Being a woman in the trades can be a lonely endeavor at times. One way IBEW sisters are combating that sense of isolation is by getting together with other tradeswomen, across jurisdictions, across trades and even across countries.

"I could go a year without seeing another woman on a jobsite when I first started," Los Angeles Local 11 journeyman wireman Crystal Herrera said. "It's a weird feeling to be the only one. Thankfully, it's better now."

Conferences geared toward women in the trades helped Herrera feel welcome. These were places where she could talk to other sisters who shared her experiences and who knew what it was like to deal with bathrooms on constructions sites and personal protective equipment that didn't quite fit right. She met people who knew what it was like to love your job while also sometimes struggling to find your place.

"The only way to get through it is with community," Herrera said. "The relationships I was able to build at my first women's conference are one of the only reasons I'm still here. I'm not sure I would have been able to hack it otherwise."

Herrera, who has been a member of Local 11 for nine years and serves on the executive board, has gone on to have a successful career. But she still attends the conferences. Feeling that solidarity is still important. And it's expanded her network of IBEW sisters and other tradeswomen beyond just her local.

"It's mind-blowing that tradeswomen all over are dealing with the same issues, but we actually have a lot in common," she said. "We can identify with each other."

One of those sisters that Herrera runs into is San Francisco Local 6 journeyman wireman Noreen Buckley. She's attended Tradeswomen Build Nations, run by North America's Building Trades Unions; Tradeswomen Building Bridges, which last year brought Buckley, Herrera and other IBEW sisters to England; the IBEW International Women's Conference; and an international conference in Spain.

"These conferences remind you that you're not alone," Buckley said. "They make your world bigger."

The conferences also allow attendees to bring ideas back to their local, like when Buckley learned about Portland, Ore., Local 48's maternity leave benefit or when she met someone from New York Local 3 who helped her set up a women's committee at her local. Often, the ideas are ones that benefit everyone regardless of gender, like creating a space to talk about mental health and addiction or having a maternity leave benefit expand to paternity leave.

"If you're in an echo chamber with people just like you, you'll just get old ideas," Buckley said. "By making sure that everyone has a voice, you realize that you don't actually have to keep doing things the same old way, that's it's OK to have a different opinion."

Herrera said she's taken workshop topics home and done presentations for members on different leadership styles, tips and tricks of the trade, labor history, and more.

"Not everyone can go to the conferences, so it makes the material more accessible," she said.

In the case of an international conference, attendees like Kansas City, Mo., Local 124 inside wireman apprentice Emily Snyder — who went to England for Tradeswomen Building Bridges — can expand their horizons even further.

"There are so many great ideas that come from women from all over North America and abroad," Snyder said. "It's been interesting to see how we are leaps ahead of the U.K. in terms of women on the tools, yet behind Sweden and Norway, where they have very strong maternity leave programs and ample female-specific PPE."

One of the tradeswomen Snyder met at the Building Bridges event last year was Samantha Jones, an electrician from London who had previously met Buckley and in 2015 participated in an exchange program that brought her to New York Local 3 for six weeks. Like a lot of tradeswomen, Jones has seen how similar their concerns are despite being thousands of miles apart.

"I think we have all dealt with the macho culture that still exists in the industry and how it relates to things like PPE and hostile jobsites," Jones said. "They're discussed at length at every tradeswomen event I have attended. But on a positive note, I feel that progress has been made, and as we continue to come together to overcome these hurdles, it paves a better way for the new generations to come in."

These opportunities show women that the industry and the IBEW are invested in them while also benefiting the IBEW itself, said Tarn Goelling, director of civic and community engagement.

"It presents the IBEW with an opportunity to get critical and necessary feedback about the experiences of our women members," Goelling said. "If we didn't go, we'd miss out on that. We'd miss out on all those stories from our sisters."

For Buckley, Herrera and Snyder, they also get to tap into the institutional knowledge from retired sisters like Local 11 member Vivian Price, who's now a professor and researcher working on labor and climate change.

"Women continue to experience many of the same struggles we faced years ago, such as having our roles marginalized and not getting the training we need to become skilled," said Price, who was involved in planning some of the conferences in the '90s. "But I've also seen a lot of progress, like the trades explicitly using more inclusive language and more women becoming elected union leaders and apprenticeship instructors."

Price, who is also a filmmaker, said a group of women in Local 11 started a support group in the 1980s called Electric Women. The group fostered tight bonds among its members while tutoring prospective apprentices, taking on issues like racism, fighting for childcare in the local, encouraging each other to become apprenticeship teachers and union officers, and working on community projects like the Downtown Women's Shelter and running conduit for a South Los Angeles school's internet system.

"Electric Women, like tradeswomen's groups throughout the United States, laid the foundation for the growth of the tradeswomen's movement," Price said.

Buckley, Herrera and Snyder all noted the value of being a union member and how it's helped to level the playing field.

"When I was working nonunion, I was constantly wondering if I was screwed over and not getting paid the same as the person next to me," Buckley said. "Not having to worry about the financial piece allows me to show up and give my all. I can focus on other things like volunteering and getting involved in the union. It's allowed me to see the bigger picture."

Buckley said she's noticed a trend of regional women's conferences and organizations popping up, like Heartland Women in Trades, where Snyder serves as president.

"These organizations are by and for tradeswomen," Buckley said. "They give us a space to be seen without feeling like we have to prove anything to anyone."

Those opportunities to bond with other tradeswomen go a long way toward building retention, Goelling said. By giving women members a space to share their experiences and grow as tradespeople, they'll feel more invested and will be more likely to give back. It's the power of solidarity in a way that speaks directly to IBEW sisters.

"Women can and do feel solidarity with their brothers, but it's a different feeling when you walk into a room full of other tradeswomen, and that feeling can't be matched," Goelling said. "There's just nothing like it."

And that feeling can go a long way to building up not just tradeswomen, but also the union trades as a whole.

"It's life-changing, and it's shaped my career as well as my advocacy," Herrera said. "My main goal is to leave this place better than I found it, and these conferences are a great way to accomplish that."