It's Wattage Wednesday on KLXX-AM SuperTalk 1270's Talk of the Town with Steve Bakken and The Crude Life TakeOVER continues with their founder Jason Spiess cohosting the two hours. In the second hour, special guest Kara Glenn joins the program to discuss her nonprofit aimed at supporting women in the oil and gas industry.
Wage gaps between men and women in non-traditional jobs and energy jobs is discussed in detail. Kara said North Dakota was noted to be a state with better equality in pay and opportunities for women, attributed to the state's culture.
The conversation also touched on challenges faced by women in finding proper clothing and equipment for traditionally male-dominated workplaces, and the need for legal and safety protections for women in these fields.
The importance of upskilling women to address the skill gap contributing to the pay gap was emphasized, along with the need for diversity in the workplace, and encouraging employers to showcase more women and minorities in leadership roles.
The interview ended with concerns raised about the state and industry moving Ukrainian families to the area to replace American oil and gas workers. The impacts on social taxes and conversations may be difficult for the industry to handle based on the state's immigration-integration historicals.
Interview Highlights:
- Promote the message that North Dakota has equitable pay and treatment for women in the oil patch and other nontraditional jobs.
- Raise awareness about the wage and opportunity gaps affecting women in other states.
- Advocate for inclusive hiring practices in the oil and gas industry, including the recruitment and promotion of women.
- Provide support and resources for women who are interested in pursuing careers in nontraditional jobs.
- Push to upskill women to bridge the skill gap related to the pay gap
- Work on providing proper clothing and safety equipment for women on worksites, including maternity clothing and appropriate harnesses
- Provide more legal support and education for women in the workplace
- Address issues in recruiting women for non-traditional roles
- Identify other areas where women are facing challenges in the workplace and work to provide support and solutions.
- Develop programs to help women gain experience in the oil and gas industry.
- Encourage more employers to see the value of diversity in the workforce.
- Promote and upskill women in the industry beyond Women's History Month.
- Discuss the Petroleum Council's solution for workforce development in the industry.
- Explore the potential of a woman's intuition as valuable to the industry.
- Increase investment in initiatives to encourage more women into the oil patch and construction jobs.
- Address the issue of lower wages in North Dakota compared to other states in the oil and gas industry.
- Improve the quality of life for workers, including better access to child care, community centers, and other resources.
- Continue building more child care facilities and preschools to alleviate the child care issue.
- Bridge any disconnect that exists in the discussion around child care and work schedules to attract and retain workers.
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Below is the Artificial Intelligence Transcript, there may be some errors in spelling and names.
Steve Bakken
You're tuned to talk of the town on Super Doc 12 70. I'm your host, Steve Bucket on a wattage Wednesday. Jason Spes, of course, from the crude life, you can catch your crude life. Sunday mornings. 10 AM right here on Super Doc 12 70. My co-host. Good morning Jason.
Jason Spiess
Well, good morning. How are you doing? Fine, sir.
Steve Bakken
I am good. I am. I, I'm, I'm ok. I'm a little depressed. I want some sunshine and warm weather again and we're just not getting it. You take a look at what's going on in the Williston area and up north along uh north of the highway two Corridor, it's still winter
Jason Spiess
I know, it's, well, it's spring but it's, you know, apparently we forgot to change the calendar and move it off and, you know, you know, we have daylight savings time. Maybe it's time. We have like a calendar time where we adjust the calendar to, to coincide with the new seasons. We're getting
Steve Bakken
careful now that it's almost talking climate change, talk and the, that we can't do that.
Jason Spiess
Well, we don't want to talk science. It'll, it'll bore people and no, that's, you know, that's actually what 11 of the, um, most interesting, you know, in high level intellectual conversations I've ever had in my life regarding the media. Steve has to do with the weather when you take a, yeah, when you take it and, and actually there was some. Mhm. Um, I don't know,
Steve Bakken
Jason, you're breaking up,
Jason Spiess
put out a, oh, I'm sorry, how about now? You're good now, these wireless mics sometimes. So, uh, anyway, one of these, uh, think tanks put out a similar, uh, paper regarding emojis. Ok. So what I'm about to tell you, imagine the world of emojis we're in right now and they, what they did was back in the nineties. Remember how meteorologists stopped being meteorologists and they started becoming weather people?
