Women in Construction Week 2025

It’s Women in Construction week and this article from Construction Dive just dropped. 

It says that “poor leadership is pushing women out of construction”.

According to the Bureau of labor statistics, roughly 11% of construction workers in the US are women. 

We already know that a large portion of the workforce is due to retire pretty soon - within five years or so. If women are being pushed out of an industry that really needs workers, what happens next?

Regardless of the upcoming retirement wave, women are needed in construction.

In order to get more women in the workforce, and especially the field, contractors need:

• A team environment where everyone supports and promotes women

• Women holding leadership roles to provide that mentorship and support

• Equal pay and benefits 

• Continuous recognition and acknowledgment of their accomplishments (in and outside of this one week)

Sponsorship programs are mentioned in the article where incoming employees are buddied up with someone who will mentor and support them throughout their time at the company. I know companies that are doing this now and are having success with it.

No company is perfect and I’m not pointing fingers at anyone, but now is a great time to consider this for your business.

If your company is having issues around this subject, I am happy to speak with you. 

Sami’s Take

I bet you could feel my take coming on as you read through Rob’s polite introduction. Oh, what will I have to say this week? Well, I promise I won’t start holding back on my opinions now. 

Women in construction- I have so much empathy and sympathy for you. Being a woman in any field presents challenges. I can’t imagine a place where those challenges are more tested than in a setting where men are used to only being around other men. In some ways I can imagine it easier to navigate as the overtness can play out unabashedly with no hidden agendas or traps. Covert sexism can sneak up on you in a more “inclusive” work place. 

But what happens to a woman’s career in a setting that doesn’t have to pretend to include her? How hard is it to even break in when the men so obviously don’t care to make room? They certainly don’t seem eager to change their ways to make the setting feel safe for women. 

I’m sure nothing I said so far is news to anyone. And I’m also sure some men in construction will read this and say, “Hey! Not all men and not all construction men.” Yes, I hear you, I do, but also be honest… is it most of them? 

How often have you heard a coworker say something you wouldn’t want said to your mother, or sister, wife, girlfriend, daughter, grandmother, niece, etc.? How often have you felt mad when hearing a man say something like that to a girl or woman you love but then laugh when you hear your friends and coworkers say the same thing about a female stranger? 

I’ve personally seen it so much and all I can ask is how much louder are these men when I’m not there to hear it? As much as men want to say “not all men” I rarely see a man do anything to change how we feel about them and their friends.

I know Rob presented the topic of women in construction and in the workplace in general and how there is a long term benefit to employers who hire more women. While I agree and I’d love to get into the specifics of that, I feel we’re not there yet. In a world where women still do not feel safe to do anything without the fear of a man interrupting her for their selfish desires, how can I possibly use this time to talk about what’s best for a company’s bottom line?

I invite you all to use this time to honestly consider how safe your workplace is right now for women. Would you want to be a woman in your current work environment? Would you want a woman you love to work in your office alone without you there to keep an eye on things? Can you imagine the types of things the men in your office would say about her when she isn’t there to defend herself? 

In a world where women are still not safe I don’t give a crap about companies' bottom lines. Before anyone should be thinking about how to use women for future success let’s first master empathy for women and solving the issue of physical, mental, and emotional safety for them. If you ever hope to have that future success where women help turn companies around, everyone must first do their part to make it safe for us to do that. 

Please, please, please, be honest with yourself and your coworkers and your employers- how safe is your workplace for women? 

Don’t know? You should really find out. And if you don’t know how to find out, you should probably give this another read.