“We were just girls – really fun!”

Suddenly, during the maintenance stop, they realized that they were just girls leading the work in the factory's operator room.
A milestone in SunPine's own equality work:
I thought about the fact that there were so many of us, and only girls, says Camilla Eknor, startup coordinator.

Traditionally male-dominated industries are now changing towards more gender-equal workplaces.
During the most recent maintenance shutdown at SunPine, an all-female shift led the factory startup. A snapshot that showed a major change had taken place. A moment that made employees pause and register that it had happened.

Camilla Eknor had the role of startup coordinator during the shutdown and on Saturday she realized that they were all girls in the control room:
– We were four girls. I reflected on it. I thought about the fact that there were so many of us, but only girls. It was really fun.
– I understand that SunPine has worked to bring in more girls. We have always had some with us. But, you are so used to working in a male-dominated industry. The fact that there are many men is not something you react to, because it has always been that way.
– We just happened to be girls, it's fun to see that there are so many of us that it could just happen that way.

Camilla Sundström also reacted when she entered the operating room:
– “But God, oh, we’re just girls today…”
She also remembers the first time two girls were paired as process operators on a shift:
– At the beginning of 2014, when we were two girls as operators, it was a bit like “testing”, but we managed to run the factory of course. It has worked great. Many entrepreneurs who come here are a bit surprised, “oh, you are two girls running it”. But that's not the case (laughter!).

Elin Ekebjörk joined SunPine this year and was also surprised at first:
– I didn't know there were so many girls working here. So it's a bit crazy, actually.

More girls in the industry

Katarina Samuelsson hopes that more girls will become curious about the industry, she welcomes more people applying to SunPine:–
– There is no problem with being a girl and working in the industry. I don't think so.
– When I was training, I had an internship at another workplace and then there was an old man who said, "Girls shouldn't be in the industry, you ruin your skin and blah blah", but that was ten years ago. Today it's not like that. Not here anyway.

Carina Marklund has been involved since the start in 2010:
– We'll probably get more. But for us it's probably just been natural, nothing we thought about.

Mikael Bergvall, process operator, overhears the conversation and adds:
– I think it makes for a better work environment when we are a mixed environment. I experience it that way. It really works great.

Name: Carina Marklund
Age: 45
Role: Process operator
Employee at SunPine: 2010

Name: Camilla Sundstrom
Age: 34
Role: Process operator.
Employee at SunPine: 2011.

Name: Katarina Samuelsson
Age: 46
Role: Process operator
Employee at SunPine: 2018

Name: Elin Ekebjörk
Age: 21
Role: Process operator.
Employee at SunPine: 2019.

Name: Camilla Eknor
Age: 34
Role: Process engineer.
Employee at SunPine: 2015.