Well, that was because they stopped going to school for that. And what they found was it was much easier just to find someone that could read than, rather than to go to school. Cause I was going to school, it took, you know, four years guys like Hutch Johnson, they went to school for that thing. Right. Well, other, other people they just learned how to read and so they read a teleprompter and, and during this time I'll never forget it because Fox News out of Fargo was paying minimum
wage for a part-time weather person. And all, all they had to do was, I mean, it was, like, unbelievable. It's an entry-level job. Like the mini Mart, like going to the grocery store and working as a bagger. Right. Well, this paper that this high level thing talked about, how, isn't it interesting how the most complicated, complicated thing on the planet is the weather.
Oil prices are number two, number one is the planet. Ok. Number one is the, is the weather. And so when you take a look at what the weather person does, oh, it's gonna be sunny. So we just take the most complicated thing on the planet and narrow it down to an emoji where now it's, hey, it's gonna be thumbs up today and you have to be,
Steve Bakken
you only have to be right, 40% of the time. And I it's a good gig, right? It's a great
Jason Spiess
gig. And, and there's this, there's this like unbelievable, uh, old classic movie with Steve Martin called L A Story where he records the weather to go on, uh, like some kind of an expedition with Sarah Jessica Parker when she's 20 years old, but it's just fantastic where, pre record the weather and he's wrong the one day it
Steve Bakken
rains out, the one day it rains out there anyway. So
Jason Spiess
that's, uh, that's kind of where we're at. Steve, is that even, you know, whether we're talking politics, whether we're talking about the weather, whether we're talking about climate change or oil prices, everybody thinks they have the emoji of the day. They think their emoji is more right than the other
Steve Bakken
person's. Well, ok, my question then. So we're gonna get into a lot of the politics of this and we're gonna talk CO2 coming up at the end of the, this hour. But, uh, joining us on the program now, Kara Glenn Long live, the working mom, Cara. Thanks for joining us.
Kara Glenn
Hi, good morning. Thanks for
Steve Bakken
having me. Absolutely. And, uh, uh, you're working on a nonprofit, aren't you?
Kara Glenn
Yes, sir. That's, that's my, my new project right now. Well, a fill us
Steve Bakken
in on that.
Kara Glenn
All right. So I've been here since about 2000, um, 15, um, before that I was at a shipyard and, um, came here to the oil field and oil and gas and over the past 10 years I've sort of collected stories from other women and, um, you know, other women have shared stories with, with me, you know, whether it was discrimination or can't find clothing or whatever it was.
And I, I really didn't have a resource for them. You know, I felt like a lot of women kind of flocked to me and were just like, hey, I need help with this to that and I didn't have anywhere to send them to or a number or like a group around here to, for them to call. And so finally I was like, ok, you know, I kind of got through all these struggles and hurdles that I know all these other women are dealing with. But um you know, just because I got through, it doesn't mean that everybody else is um
you know, gonna be able to get through it. So that was a push for starting, you know, a women's networking resource mentorship group up here in the Bakken. And, you know, hopefully, you know, throughout the US, you know, we can help women, but specifically up here, you know, we're few and far between and there really needed to be a network and resource for women up here. And so that's my plan. So
Steve Bakken
Carl, we're, we're uh we're looking at you, you're up in Watford City, so you're working out in the oil patch. And I know there's a lot of push most recently in the last couple of years of, of trying to get women into the workforce in what's considered nontraditional jobs working in the oil patch, working in construction, all these different areas that uh there's viable uh career paths and, and great moneymaking career paths for women.
What are you seeing out there? Because we talked to train N D, we talk to North Dakota job service. All these different agencies that are trying to bring in women into the workforce and, and just workforce in general. Uh What are we seeing out there? Because from a, a pay perspective is there still a disparity when you get out into the oil patch between women and men when it comes to pay?
Kara Glenn
This is what I find interesting is I've worked in a lot of different states and that's kind of my number one question is I go out there and I kind of find who the young ladies are and who the superintendents are. And it's like, hey, what's your pay? And I want to know are they paid the same as, you know, the same labor hand, that's the same position as her. And I found that a lot of women are still underpaid on, in, in a lot of other states except for North Dakota.
And I really would like to get that message out and I try to get that message out to a lot of women is, there's as a North Dakota is the most southern northern state. Um As far as like mindset goes, I feel like, you know, um we're, we have a lot of the same traits states and philosophies. But ... when it comes to, um we're just
Steve Bakken
northern rednecks up here, that's all we,
Jason Spiess
I'm sorry, I got to interject for a second here because, well, because I travel all over the US. And honestly, when I, when I looked out to some of the, um, we'll call them the Mason Dixon line states. Not quite Texas. Not quite ok.
