Janet Bonnema

Nov 24, 1938 - May 9, 2008

Janet Petra Bonnema was an American civil engineer and women's rights activist. She 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. In 1972 she filed a $100,000 class action lawsuit against the Colorado Department of Highways for sexual discrimination. The state settled the case out of court and she was allowed to enter the tunnel, although she dressed inconspicuously. She became a symbol for equal rights in the workplace. She was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2012.
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