
It is no secrete that the construction industry is one that is male-dominated. The latest government employment data indicates that women make up less than 10% of the workforce in the industry. This provides a barrier for entry for many women outside the industry and an isolation for those already in the industry. The Washington Post highlights several women in the construction industry and shows how they are combating sexism and isolation by creating a community and building the foundation for other women to enter the industry in the future.
Women still make up only about 9% of the construction industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, so the isolation is real. It’s a vulnerability that has also led to intimidation and harassment, even assault. But a new wave of female contractors is creating a community for themselves to fight the loneliness that comes along with being a small minority in the field. They are also hoping to inspire women coming up behind them, to build a support system they don’t feel they had.
The changes [in the industry] aren’t lost on Sarah Tull, who, as president of the D.C. chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction, has an up-close view of the business. “The industry has become much more open to women, and I’m seeing more on building sites, in meetings and in the trades,” she says. And it’s a trend reflected in the association’s numbers: 4,845 members across the United States, with 119 regional chapters and six new locations in development. The D.C. chapter alone has grown more than 200% in the past four years.
The association provides a community, or “a safe place,” as Tull puts it, in a more traditional, face-to-face format, but its leaders hope to begin boosting their online presence. (Staffed primarily by volunteers, most of whom are working mothers, the group has a labor shortage of its own.) Its annual event, Women in Construction Week, is now better known by the hashtag #WICWeek. In the past two years, #WICWeek posts on Instagram have gone from 147 to 1,662.
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