Steve Bakken
We draw the line at Hillbilly.
Jason Spiess
I, well, though they started, they started, they started saying, are you from North Alabama? Are you from North Mississippi? And I started to see what are you talking about? And they said, well, do you not pick up a paper? Do you not look at the news? And I don't, I got rid of my television in 2006. So I don't stay current.
But that is so funny. You say that because I've had a lot of people from other states make those similar comments. And so now I know where that comes from. It was like when I wore the black rifle coffee shirt, I didn't realize that was a political shirt until 100 people came up to me and said it. So anyway, go ahead.
Kara Glenn
Well, well, I talked to a lot of women and, and most of them were so pleased when they finally, you know, made the leap to come out here because they're like, I was paid the same and I was treated the same. And I mean, if you look at the women here in our state, you know that, you know, these ranchers, you know, there's women in oil and gas. I mean, they're, the equity and equality was, I felt, um, that it was the most equal to me here.
And I really want to put that message out there because when I, when I went to a lot of other states, women are not paid the same. And what I'm seeing is they're being skipped over for opportunities. So that even furthers the wage gap and the key thing that needs to
Steve Bakken
change a lot of that car goes back to the fact that if everybody didn't pitch in at the exception of the state, because we were such an agrarian state and it was hard to survive here. If everybody didn't pitch in men, women and kids, you didn't survive, you didn't make it in North Dakota. Right. Yep.
Kara Glenn
Absolutely. And, uh, that's, that's my number one push that I'm seeing right now is I've kind of been thinking about it and trying to figure it out. Ok. What's this, what's this wage gap? And, and why is it still there? Well, one, you know, when girls get out of high school they haven't been going with their dad to work for the past three years, um, they don't know how to operate a forklift as soon as they get out the high school or skid steer or whatever it is.
Um, they're not handed their, you know, dad or mom or parents construction company, you know, does it go to the sun? There's so many other reasons why, you know, women are, there's a skill gap and the skill gap is directly related to the pay gap. And that needs to, that's, that's the key here that, that needs to change. And so that's kind of my next um push right now is how are we going to get the state involved to say, hey, uh this company A is going to upskill 10 women.
They're going to make sure they get to the next step in their, uh, in their career path was it's foreman, whether it's superintendent PM, whatever it is, um How are you going to help us? Is that gonna be on employers time? So now that my company is upskilling 10 women, um I've put them with, uh, you know, foreman so they can shadow now. I'm, I know I'm a more expensive company to use, but because I'm trying to diversify and do the right thing,
Jason Spiess
you know, it's interesting because you brought up the before when, when you and I talked and we kind of came across the story. Um You mentioned the F R clothing that when you first came out here, that was kind of one of the things that opened your eyes was you, you really didn't know where to turn to for something as simple as F R clothing. And then, you know, I started hearing, I started hearing about some of the other examples you gave. And by the way, Kara you're not the first person
we've had Alma Cook on here before asking for help in the art, arts and culture world because she had nowhere to turn. She, she was trying to find help out in the box. And with the arts and culture, she brought a, a Los Angeles uh musician in town to help with some workshop stuff.
And so this is a problem out in Western North Dakota. And so what are some of those areas, I guess? You know, you mentioned the F R Alma Cook with the arts and culture. What are some of the other areas that you're seeing?
Kara Glenn
I, you know, I, I think a lot of women don't know. Um and I'm not an attorney but I think a lot of women don't, I think a lot of women don't know, you know, um where to get legal help or what's illegal and what's not illegal um, in the workplace, you know, it's still a gray area on that. This question I come across the most is, can an employer tell me that I'm pregnant and I need to get off the work site because it's dangerous. Um I hear that question over and over again there.
