Small Steps Forward

Small Steps Forward Slowly, women are building a presence at diving companies

WHEN LIZ VAZQUEZ APPLIES IN-PERSON for a job as a diver, she really needn’t bother writing her name on the application. Though the commercial diving industry is more open to women now than ever before, women divers still share something in common with four-leaf clovers and professional basketball stars under six feet tall: They do exist but are hard to find.

So, if there’s a woman diver in Virginia looking for a job, companies know it’s probably Vazquez. A certified commercial diver since 2008, Vazquez has worked for three companies as an inland diver doing bridgework and construction, and she’s spending the summer in Australia for a fourth firm. She said the company received 90 applications for the overseas project, and she was the only woman who applied. Based on her past experiences, that came as no surprise.

“When I went to fill out an application at a big company here, they knew who I was before I even got to talking,” Vazquez said. “They’ve heard of me here in Virginia. They call me ‘the girl diver.’”

Vazquez said that when she first started working in the industry, she didn’t know how rare women divers were, but her boss at a small company told her she was the only one in Virginia. She thought she might run into another female diver when she went to a bigger company, but that wasn’t the case.

“When I’d go to work for other companies, as soon as I set foot on the barge, they’d say, ‘Oh, there’s a girl diver,’ and I’d say, ‘So, what’s the big deal?’ And they’d say, ‘You’re the first one I’ve met.’ At first, I thought they were pulling my leg, but they weren’t.”

Many diving companies have a handful of women divers and crewmembers, but the industry largely remains a man’s world. Timothy Beaver, the CEO of Global Diving and Salvage Inc., said his company has about 100 active divers, including three women. He said that although the industry historically has been slow to embrace women, it is starting to come around.

Stephanie Stone is a Diving Shift Supervisor for Ballard Diving & Salvage. She is working long hours this year in the specialized Tunnel Support division. Her current assignment takes her underground in Seattle to support Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) working on the city’s water infrastructure. Image courtesy Ballard Diving & Salvage.

Self portrait Eugine Island 333-B, wet welding job. Image courtesy Global Industries.

Working on deck, Orion. Image courtesy Global Industries.

Engineer D iver, Kendra Bolon, PE, after diving in a culvert at Lake Okeechobee, Florida. Image courtesy Infrastructure Engineers, Inc.

Norfolk, Virginia, Elizabeth River – pipe replacement job. Image courtesy L. Vazquez.

“I think the industry is more open,” Beaver said. “There may have been some open hostility in the past, but I think we live in different times. Now, it’s just a matter of whether the person can perform. The diving business is very performance-oriented, and it’s pretty rigorous physically and mentally, so not all people, male or female, are cut out for that type of work. And clearly, for whatever reason, fewer women choose to go into the profession to start with.”

Mike Willis, Global Industries Ltd.’s director of diving for the Gulf of Mexico region, said his company has one woman working offshore as a diving tender and another as a diver, though the company has had as many as six women divers at a time. He said the physical demands of diving sometimes lead women divers to seek roles as support staff, such as life-support technicians.

“They’ve found other venues that still keep them in the industry but not necessarily in the water,” Willis said. “But I can tell

RT 95 Bridge job in Richmond Virginia. Pile jacketing job reinforcement of piles on bridge. Image courtesy L. Vazquez.

you this: Some very good divers that I have met in my career have been women. I’ve known some that were very good at specialty work, like underwater welding, and I’ve known some very good construction divers who were women and have been able to withstand the environment of being around all males on a boat and the physical demands associated with the actual in-water work that divers do.

“It takes a rare individual that can do it, but it’s definitely becoming more and more accessible to women. Not long ago, it was unheard of to have women in saturation, and now there are females who do that kind of diving.”

Tiffany Cartier is a certified commercial diver but usually works offshore as a tender and life-support technician for Global Diving and Salvage Inc. She said she’s the only woman on her crew and usually has her own room and restroom while at sea.

As a former manager at an auto-body shop, Cartier said she was already familiar with working in a male-dominated industry when she first became a diver. And although some women might feel uncomfortable living at sea with men for a month or more, it doesn’t bother her one bit.

FOR SALE!

New 16-Man Insulated HRC with MedLock ABS Stamped & Certifi ed Built in accordance with ABS 2002 Rules for Building and Classing UW Vehicles, Systems, & Hyperbaric Facilities

New Build 54 ” Plumbed DDCs ASME/PVHO-1 2007 & ABS Certifi ed Ready to ship!

