Everything seemed to be going according to plan for Lauren Cordell, a Sulphur High School valedictorian and Louisiana Tech University graduate.
As detailed in a feature from 10/12 Industry Report’s new quarterly issue, Cordell had met many of her academic objectives, and she would soon begin earning her graduate degree in applied behavior analysis at McNeese State University.
But something wasn’t quite right. She was beginning to have doubts about her chosen career path, so she took a break from her studies to earn money by working a shutdown at a local process plant.
Cordell was blown away by the experience. “I just really liked being out there,” she says. “I liked it so much I considered switching to engineering, because that was originally what I thought I wanted to do, but I was getting to the point in my life where I really needed to settle down into a career and that would mean a lot more school.”
Instead, Cordell chose to begin process technology training at SOWELA Technical Community College in Lake Charles, and after graduation last year she was snatched up by Grace’s refining catalyst plant in Sulphur as a first-year operator.
Of the growing number of women in Louisiana industry like Cordell—from first-year operators to engineers to plant managers—most don’t feel like they’re breaking down any barriers. Instead, they attribute the challenges they face in these traditionally male-dominated jobs to personality differences, or a lack of experience, rather than gender bias.
That mindset is likely the reason they’ve excelled in their respective positions—by simply refusing to believe that they are at a disadvantage.
While it might be true that most women are not consciously discriminated against at plant sites, findings by the American Association of University Women assert that unconscious bias exists, and it severely limits women’s progress in engineering and scientific fields.
Furthermore, women in nontraditional fields can find themselves in a “double bind”—viewed as less competent than their male peers and, when clearly competent, considered less likable.
Read the full feature from the new quarterly issue of 10/12 Industry Report. Sign up for free to receive the quarterly issues. Send feedback, story ideas and company news to editor@1012industryreport.com.