The clothing for women, the maternity, I mean, it sounds crazy having maternity work for a position like that, but it's real, it's, it's, it's a real position. You need to have clothing if you're pregnant and out on um site, you know, those are all such dated problems to me. How is it? 2023 we don't have the proper clothing or the type of harnesses that fit correctly. Um, you know, over chest areas or waist, whatever it is. I
Steve Bakken
can honestly say I've never seen maternity F R clothing in a store. Well,
Kara Glenn
well, that was, um, actually the only time I ever fit in F R clothing was when I was pregnant because I was, uh, I was, when I got to the oil field, I was kind of scrawny so nothing fit. I just had these big baggy clothes and I would just, um, you know, I'd have, I'd be chasing all over and everyone just thought I was a jerk or, you know, a big bee. But I was like, no, I've been chasing in these scratchy F R S all day. Um, I'm super grouchy like, you know, I'm not a hothead, but God, can someone make
some clothes that fit me? And then, you know, a couple couple companies came around and made some clothes. Um, but now I'm seeing to where women are coming on, they're just like, I don't have the right harnesses at work. What are you guys gonna do? Um, you know, there's only like three pairs of boots out there that really fit well, um,
Steve Bakken
well, and, and everything, everything comes back to safety in the oil patch and if you're not wearing properly fitting clothes, that's a huge safety issue. Uh, we're talking about car, Glenn and, uh, Jason Spes, uh, car, of course, long lived the working mom. She's in Watford City, working in the oil patch and doing a lot of work to get women into the oil sector. When we come back, I want to talk about um, some of the other things that we're having issues getting women into that
workforce in non-traditional roles and then what the state is doing and the Petroleum Council is doing as far as trying to recruit other individuals coming into North Dakota. And is that in direct competition with getting women into the workforce? Uh This is talk of the town on Super Talk 12 70 on a wattage Wednesday. I'm Steve Bach and your host on Super Talk 12 70. Talk to the Super Talk
Speaker 3
12 70.
Speaker 7
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Speaker 3
Welcome back to talk of the town on Super Talk. 12 70.
Steve Bakken
You're tuned to talk of the town on Super Doc. 12 70. I'm your host E Bach. And along with Jason Sp from the Crude life Sunday morning, 10 AM right here on Super Do 12 70. We're talking to Carl Glenn. She is working a working mom up in Watford City. Long lived the working mom and she's been in the oil patch in North Dakota since 2015. 1 of the things she works on is trying to get more women into the oil patch, especially when we've got so many different avenues of workforce that we need.
We hear it all the time, whether it's coming from the governor's office, it's coming from train and D it's coming from job service, North Dakota. We've got all these vacant jobs and women are a viable workforce that should be in some of these positions. There's been a big push over the last several years of getting women into the construction industries. And I see this car as a lot of opportunities uh programs being built, whether it's the C T E programs from the high school, the
technical trades uh side of that coming up out of the high school, what train and D is doing? Uh But what about the women that are out there now? I see a lot of those programs for the kids coming up and to grow into some of these industries. But what is out there for women that go, you know what I need to get into the workforce? And I need a good paying job and I need to go do X Y and Z and it's in construction, it's in the oil patch. I need those opportunities. What's out there for them?
Kara Glenn
I, I feel like still women are still looked at it like this liability right in the oil and the gas or energy construction um industry. It's, it's, it's like, man, you're green, you don't have any experience. So why would any employer want to take on that liability? Um And that's what I'm seeing over and over and over again. It's just, it's, it's uh it's what's gonna be the incentive for an employer to spend the money to have to upskill and train her um to take on the liability that
they're thinking of, you know, an accident happening Um So I'm saying they're being skipped over, they're still being skipped over for jobs. Um, why, when there's a, there's a green hand male that, you know, it's in, in an employer's mind, less of a liability, less of a risk. So it's very intimidating for women and for a woman to go with no experience uh to go into, you know, any of these employers and say, hey, I'm green. I have no experience. So it's very unlikely um that, you know,
they're just gonna walk in there and say I need a better paying job. So what are we going to do to recruit these women? Saying, hey, you don't have experience, but here's how we're going to help you gain experience. If you don't go to C T, if you don't go to a trade school, you're starting green. Um What is that going to look like? What is that going to be? I don't know, but that's what I'm trying to figure out. Well, with
Steve Bakken
guys end up being about for a couple of years with guys in and there seems to be a, a reluctance to go, have women be aroused about for a few years and get that experience. Why is that?
Kara Glenn
I mean, I don't, I don't, I don't know. I mean, I think it's, they want women to have experience so they're not, you know, a risk or, I mean, I, I, I really wish that more employers would take on you know, the idea that the diversity having in the group, because I, you put a woman out there with a group of males and it's, it changes the dynamic.
I feel like when I put uh female superintendents out there, uh it sort of deescalates issues and problems and I really wish employers would see that so many upsides of having women integrated into their working crews.
