Women in Construction
The overall employment of women in construction is stable at about seven and one-half percent. An approximate breakdown is:
| Management | 13% |
| Support: | |
| Technical, design, financial, etc. | 15% |
| Clerical and Secretarial | 95% |
| Supervisory | > 1% |
| Trades | > 4% |
While the management and technical support percentages are growing gradually, the trades levels are not growing and are even declining in some areas.
The increased employment of women is not now a high priority with any group except for the National Association of Women in Construction and employment officials in some governmental units. While women already in construction are predominantly dedicated to their work, it is not clear that many additional women actually desire construction jobs. Management, while being generally sympathetic to hiring qualified women, does not regard the issue to be a high priority, nor the answer to other pressing problems such as improved productivity or quality control. There are distinct barriers to attracting and maintaining women in construction, particularly in the attitudes of job site men. For the issue of women in construction to gain momentum, some added impetus is needed beyond the current conditions.
On the next few pages, salient extracts from the national study are summarized for a quick overview of the findings. Also recommendations are given in an outline of the “Game Plan” to be published later as a separate document.
