Venessa Ingalls & Khadeejah are both Electrical Journeymen working with IBEW 440. Venessa works on staff at the union as a political registrar and organizer and Khadeejah is an instructor with the Inland Empire Electrical Training Center teaching apprentices to become journeymen.
In the solar fields, Khadeejah was essentially bullied out of a job because people were spreading lies about her. They went so far as to accuse her of sleeping with co-workers and claimed that she would ask colleagues for drugs and money. These falsehoods went unchecked, Khadeejah mentioned that there are thousands of people working over tens of miles in the solar fields so it was hard for a General Foreman to regulate. Venessa’s upbringing gave her the tools to stand up for herself when faced with workplace harassment,
“Being someone who was raised by a wireman and by bikers, basically, I had a certain level of not tolerating being treated that way, not that people didn’t try!”
Khadeejah credits her capabilities to staying in the union to Venessa for teaching her that she could talk back to authority figures that were trying to push her out of the trade.
Venessa started the Tradeswomen Sisterhood in 2016 in order to promote equitable opportunities for women and LGBTQ+ people in the building trades unions. This came from a need to support women in entering the field, who face multiple barriers when attempting to enter a trades union including accessibility, intimidation, and lack of outside child care. The popularity of this program on social media has opened the doors for collaboration with other women-led union organizations that are out of state.
Women’s Initiative for Readiness in Electrical (W.I.R.E.), is a partnership with the Inland Empire Training Center, the training center for IBEW 440, with curriculum developed by Khadeejah and Venessa.
“The way that I tried to come up with our curriculum was, what are all of the things that I wish I would have known…how to deal with sexual harassment…how to handle your tools properly…how to use a shovel to dig a ditch…things like that.”
“Some of it was just, you’re a girl, so you don’t need to be in my crew, or I don’t want a female in my crew because you can’t lift anything.”-Khadeejah Soper
“So in 2016 I started the Tradeswomen Sisterhood and our whole mission and vision is to promote the equitable opportunities available to women and LGBTQ+ communities within the unionized building trades.” – Venessa Ingalls