Jason Spiess
Well, I'm really glad that you brought that up because one of the things that we've done at the crude life for 10 years is in the month of March, we highlight women every day of the, of the month and we just got done with March. And so it's a Women's International History Month. And so we look at it like all the women now are making history every day in the oil and gas industry.
And here's the reason why is because when you take a look at the oil and gas industry traditionally and this is why it's so fun because you mentioned you came from a shipyard. So you are like no other woman I've ever met before because you come, you actually use the word shipyard in your experience. The only other person that is not as maybe cooler is the lobsterman person, the lobster woman person.
OK? I, I met a lobster woman once and she had had head to toe in tattoos. But anyway, so um when I, when we take a look at the energy industry. We saw the transition from the old roughneck slinging chains where, hey, let's face it. You know, testosterone is a qualification when you're talking about those types of things. But in the world of machines, in the world of artificial intelligence, in the world of automation, now we're talking about a whole different employee.
So what the crude life said is that the women are the most valuable people right now because they have intuition. And right now the oil and gas industry needs intuition more than anything because they need to stay ahead of the curve on safety. They need to look in areas where they've never been able to look before and a man just can't do that because we have too much testosterone.
So what are, what are your thoughts on that, that we've come that kind of circle now with the oil and gas industry where women, actually a woman's intuition might be the most valuable thing in the industry right now.
Kara Glenn
You know, a lot of, a lot of what I, I, I think what I'm best at doing is putting people who work best together um, on projects or with client. And I figure out, you know, what type of client I have and who would, who would, what superintendent would fit best out there. And a lot of times when I have, you know, um, I know, hey, that inspector, he's kind of an alpha male. I don't want to put another alpha male out there, it's just gonna butt heads.
It's gonna ruin the project and we're gonna lose money. So I found that when I put a female out there, um, it works very well to, they work very well together. Um, you know, because this guy is not trying to take over my crew and, and run my company. Um, and I think if, if more employers knew like, just how to use, um you know, that to their advantage to say, hey, you know, can I, can I jump
Jason Spiess
in real quick here? Because the, the, the way I want to describe this to people is there's a very common scene when two bull elks or two bull dude, they're gonna ram each other head to head and that's what she's talking about with the alpha males and now imagine both of them are spending someone else's money and they have a lot of it.
So that's where it becomes very dangerous when you get two of these alpha males just trying to outspend each other, trying to out elk bull rush each other. And then when you play, by
Kara Glenn
the way,
Jason Spiess
yeah, it does. And, and so, and you've seen it firsthand when I'm talking about, haven't you, Kara?
Kara Glenn
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, even I feel like I'm an alpha female so even some alpha males will come at me a little crazy and I have to change it up. I do. And in the beginning of my early years, I was very strong headed and that didn't get anywhere with a lot of these guys. And so I figured out that I had to, um, you know, use my passive uh fake sweet side, I think. And um, you know, and so that's a
Steve Bakken
tool, right? Your passive, sweet, sweet, fake side.
Kara Glenn
But you, you brought up something, um you, you said Women's History Month March and um that really just sort of uh you know, just, it lights a fire in me every year because it's, it's like that's the, these are these, you know, oil and gas companies time to shine. They're, you know, one employee that they have, that's uh you know, uh she's architect or engineering, whatever. And I'm just like, hey, why don't you show what you're doing for the rest of the year? Not just once a month,
once a year. Women's History Month. What are you doing for the rest of the year to promote and upskill these women? Like I don't want to see, you know, uh this eight year college grad who's whatever I wanna see women, I wanna see other women who look like me. Other women, women want to see women who look like um not the poster child of oil and gas and I'm sorry, I'm gonna say it, but it's all the sea sus all white and other women need to see women that look like me in executive roles.
Jason Spiess
That's a really important P S A by the way because um we, we actually did discuss that on the crude life about how w whether you're uh a woman now being used that month or whether it's Latino month or whether it's asian-american month. Keep in mind, your employer could be using you as a token for their marketing. And that's not right. That is not right. And that is a great point to bring up. Thank you so much.
Steve Bakken
You know, we're up against a break when we come back, I want to talk a little bit about uh workforce and attracting more women into the oil and gas, the construction workforce. And then what the initiative from the Petroleum Council is and their solution for workforce out in the oil patch.
