U.S. Energy Information Administration
In the drilling sites and "man camps" of North Dakota's oil fields, women can seem like fictional beings. But you don't really need to look far to find women living and working in the Bakken oil patch. In small towns near drilling rigs, women and teenagers perform essential jobs. Some are native to the region, while others moved there independently or with partners, looking for work. These women keep the towns moving and sometimes even venture onto the oil fields to do a "man's" work.
Producer Madelyn Beck interviewed three such women: an 80-year-old who's seen several oil booms and busts; an officer of the law; and the woman who runs a man camp.
(Broadcast: In Other Words, 9/2/14)
