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The launch of Greenock's IBM plant heralded a new era of technology – and women wanted to be involved.

When US tech giant IBM opened its Greenock factory in the 1950s it was a much-needed new start for the local community. Employment in the area had been heavily bound up with shipbuilding but as that industry declined, IBM’s arrival signalled a bright, modern future. And, as Silicon Glen: From Ships to Microchips reveals, it was a future that would see women taking their place on the male-dominated factory floor.

Helen McCormick

Over the course of six decades, IBM's vast Greenock plant produced hi-tech technologies ranging from scientific computers to the very first PCs. To be employed at the plant was to be involved in a cutting-edge industry.

IBM's presence encouraged other technology companies to set up nearby, resulting in the area becoming known as Silicon Glen.

While the computer industry was seen as progressive, some attitudes within were not.

Helen McCormick began working for the company in 1978 when it was dominated by men and there were few women in senior positions. Ambitious Helen realised that she couldn’t progress her career in a secretarial role, so moved into clerical work.

"Eventually I became a systems analyst," she explains. "I was working with joiners and electricians [...] and I remember turning the computer on and they were like, “Wow, that wee girl knows how to work the computer!”.

New arrivals

Women began filling roles throughout the company. In 1984 Fiona Cushnaghan took a job on a production line building legs for computers, but her arrival caused some surprise.

Fiona Cushnaghan

“On my first day, when my manager came to get the person starting on the line that day, he was expecting a male," she recalls.

On the whole, however, women were accepted into the workplace by their male colleagues.

“Only one man ever said that I was doing a man out of a job and I should have had a job in a shoe shop," says Fiona.

Her colleague, Helen, found that despite her success at the company, some traditional attitudes remained.

“When I said I was having a baby, they really didn’t believe I was coming back [to work].

"I knew I was coming back because my career had been my first baby and I didn’t see why I couldn’t have both.”

Silicon Glen: From Ships to Microchips is on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One Scotland on Tuesday 26th May. It will be available after on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer.