By Dianne Anderson

At just a hundred pounds soaking wet, Gigi Munos stepped into the Inland Empire Conservation Corps hauling rocks almost double her weight, all in a day’s work, but her real reward is the job satisfaction.

Now graduated, she soon joins the Backcountry Trail Building crew in Colorado after three years of preparing for what it’s like to be a woman in a man’s world.

She chopped trees with the best of them at Conservation Corps’ Lake Tahoe Center, clearing out the forest so new growth can flourish. Some projects are part of a native preserve where “the C’s,” as she calls it, works with the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.

“Not just any trees, but we’re focused on thinning out the forest, helping healthier trees not have to compete with diseased trees for energy, sunlight, minerals, water. [It’s so] healthier trees have space to grow,” she said.

Only one of two young women at the Inland Empire Center in San Bernardino, she was encouraged by her colleague.

“I was inspired by her femininity and the strength she had. Because of that, when we had a fire crew starting I said I’m going to try it. The worst is I could fail, and I’ll try again,” she said.

She got in on her first try, but knew the real challenge was proving herself. Being petite, she wondered if she could keep up, or if other workers would be upset if she couldn’t pull her weight.

Sexism isn’t unheard of, and it didn’t help that she had never done outdoor work in her life.

“You’re camping eight days straight, no common amenities, showers, or a nice toilet that flushes. You go to work every day from the worksite back to the campsite. It’s more rugged and intense,” she said.

Even so, she counts the program as one of her best decisions, with support all around her. She wants other women to believe they can do it too.

Through the program, students can finish their high school diploma or GED, and Corpsmembers earn over $2,800 a month stipend.

She tells everyone about the program and says it never felt like work. When invited by her sister’s eighth-grade history teacher to speak to the class, she gladly accepted.

“I hope I can do this until my body gives out because I believe in the work that CC stands for, the trail and fire crews, and the forestry crews. It’s the backbone of society. Trail building means the world to me. I like how dirty we get, and moving the heavy rocks,” she said.

Dana Howard, spokesperson for CCC, said the program is not women-specific, but they actively target women to encourage them for wildlands and firefighting.

Women do the work like anybody else.

“We are not changing our targets, which are women, foster youth, those folks who historically fall into the academic achievement gap and underrepresented communities. Those are the folks we are targeting for enrollment into CCC. We will continue to do that important work,” he said.

CCC, a State of California Department, is a non-profit with 25 sites from San Diego to Eureka. Fifteen are non-residential where Corpsmembers keep their existing housing and commute to the center. In San Bernardino, the closest non-residential CCC center is the Inland Empire Center.

Also, there are 10 residential centers where Corpsmembers eat, sleep, and work. For the IE., the Los Pinos Center residential center is located in the mountains a few miles west of Lake Elsinore.

In Los Angeles County, women looking to earn decent pay are trending to male-dominated fields, thanks to WINTER, Women in Nontraditional Employment Roles, which is set to graduate 16 local women into good paying careers.

More than a paycheck, good union jobs are closing the stubborn gender pay gap in America, which has barely budged over the decades.

According to a recent Pew Research Center analysis, women in 2023 earned an average of 85% of what men earned, up from 81% in 2003. Overall, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that women as full-time wage and salary workers had median weekly earnings of $1,005, or 83.6% of the $1,202 median income for men in 2023, similar to prior years.

Carlos Torres, executive director of the nonprofit WINTER, Women In Non-Traditional Employment Roles, said their graduates are prepared to compete for equal wages with men.

“Absolutely, the strategy for placing our graduates in union apprenticeships is exactly that,” he said. “We close the pay gap. When they join that trade they will make the same amount as their male counterparts. Union wages are published so everyone knows the pay scale, there is no secrecy.”

Union jobs offer excellent fringe benefits for all, including collective bargaining, he said. Program graduates tapped a broad swath of learning on how to be an apprentice, including safety, communication, and teamwork. They learned 30 to 50 hours in areas of construction math, certification in first aid, and OSHA, and certification for hazardous waste handling.

He said when they graduate from the free program, registered apprenticeships await them in building and construction trade unions.

“They choose what trade they want to join. We connect individuals within each of the trades so they’re aware that the women are ready, graduated, and have their certifications. The women then begin to submit applications for interviews to be selected to join apprenticeships,” he said.

Diversity is a good mix, representative of the community, and they can enter the program with only a high school diploma or GED. Cohorts run ten weeks, Monday through Friday, with usually 16 to 18 women in each class, which is set to expand in the future.

Participants will need to get their own transportation to the nearby City of Commerce, but he said they are seeking more young women from Long Beach to take advantage of the benefits.

Next up, boot camp starts on April 7-10. The first day of training is April 14 with intake on April 22. Applicants not yet ready to join in April can join for their August and October classes.

Participants must be on site early morning from 5:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Going without a regular paycheck for ten weeks is a real commitment, but he said they offer counseling before enrolling to help create strategies on how to work with their families for childcare help.

For those who complete it, he said the program is worth it.

“Five days a week is a demanding schedule, but the investment pays off when they join the apprenticeships and begin to earn money,” he said. “They’re not doing it alone, we are right there with them all the way.”

For more information on CCC, applicants aged 18 to 25 years, and veterans to age 29 are encouraged to sign up at www.ccc.ca.gov to be contacted by a recruiter.

For WINTER, see https://www.winterwomen.org/