Women in Construction Threats & Opportunities

1. Women in ConstructionThreats & Opportunities Dr. Dina Refki Executive Director Center for Women in Government & Civil Society Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy University at Albany

2. Presentation Outline • Occupational Forecast • Status of Women in Construction • Trends of Women’s Participation • Why it matters • Increasing the Participation of Women in Construction: Effective Recruitment & Retention Strategies

4. Projected Growth in Construction-Related Occupations by Educational Level 21% 22% 2022 2022 2012 2012 Less than High School High School Diploma Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

5. The Status of Women in Construction in 2013

6. Change over the last 12 Years in Women’s Share of Construction- Related Occupations, 2001 – 2013 (in percentage) 2013 2001

7. Why Does it Matter? • Women’s exclusion hurts everyone – the individual, the community and the nation. • Unless proactive strategies are taken, women will be excluded from these growing occupations they need, the community needs and the nation needs.

8. Four-Pronged Approach to Increasing Women’s Participation in Construction Recruit Proactively Retain Deliberately Admit Affirmatively Monitor/Evaluate Consistently

9. Increasing Women’s Participation in Construction Proactive Recruitment Strategies

10. Recruitment Recruit What would attract women to the Industry? What would motivate them? What enticement should be offered?

11. Increasing Participation of Women in the Construction Industry Recruit Exclusion is the result of dichotomous thinking about each gender

12. Gender Dualism Male Female

13. The Solution? Recruit De-Gendering Dismantling the artificial boundaries and harmful stereotypes Emphasizing the need for diverse “styles” that are critical to success of every industry Integration of pluralistic inclusive thinking

14. The pitfalls of gender stereotyping in Promoting Women in nontraditional occupations Recruit «Women make circles and men make squares. The universities wants more computer science students that makes circles.» Inclusion Not Exclusion

15. Another example in coopting gender stereotypes “Who do you think will get the job of making a system that makes everyday life easier for patients and doctors?” Recruit Inclusion Not Exclusion

16. Recruit Inclusion Not Exclusion

17. The Millennia Generation Born early 1980s to early 2000 Recruit Social Trust Skepticism Loyalty/ WIIFM Digital Native, Tech Savvy Who are they? Live First, Work Second Entrepreneurial and risk averse Free agency

18. Evidence about Women’s Recruitment in Nontraditional Careers • Women need to develop self confidence in the field first to develop interest in pursuing a career in the field. • Lack of direction lead to women’s choosing gender based traditional careers. • There is a link between knowledge of what job entails and women’s liking of the job. • Women consider non traditional careers when they know it will be high paying, high status. • Parents and peers have strong influence on career choices. Beliefs predict child’s career interests

19. Implications & Best Practices • Traditional recruitment (brochures, talks, demonstrations) are INSUFFICIENT. Need hands on, special program, camps, after school programs that engage and sustain. • Career guidance need to raise awareness about the role of socialization in opting out of nontraditional careers. Foster critical thinking. • Need to draw a realistic picture of on the job activities. • Need to emphasize high paying, high status occupations that provide economic security because they are in demand. • Women’s recruitment days • Gender-sensitive computer based career explorations that are designed with the changing landscape of work • Collaboration between educational institutions, CBOs and business . • Engage Parents.

20. Recruitment Messages Recruit • Specific, Detailed, Tailored • Emphasize WIIFM (motivate/entice: viable career prospects, high paying) • Cite Community Benefits/attractive features/options • Appeal to heads and hearts, different styles needed in the industry • De-gender messages – deconstruct gendered symbols, practices, beliefs. • Reshape mindsets, change symbolic interpretation of industry • Quantity, quality and consistency matter!

21. Rethinking Recruitment Messages • What aspects of the construction industry do you think appeal to both heads and hearts? • How can we re-imagine the construction industry as one that ALSO embraces communal attributes of working with and helping other people - Habitat for Humanity • How would you design a message that would appeal to diverse styles of thinking?

22. Increasing the Participation of Women in Construction Admit Affirmatively

23. Admit Rethinking Admission to Industry • Admission Criteria • The quota - extremely important yet radical and controversial • An invitation to women • Facilitated community-building. • Strength of numbers (critical mass) create a better culture for both men and women (See Etzkowitz et al. 2000) • Influence the symbolic interpretation of the construction industry to make it more ‘transgender’ (or less gendered) • Gender balances create new practices, new identities, etc. • Need critical mass

24. Increasing the Participation of Women in Construction Retain Deliberately

25. Evidence about Women Pursuing Nontraditional Careers • Critical Gender Difference in perception of success and failure For Women success = hard work Failure = Innate fixed traits/abilities For Men Success = Innate fixed traits/abilities Failure = Lack of effort • For women, perception of proficiency and skills is the most important predictor of persistence and resiliency in N/T career

26. Evidence about Women’s Participation in Nontraditional Careers • Women prefer learning environments that are learner-centered and that involves being a member of an inclusive community of learners that learns collaboratively. • Females prefer practical hand-on applications . • Women need spatial/visual skill training. • Stereotypes affect performance • Curriculum organization can be biased toward males. • Teacher instructional strategies can be biased toward male

27. Implications & Best Practices • Curricular Reforms to address • relevancy, • gender inclusive images and text, and • hands-on instructional practices. • Teacher’s professional development and self assessment. De-gendering Content and Pedagogies -Gender-Reflexive teaching

28. Retain • Evidence Based Interventions • Deliberate Support & Empowerment • «Women’s weekend» • Making women visible • Providing female role models as instructors • Resources allocated for community-building (including counselors) • Mentoring • Creating a peer-supportive an non-marginalised community among women • Mentoring • Tutoring • Student conferences • Online courses • Child care and flexible hours • Support groups, peer counselors • Summer camps • Post school programs • Centering women & Award programs • Networking events

29. Implications & Best Practices • Teach females assertiveness/affirmation. Intelligence is not fixed, but incrementally nurtured over time and not overnight. Hard work not innate abilities are responsible for success. • Mastery of curriculum is key. • Be careful of habitual attribution. Acknowledge structural inequalities but do not use it as justification for failure.

30. Addressing Risks facing women • Health & Safety concerns (injuries, equipment tailored to women, reproductive hazards, sanitary concerns • Changing a Chilly Environment • Address Workplace culture (hostility, sexual harassment, isolation and job insecurity) Foster Open-minded, inclusive flat structure with high degree of cooperation • Strengthen civil rights and sexual harassment elimination policies. • Stress the social benefits of work with extensive customer contact • Provide flexible hours and financially sound workplace Retain Evidence Based Interventions for working women

31. Monitor/Evaluate Setting Recruitment & Retention Goals, Monitoring and Evaluating Efforts Develop measurable, quantifiable, realistic, resourced recruitment and retention Action Plan. • Goals • Objectives • Activities • Timetable • Inputs ,activities and outputs need to have a logical connection to outcomes and long term impacts. WHAT GETS MEASURED GETS DONE

32. A continuous, consistent cycle

33. Increasing the Participation of Women in Construction – Macro Issues • Public Policy • Media Interventions

34. Conclusion We need a consistent, sustained interconnected and collaborative effort. Inclusion mechanisms need to work together to produce positive outcomes.