Lots of oil, lots of work but no women

Business Insider profiles Williston, North Dakota, a town that is booming due to the North American oil rush, but suddenly the town finds that it has very few women due to an inflow of men rushing in to fill heavy industrial jobs.

Williston sits above the Williston Basin, a sedimentary basin with rich deposits of potash and petroleum. Williston has been struggling to provide housing and infrastructure for the newcomers.

And with more men in what is becoming a rough, frontier town, the reporter learned that the few women who do remain feel threatened:

“This is like the pipeline days in Alaska,” Keaster told me as we huddled in her small stand and she brewed cups of coffee for drivers that pulled up to her window.

“It’s like 80 to one, women to men [sic], and I’ll admit to having my concealed weapons permit.” She finished making a cafe mocha for a bearded roughneck in an F-150 and turned back to face me. “As a woman, you can’t be too careful.” She shrugged. “It’s just a matter of time before something happens.”

Read more here.

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