Janet Petra Bonnema was an American civil engineer and women's rights activist.
18 Facts About Janet Bonnema
2.
Janet Bonnema was hired as an engineering technician for the Eisenhower Tunnel construction project in Colorado in 1970, but was barred from performing her work inside the tunnel due to the prevailing superstition that women who went underground in tunnels or mines brought bad luck, endangering the male workers.
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Janet Bonnema became a symbol for equal rights in the workplace.
4.
Janet Bonnema was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2012.
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Janet Petra Bonnema was born in Denver, Colorado, to Peter and Helen Bonnema.
6.
Janet Bonnema was similarly advised against majoring in engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, and instead graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1960.
7.
Janet Bonnema left after two and a half years, seeing men who were less qualified than she receiving higher salaries and promotions.
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Janet Bonnema spent the rest of the 1960s hitchhiking around the world, returning to Denver in 1970 having exhausted her savings.
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In November 1970 Janet Bonnema applied to the Colorado Department of Highways for a position as an engineering technician for the Eisenhower Tunnel project.
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Janet Bonnema met the qualification criteria, passed the tests, and her application was accepted as being filed by a "Mr Jamet Bonnema", as the state employer misspelled the name and was under the impression they were hiring a man.
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When Janet Bonnema called to accept the job but question the salary being offered, she was told that "no women are allowed in the tunnel".
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Janet Bonnema maintained that she could do the work, and two months later the department created a special engineering technician position for her that was office-based.
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Janet Bonnema was escorted into the tunnel for the first time on November 9,1972.
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Janet Bonnema continued to dress in coveralls during her subsequent work in the tunnel so as not to attract attention.
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Janet Bonnema died of cancer on May 9,2008, age 69, in Okeechobee.
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Janet Bonnema was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2012.
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Janet Bonnema challenged gender stereotypes in her private life as well.
18.
Janet Bonnema enjoyed skiing, motorcycling, rock climbing, parachuting, piloting, and traveling.