you say, 'Yeah, OK,' you're gonna get the reputation, but I just said no thank you, and away they went."
Whitlock says the men she worked with didn't harass or threaten her, but she found herself having to justify working there.
"I did get approached by one guy when I worked at National Tac, asking me why I was taking the job away from some guy," Whitlock says. "I says because I was married to a guy, and he was a horse's patoot. And now I gotta get a good job to raise my kids because I'm getting absolutely nothing from him. And he turned around and walked away, and I was left alone after that. And I do think women have to stand up for their rights out there."
As Whitlock tells her story, Bev Friend nods in agreement. Friend is a hefty woman with ruddy cheeks, long black hair, and a big laugh. She retired three years ago after working at Hibbing Taconite for 24 years.
"I think the men didn't want us working in the mines because they used to always come home, slap their lunch pail down and expect their wives to wait on them. 'Oh, I had such a hard day today,'" Friend says. "Well, now us women got in the mines and we found out the difference. We know, no, you didn't bust your butt that bad. So now they can't come home and slap their lunch pail home and say, 'That's it, I'm done for the day.'"
Friend says growing up with six brothers made it easier. She says she got along fine with her male co-workers.
"If there's any type of discrimination, it's discrimination about getting higher-promoted jobs from the company," Friend says.
Friend says she wanted to train to become a maintenance mechanic, but never was given the chance.
"I was raised around motors all my life. We could be an MM helper, but we couldn't have the apprenticeship program to get the pay the men were getting for mechanic," Friend says. "I applied three times for the apprenticeship program back in the early '80s, I could never even get an interview. Where they put guys on there with less seniority, but it didn't matter."
In 1988, a handful of women working at another mine -- Eveleth Taconite -- filed a lawsuit alleging discrimination and sexual harassment. Bev Friend says the court case prompted other mines, including hers, to give women a better chance at the higher-paying jobs.
"But then it was too late, I'm too old. Do my time and get out, like prison," she says.
Friend says most of the workers -- men and women -- got along well. But she says a few of the women brought trouble on themselves.
"Look how they dress coming out there. That was no way to dress coming onto that property -- their butts are hanging out the bottom of their shorts, their chest is hanging out the top of their shirts. You don't walk into a job that way," Friend says.
"I never had trouble with the men out there. I joshed along with the men, they joshed with me. I've told dirty jokes and I'm not going to lie about it," says Friend. "I've told dirty jokes and I've sworn. Everybody's done it in the mines. That's part of being in the mines, that's a Ranger thing."
Range culture seems to include a lot of ribbing and teasing. Judy Whitlock says these days most of her co-workers are respectful, although she sometimes reminds them to watch their language. She says it's not just women who are targets; on the Iron Range, practically everyone is fair game.
"If you screw up out there, you're going to get a bad time over it," says Whitlock. "Everybody's going to bug you about it for awhile until somebody else screws up, and then they can pick on him. You work together so many years you're just like a big family out there. And when somebody new comes in, I think that's how the Range welcomes them. They pick on 'em, just to make 'em feel at home."
"But things have tightened up an awful lot out there, from what they used to be," says Whitlock. "I hear older people saying it used to be fun to work out here. It's not fun anymore."
Bev Friend recalls times when she would actually bake pies in the "parts oven" in the mine shop.
"I'd go up to North Hibbing and pick these apples. And I'd go back and I'd bake, and put my apple pies in the big parts oven. I made them right at work, at Hibbing Tac. Probably the only woman in the world that ever had a walk-in oven," says Friend. "I'd feed the guys over in central. That was the good times. You kicked butt and worked hard for the foreman, you really did. Because you wanted him to look good because he was good to you."
In the 30 years since women began working in the mines, men and women have learned to accept each other -- including at the Eveleth mine, where the women fought a 10-year legal battle.
Judy Whitlock says as a miner at National and Hibbing Taconite, she earned her co-workers' respect.
"I had to go out with a fellow and shovel some dirt. And we came back in on break and one of the guys in the lunchroom piped up, 'How did you like working with her?' And I can give this guy credit, he says 'She matched me shovelful for shovelful, and I'd rather have her out there than some of you guys,'" Whitlock recalls.
"I've had men say that," Bev Friend adds.
"So like I say, you have to earn their respect," says Whitlock.
"Like they have to earn ours," says Friend.
Judy Whitlock still works at Hibbing Taconite. Bev Friend retired from there three years ago.
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