Women in energy

WHEN you find someone who’s very similar to you it will be no surprise the type of connection that you have. And that’s the case for Fuchsia Blair and Kathy Gooden.

The women are both employed to the Jamaica Private Power Company (JPPC) as chemical engineer and operations engineer respectively, and are the only female engineers employed by the company.

Both women, who were raised in Manchester, told

All Woman that being in a male space is no easy feat, but they somehow manage to weather the storm.

“I create a balance that makes it easier to work and get solutions,” Blair said.

Gooden added: “In a male-dominated sector you can’t be touchy about certain things. They are men working together for so long and they interact with others differently. You just have to maintain your integrity, work hard, have principles, and you’ll gain their respect. Prove yourself, your worth and be true to yourself. It is harder for us as we constantly have to prove ourselves, but think about the girl coming after you, do your best and paint a good picture for women to infiltrate the industry.”

Both women attended Bishop Gibson High School for Girls, and grew up under the influence of older brothers, so the rough and tough that comes with the job was somewhat innate.

“I had three brothers and growing up I hated housework. I would hurry and do the chores and then go to the farm with my father. I enjoyed doing that and I hated girly stuff. Whatever my brothers did, I did — play cricket, football, make box trucks – and we would pray for rain just to make boats and race them,” Blair said.

“I grew up as a tomboy with two brothers. I’m the youngest and the only female I saw growing up was my mom who also had brothers. I was always outside and being youngest, I did things alone such as building things like my own swing where I’d climb the trees and set it up,” Gooden added.

And so, with this built-in mechanism to do technical things, both women admit to knowing that science would have been their area of choice as adults.

“I never saw engineering but I knew it was science. After I left Bishops and went to Manchester High’s sixth form I applied to the University of the West Indies and did chemistry and food chemistry. I worked as a research assistant at UWI for one year, then I worked in a quality control lab. I worked for five years doing water treatment and now I’m employed as a chemical engineer with interest in water treatment. I became a chemical engineer on the job. I also trained and gained international certification on the job to become an environment, health and safety specialist on the plant. My early days on the plant were challenging and whenever I would advise the team of something to be done they would ask a man to go check to make sure. Now I have gained the respect of my colleagues who no longer second-guess me, “ Blair said.

Added Gooden: “I knew it was science and I thought about medicine but it was too much gore so I figured engineering was the best bet. I considered civil then moved to mechanical. I did pre-engineering at Northern Caribbean University then in 2002 I started out as a HEART trainee in industrial mechanical maintenance — a four-year apprenticeship programme at Alpart and was certified at level three (the highest at this level of the programme). I was then hired as the very first female in my department in the company’s history in 2006 and hired as an industrial welder (high pressure vessel welding). The plant closed down and I went to Caribbean Maritime Institute and completed a BEng (Honours) with a focus on industrial systems, operations and management in 2013. In 2014 I ended up at JPPC as trainee engineer for a year, but in eight months I was appointed as a third engineer.”

Outside of work both women enjoy the outdoors, sporting activities and learning new things.

Blair’s interests lie in entertainment, health, playing pool, spending time with her son and learning Spanish, for which she’s at her final level. Gooden, on the other hand, likes kick-boxing, fishing, sign language and mediating.

Though they both agree it’s a man’s world, they also agree that women have significant roles to play.

“It’s a man’s world but what I like to say is there’s a reason women are here and if men and women bring characteristics together to achieve a single goal, we would be better. We all have strengths,” Gooden said.