And your take on that. We're talking with Carl Glenn, the working mom, long lived the working mom. She's up in Watford City, uh working in the oil and gas industry. Also, Jason Spies from the crude life. This is talk of the town on Super Talk 12 70 on a Wattage Wednesday
Speaker 3
news talk and sports for Bismarck Man. Super Talk. 12 70. ... Talk of the town brought to you by Big Boy. Just get in line. It moves fast. Dakota Pharmacy and Dakota Natural Health Center. We're here to help you stay well. Trademark realty and Silver Ranch. Welcome back to talk of the town on Super Talk 12 70.
Steve Bakken
You're tuned to talk of the town on Super Dock. 12 70. I'm your host I Bach. And this is talk of the town on a Wattage Wednesday along with my co-host Jason sp from the crude life. Of course, you can catch crude life. Sunday morning's 10 AM right here on Super Do 12 70. Also, we're talking with Kara Glenn. Uh, long lived the working mom. She's a working mom up in Watford City, uh, in the oil patch since about 2015.
And we're talking about women getting into non-traditional careers, whether it's construction or whether it's working out in the oil patch. Um There's been an initiative and, and cause you've been working in the nonprofit as well. Well, trying to get more women into the oil patch and into some of the construction jobs that are out there, there's been a big push for that over the last several years.
Is, is it fair to say that either there hasn't been enough resources put into that space? Because like you mentioned in uh the early part of this hour, North Dakota is one of the few places that you've seen, there isn't a pay gap between men and women and doing the same jobs in the same industries. And has there been enough of a, an investment into trying to get women into some of these non uh traditional positions?
Because if you take a look at what the Petroleum Council is doing now and uh state initiative going out and trying to recruit, uh, Ukrainian workers to come to North Dakota to fill jobs in the oil patch. Um, that's telling me that they're still not getting enough workforce. What's the disconnect?
Cara? I, I, I don't get it. Why are we having to go out to a different country to bring people in if supposedly we've got enough women or other individuals to work in the oil patch or do we, you know, where's the disconnect? There's got to be something that, uh, that isn't working here.
Kara Glenn
Yeah, here's what, here's the problem. Um, right now Texas, Oklahoma, um, New Mexico wages are, you know, oil and gas is a very small community. And right now I know workers in those states that are making 1 50 per diem. You know, that, uh, a labor is making $25 an hour. Uh, North Dakota, you cannot pay lower wages, um, than those states when those states have continuous work.
But what is happening is oil and gas companies are saying, hey, North Dakota. Oh, you're paying 1 75 per diem or not? Not that that happens. But let's just say I raise my, uh, per D M and I raise my rates and they're like, ok, you're, you're more expensive little North Dakota company. So we're gonna bring in this Texas company because they're 1 50 per D M and we can provide work all year round.
Um, because when they get back from finishing that project uh company Texas pipeline whoever they are when they get back from finishing that project in North Dakota for 1 50 an hour. And that labor is $25 an hour. They're gonna come back here and I have worked for them for the rest of the year. So how can I compete as a North Dakota company when I have to pay people a lot higher to stay here and work here?
Um, when a company, when, when oil and gas, when, you know, renewable companies, when they'll just outsource the company at where cheaper wages are and, and you know, more work is going on. That's the problem. ...
Steve Bakken
So, when you're a big one, yeah, it, it a big issue. So, going back to my original question then, because I, is it a question of, I, I, if we're not identical employees are gonna
Kara Glenn
stay here when they can stay somewhere else that has a mcdonald's and they get paid more and there's work year round. So what needs to change is, you know, we have to get
Steve Bakken
better weather most of the year too. Well, that's the other thing too about
Jason Spiess
what, what, what we're talking about is a quality of life issue here and whether it, yeah, we, whether it's, whether it's the payment, whether it's making sure that there's a community center so you can go do a water aerobics in whether it's making sure that your school has peanut butter sandwiches to give the kids, whatever, what, what, whatever your quality of life is, that's what we're
talking about here. And what these other states have always had is geography. The sun don't shine very much above the Mason Dixon Line during six months of the year. And that's
Kara Glenn
also have, they also have these other states also have this old dated mindset and just working in all these other states. Um, you know, when I say that this old dated mindset, it specifically to women. And that's what my push trying to advertise to women is. And a lot of women that are, that have worked here in North Dakota are just like, wow, I was treated the same. I was treated fairly and I, they worked in a lot of other states. And so, um, and they are paid the same and so that's my big
question right now is, um, do I want this to be in all states? Do I want fairness for women in all states? Absolutely. But, you know, it's just like, hey, if I could scream it from the rooftop that, you know, uh, so many women are so happy to work here. And how can we push that even further to say, hey, employers, you know, you're gonna upskill, you know, these 10 minority groups, we're gonna incentivize you with this, this, this because if not, they're not gonna do it.
