Advertisment

Women in the Construction Industry

author-image
STP Team
New Update
Women in the Construction Industry

From a young age, girls and boys are often given different toys to play with, and are encouraged to pursue different hobbies. This conditioning often results in stereotyping men as the physically and mentally stronger sex, and women as weaker. Since a few decades women have challenged most of these baseless notions and are a big part of the emerging workforce. Yet, a few fields such as the construction industry are still almost fully dominated by men.

Advertisment

 

Katie Metcalf, Architectural Product Representative based in Texas, feels she doesn’t see any major difference between men and women. Being in the profession she is, she feels no other job could give her the variety of opportunities she gets here. Her job requires her to deal with a variety of people- from architects, engineers, archaeologists to interior designers, town planners, cost consultants, project managers.

 

Metcalf confesses that being a woman; she often has to hear derogatory comments from male colleagues and needs to work harder than most them for the same recognition. But she feels these are issues that women face in every field and is currently trying to initiate more women into the field. Having launched a programme called 'Change the Skyline', she, with her colleagues, visits schools and other institutions and explains the opportunities the field of construction offers and tries to clear any misconceptions people hold.

 

The Guardian>

Advertisment

Mecalf realizes that as one goes up the ladder, the number of women keeps decreasing. She states that some companies like Gardiner & Theobald are in the process of launching Women’s development programmes that aim to help women in the field. She adds, “If we aim high and refuse to accept a difference in our opportunities and rewards, then the top table will soon be filled with both men and women. Men and women bring different strengths, the combination of which delivers far better teams and results. I'd love to see more women at the top, balancing out the leadership of our industry, and I certainly want some female colleagues up there with me.”

 

ORIGINAL SOURCE: The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2014/mar/11/building-bridges-women-in-construction

Architectural Product Representative Gardiner & Theobald Katie Metcalf Women in the Construction Industry
Advertisment