Diving off of the Sea Lion, RIP. Image courtesy Global Industries.

Self portrait in the wet welding tank. Image courtesy Global Industries.

“It’s great,” she said. “The guys treat me really well. Some of the guys aren’t used to it, but the crew that I work with, they’re all used to me because I’ve been working with them for three years, so they all know me. It’s not really an issue.

“They’re a little bit rougher than average guys. You can’t get insulted by a comment or by what they’re talking about. That’s the only thing that I would say would be a concern for a woman – if your feelings get hurt really easily or sexual innuendos make you upset. But for the most part, they’re just a group of hardworking guys. They’re all absolutely friendly to me. We’re all family. It’s like having a bunch of brothers.”

Bill Matthies, who runs Minnesota Commercial Diver Training Center, said he tried to discourage one of his star pupils, Amanda White, from working offshore with a male crew. White later told him that the experience was great and that her co-workers treated her like a sister. She said the crew made her prove herself, and she was happy to oblige.

“She said that they might give her a tough job to do, like hauling a big, heavy umbilical up a ladder to a second deck,” he said. “She knew she wasn’t physically strong enough to do it, but she tried. She wouldn’t give up, and finally they came and helped her. And she said they just wanted to see how hard she would work at any job they gave her and if she’d say, ‘Oh, I can’t do that.’ She was strong, and she was strong-willed.”

Practicing wet welding. Image courtesy Global Industries.

Sometimes, however, women have a reason to be wary of such situations. Vazquez said she’s had a positive experience at two of the three companies she’s work for, but at one, the mistreatment got so bad that she ultimately chose to leave, but not before gaining valuable experience that made her marketable to other companies.

“It was pretty much right-out discrimination because I was a female – not letting me do the work,” Vazquez said. “There were male divers who were put in the water and taken out because they couldn’t finish. I could do it, but I didn’t get the opportunity.”

Vazquez said she eventually got a chance to dive when the weather was cold and male divers didn’t want to get in, but her solid performance only made things worse for her. “They were sabotaging me so I couldn’t finish the work – misplacing tools, not giving me the right equipment – things that were kind of dangerous. I just couldn’t believe it.”

Beaver said many women are finding it easier to work with all-male crews because newer, large vessels often have separate restrooms and living areas for women and men. But when working on smaller vessels and on projects in remote areas, the facilities sometimes are less than ideal.

“I could see why some women and men might not want to be thrown into that kind of situation, where privacy is limited,” he said. “But generally, people find ways to accommodate. In today’s world, it’s not difficult to combine crews and have everybody be happy.”

Cartier and Vazquez said they’re able to perform the same tasks as men but sometimes have to find creative ways of doing them. “Women have less upper-body strength than men, so we usually have to think about things a little bit more before we do them,” Cartier said. “We have to work a little bit smarter instead of harder.”

Cartier said there isn’t much the diving industry can do to attract more women. “It takes a special kind of female,” she said. “I don’t think there’s anything that can be done, really, to make it more female-orientated. You have to be a special kind of girl.”

900 kHz HDS image of the Oconee River, Montgomery County, Georgia

Marine Sonic Technology, Ltd. White Marsh, Virginia www.marinesonic.com 804-693-9602

Diving off of the Jackfi sh, Bay Marchand. Image courtesy Global Industries.

Willis said the best thing the industry can do for women is to simply give them a chance when they apply for work. “If they come through our door looking for work, there’s definitely not any kind of discrimination against that. There’s nothing really special that we’re doing outside of supporting them, endorsing them and certainly celebrating their achievements, as we do with every other diver.”

When asked why so few women enter the industry, Beaver joked, “Maybe women are just smarter than men and aren’t willing to go work that hard, work underwater, be cold, muddy and dirty. It takes a special kind of guy to enjoy the diving industry, and it certainly takes an extraordinary woman to enjoy the sort of work style that’s involved in diving. But frankly, I don’t think it boils down to a sexism issue. It’s just the kind of work that it is.

“Any male-dominated business is going to have some roadblocks put out there, either consciously or unconsciously, by that dominant male culture, but it’s the employer’s job to do their best to keep those from becoming a factor and to work toward a more diverse workplace. Any company that’s successful has got to be progressive on that front and work toward that diversity, because in the end, it does make for a stronger company.”