So she looked for a way out - a way up the pay scale.

Her escape route came from the "Gearing Up" program at Women's Opportunity and Resource Development, a Missoula organization dedicated to the empowerment of women and public advocacy.

Gearing Up is a pre-apprenticeship program that trains women in the traditionally male-dominated fields such as the building trades, environmental remediation and surveying.

Since it began in 1990, the program has trained about 300 women, said Sandi Hart, Gearing Up coordinator.

"This program opens doors and gives women the opportunity to earn higher-wage earning jobs," she said. "They are making about $15 an hour, or more, and they are making above a living wage - enough to support themselves and their families."

Now, after years of tending bar and bookkeeping, Hilburn is certified in hazardous waste cleanup and is earning what she calls a "man's wage."

"The program has given me self-esteem," she said recently, using her lead-abatement training while washing the Federal Building on East Broadway.

Like many of the women who go through the Gearing Up program, Hilburn said she never considered working in skilled labor occupations.

"I always thought it was a man's job - now I know it's women's work too," she said. "I think Gearing Up is a great opportunity for a lot of women to better themselves - their lives - and their lifestyles. Most of us are single and have kids. It just gives us an opportunity for a better-paying job."

The program runs six to eight weeks, depending on the training being offered, and begins with classroom discussion that focuses on work-readiness training and other issues, including workers' rights, safety, child care, sexual harassment, unions and apprenticeship programs. Students then get field training from local professionals.

The program is open to all women and funding for program tuition is available for low-income women, Hart said.

Gender issues in the workplace are less of a problem for women than finding child care to fit the odd work schedules that typically go with skilled labor, she said.

"Child care is not provided for women in nontraditional fields. It needs to be on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week basis. For roadwork, women may be leaving town to work four-day, 12-hour shifts, and they need child care."

When Montie LaVoie first began her new career driving snow plows for the state Department of Transportation, she was recently divorced and was trying to support herself and her daughter.

"I worked the 3 to 11 shift," said LaVoie, who is now a field maintenance supervisor. "My daughter was 12 then and I didn't see her until weekends. I would have to go to work before she came home from school, and she would be asleep when I got home."

LaVoie managed to wade through that difficult time because her mother was willing to help out.

"I was fortunate," she said. "But child care is a problem for single parents - and that includes fathers, too."

Hart hopes that a $65,336 federal grant she recently landed will help ease the child-care barrier. Thanks to the U.S. Department of Labor, the grant will help create a "Regional Guide to Support Issues," to address hurdles such as child care, as well as some of the transition costs, like union fees, tools and uniforms.

It will also help local employers and labor unions develop strategies to support women in their nontraditional workplaces, Hart said.

"In general terms, unemployment has been so low nationwide that the pool is relatively limited for skilled labor," said Wade Johnston, president of MCS Environmental Inc., a Missoula engineering, specialty construction and laboratory group. "WORD is right on the money by taking a pool of people to fill in nontraditional jobs. It's a win-win situation - it has been for us, they get good-paying jobs and we get good employees."

Johnston's group helps train Gearing Up students and often subcontracts their labor. "It's a great program and a great way to get people into these positions - regardless of who they are or what they are, regardless of peoples' sex or creed or race. They've done a good job for us."

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