Jason Spiess
Hey, Carl Carl Glenn, um, what, what was the name of the nonprofit again? Sorry, I, I got into my old radio habit where I wanted to reintroduce the guest. Uh, Car Glenn. What was the name of your company again?
Kara Glenn
Jade is powered by her trade
Jason Spiess
is powered by her. What would you say your biggest obstacle has been since 2015? Being to North Dakota as, as a woman working out in the oil patch. What, what has been your biggest obstacle? What would you say?
Kara Glenn
Child care, child care? Yeah, child care. Um because everyone else can go work in the oil field and make money.
Jason Spiess
So, you know, that's interesting because that was, you know, in a roundabout way. That was my biggest too because um, what I was always told by the different oil companies or the different councils or whatever it was that if you're not at the events at night and on the weekends you ain't getting any business. And for some, for somebody who is a single father who chose to have family values that worked against me, I found was I found being a family valued individual, making sure that
my son was picked up and dropped off every day from school, making sure that we had dinner together every night, making sure that I wasn't drunk out on the weekends around dating and doing all those different things that actually worked against me in the state. Yeah.
Kara Glenn
And I think there's, I think there's initiatives to, um, I, I think they're building like another daycare. I know they're building another preschool. They're, they're doing things for it and making it, um, not easier. I guess they're, uh, putting resources out there for, you know, individuals to, you know, do their, uh, at home child care and, and
things like that. So, I know there's a push so I, you know, I can't even harp on that too much because there is an initiative from, you know, our, our local, um, government to, to
Jason Spiess
fix. They, they, they, they're in the pro how about this? They're in the process of, uh, getting the solution done. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. So,
Kara Glenn
yeah, but I say child care, that's been the hardest because it's, it's for me emotionally as a mom to, to leave at, you know, five in the morning, six in the morning. That was really hard. Um, and then, and then to find that person that could be there or switching off, um, that was terribly hard. But,
Jason Spiess
you know, I'll, I'll be honest, um, what one of the reasons the crude life has done so much with Children over the last 10 years is because of my child was because we wanted to be active with our child. But also at the same time, that's what the industry asked for. They asked for, you know, the, the kind of the cultivation of a new generation. So there was that too. Go ahead, Steve.
Kara Glenn
That's really important to me for, um, you know, I, I try to do a lot with my daughter's school and the kids' school so other little girls can see, uh, you know, a, a woman welder, a woman boss. You know, I, I want, I, I like to put our, um, you know, are women instructors out there so little girls, little boys can see, like, oh, you know, that's, she's in a position of authority or she's a superintendent.
She's in a hard hat. She's in a, she's in a skit. She's in a, um, that's been really important to me because planting that seed early, you know, is gonna eliminate some of the doubt that starts to happen when they get older when they're like, oh, I'm not really seeing a whole lot of girls in that job or this and that. So, so starting out early at the age.
Steve Bakken
So, car I wanna go back about 10 years, 12 years, uh when things were ramping up and there's always been that part of the conversation concerning child care and what do you do with kids? Uh, because, you know, I look at Bismarck, Bismarck Mandan area had a lot of people that moved to North Dakota to work in the oil patch and they moved to Bismarck Mandan because there were other opportunities here.
Uh Not as many families moved out to Williston or Watford City. They moved here because spouses had opportunities, the educational opportunities and, and I look at the growth in the school district in Bismarck, you know, 450 kids a year over the height of the oil boom, coming into the Bismarck public school district. Each and every year that told me, uh, told me that families were moving to Bismarck a big reason I think is because of the child care side of that and, and the
opportunities. Um, it's always been in the discussion, what was the disconnect because it was about windshield time and what time you had to go to work and then how much time are you home for your family? Uh, but it was, you know, shift days on days off and you were working in that segment that wasn't conducive to, to having your family. That's why a lot of families wound up living in the Bismarck area and then commuting to work in the oil patch.
What was the disconnect? Because it always had been in the discussion. There always had been money spent on child care daycare situations and now you're gonna throw in an initiative to bring Ukrainians over. They're gonna deal with some of those same issues, aren't they?
