By Charlie Meyers, D Magazine
From skilled labor shortages to projected retirements, the confluence of many issues has created greater opportunity than ever for women to chart their own career paths in commercial construction.
The numbers tell the story and present a compelling case for more women in leadership, in the field, and in firm operations. Here are five challenges to overcome.
By Harling Ross, Man Repeller
Seyi Falade, the executive director at Cornerstone Barricades, a Maintenance of Traffic service provider doesn't have a background in construction at all, her undergraduate degree was in sports management. In 2008, when the recession hit, she got laid off and enrolled in business school. She went in to business with her dad who was a civil engineer for the Florida Department of Transportation for twenty two years.
A record-breaking 2,773 tradeswomen convened in Minneapolis for the Tradeswomen Build Nations (TWBN) Conference, the largest of its kind in the world, becoming the number one retention tool for women in the trades and one that General President Eric Dean has wholeheartedly supported.
By Greg Aragon and Aileen Cho, ENR
Tom Sorley has come a long way since college, when he led the University of Nebraska to the Orange Bowl as starting quarterback. Since then, he rose to chairman/CEO of Rosendin, one of the country’s largest electrical contractors, and was selected the 2019 president of the National Academy of Construction.
By Carrie Kerpen, Forbes
By Saloni Walimbe, EHS Today
Workplace hazards from contact with mechanical, physical, chemical, electrical or radiological components can lead to significant injuries. In fact, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), nearly 2.3 million workers worldwide, succumb to workplace accidents annually, amounting to nearly 6000 deaths per day.
By Jenn Goodman, Construction Dive
At a 2016 conference for women in construction, iron worker Bridget Booker stood up and recounted how, as a second-year apprentice, she miscarried after a very heavy day on the job. Booker told the audience she felt she had had no option but to continue to work when she became pregnant. Without work, she would not only have lost her earnings, but also her health insurance.
By Katherine Gustafson, Quickbooks
In December 2018, some unusual signs started popping up at certain construction sites around New York. The signs had the familiar orange diamond shape, but the words were slightly altered: “Men and Women at Work.”
Those eight additional letters communicate volumes.
Story by Maile Pingel, Washington Post
How women in construction are responding to sexism and isolation by creating a community — and a future — for themselves.