Gender and Nontraditional Work

Alaska has long been considered a land of economic opportunity for rugged people willing to take on risk and harsh conditions. Historically, men took advantage of those opportunities far more frequently than women, largely due to social, legal, and economic barriers to women participating in nontraditional work. Despite those limitations, many women made their mark on Alaska's history as prospectors, bush pilots, politicians, and in nearly every other profession in the last frontier.