The US needs electricians – can the industry successfully recruit women?

Women face barriers in the sector, including harassment and exclusionary unions, but they would help resolve a crucial labor shortage and could also help close the gender wage gap

As a child, Cora Saxton liked to make things – forts, whittled wood carvings, a flying saucer even – so when she became an electrician at 49, it felt like a perfect fit.

“I like the puzzle-solving and being able to look back at the end of the day and see the physical result of your hard work,” she said.