Kara Glenn
Yeah, I think, I mean, are they bringing their kids over? I don't
Steve Bakken
know that that's, I, I haven't heard the whole layout of the plan yet but, uh, if you're gonna move Ukrainians, then I'm guessing you're probably gonna move Ukrainian families. Uh, you're not just gonna go target men. Um, so if, if some of those issues are still gonna be there.
Kara Glenn
I haven't really read. I mean, I, I've, I've started to hear about this, um, a couple of weeks ago. I mean, I, I know it's been in the works for a while but, um, where are, what, where's, what's the housing situation gonna be like? Because that's another reason why I get a lot of families that leave, you know, they want, they don't want to live in apartments, they want houses, they want small houses like they can, they can rent a house in Texas for, you know,
$1000 a three bedroom with a yard. Um That's another reason why families leave here is what are we gonna do about the housing that not everybody wants to live in apartments. So
Jason Spiess
can I ask you a question? Can I ask you a question quick about your Children and some of the integration with the schools? Because that is another thing, you know, you come in as say you got an eight year old from Ukraine or something like that all of a sudden now they're, they're in the Williston or the Watford City school district. And you know, I mean, you, you came in 2015 and I don't know how old your Children are, but you've mentioned them several times. So I thought I'd ask, yeah,
Kara Glenn
I would be really worried because this is a very heritage based community and I, I felt for a while my kids didn't fit in my, you know, if you don't, if you don't rope and ride on the weekends, if you don't have a ranch. Um, what do you talk about with the other kids? I don't know. And my kids kind of felt like that, you know, they're just like, are we gonna get horses or we gonna, and I was like, no, I, I worked like 27 hours a day. Um, how am I gonna take care of? You know, but I was reluctant, we
ended up getting some cows but, um, you know, we got to, I gotta fit in, I gotta fit in, right. Um So, you know, it, it was really hard for them in the beginning. So, yeah, I do worry about, you know, how, what, what is there? How are they gonna handle with a, that's a culture shock for sure for these kids. I imagine. How are they? Do you have a plan to integrate these kids in with, um, you know, the wild, wild northern south? You know, it's just, uh, well,
Jason Spiess
I'll, I'll give you an example. My, my, my brother is the, uh head coach at Davies Wrestling and uh, he was an All American at, uh at wrestling N Ds U Morehead State coach of the year type thing. And he would, you know, he, his heart was always with the, the high school kids and the, and the kids. So he went back to high school and he talks about often these foreign cultures that come in and the integration gets dangerous sometimes where he's physically had to pull teenage boys off of
girls because in their tribe or their culture, they just go grab the women, that's what they're taught to do. And all of a sudden now, you know, my brother luckily knows this and he knows how to wrestle and he kinda, you know, wrestlers get kind of a, uh they, they get a little different thrill when it comes to pulling someone off of a woman. They just like, like holding him down to show the woman see how powerful I am over this guy.
They get that help of bull mail back. So he's a little bit more uh you know, less with the baton if you will. But it brings up a good point which is, there's some serious culture clashes that can happen where it's nothing more than a misunderstanding, you know, and are they gonna
Kara Glenn
talk to the kids at school or are they gonna be like, hey, you know, um we're welcoming everybody from everywhere and you know, I, I don't know, it's just, I do think about that because my kids dealt with it. They were just kind of ...
Steve Bakken
carl we're up against a break. Uh You know, I follow you on linkedin. Long lived the working mom, Watford City, of course, trades powered by her. How do people get a hold of you? They want more information.
Kara Glenn
Um I think my linkedin is probably the best right now. Um Although I'm putting out a lot of videos on, I feel like such a dork on tiktok because, you know, everybody's tiktok are fun and they're fun and they're like, you know, engaging and mine are just really monotone and boring. But that's where I'm putting a lot of um information out right now and, but linkedin is the best way
Steve Bakken
trades powered by her Cara Glenn. Long lived, the working mom from Watford City. Thanks for what you're doing up there, promoting women in non traditional industries, construction and uh as well as the oil patch. Uh Thanks for joining us this morning. This is talk of the town on Super Talk 12 70. Uh When we come back, we're gonna talk about the Garden Expo coming up this weekend on Super Talk 12 70.
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Glenn talks Women Wages and Day Care in the Oil and Gas Industry