Women Wanted: Blue-Collar Fields Find New Workforce (CA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

The share of truck drivers, electricians, plumbers and mechanics who are women recently touched the highest level in at least 25 years

By Sarah Chaney and Eric Morath
April 29, 2019 5:30 a.m. ET

Kenyette Godhigh-Bell dismissed any thought of becoming a truck driver years ago when it appeared too daunting to break into a job where more than 90% of workers are men.

“You’ve got this cowboy-boot wearing, cigarette-smoking, tattooed or whatever white guy’s job,” she recalled. Now Ms. Godhigh-Bell, a 46-year-old black woman in sleek high-heeled boots, regularly pulls her 18-wheeler to Nebraska slaughterhouses so she can pick up beef and chicken for transport to grocery warehouses.

She is among a growing number of women taking jobs in blue-collar roles that have long been-and still are-mostly men, including police officers, construction laborers and electricians. A number of factors are driving the trend, including companies broadening recruiting efforts in a tight labor market to workers being drawn by better-paying jobs to women recognizing they won’t be alone.

The increase has been especially pronounced in transportation and material-moving, a field that includes truck drivers, delivery people and warehouse workers. In 2018, 43% more women worked in that category than in 2000, according to the Labor Department, and those gains accelerated the past five years as the labor market tightened. The overall number of women in the workforce increased about 15% during that time.

The number of women working as security guards, police officers and other protective service jobs also rose more than 40% since 2000. Women working construction jobs has increased 23%.

…

Women are increasingly being drawn into blue-collar jobs because the pool of men willing to take those jobs is shrinking, said Gad Levanon, chief economist at The Conference Board. More Americans are pursuing college degrees, leaving fewer willing to take traditional blue-collar jobs.

“That makes recruiting extremely difficult,” he said, adding that companies in blue-collar industries need to go beyond the typical pool of candidates. “Women, in many cases, turn out to be one of those groups.”

The rise of women in majority-male jobs reflects recent labor-force trends: Women have been driving the comeback in working-age labor-force participation, while participation among men ages 25 to 54-long the stalwarts of blue-collar jobs-has lagged behind.

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(Official Page for the 9th Annual National Trades Women Conference)

‘Times Are Changing:’ More Women Breaking Into Construction Industry (NY)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Matt Kent
Published February 2, 2019

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – More and more women are shattering the glass ceiling and making their mark in the male dominated construction industry.

“Times are changing. It’s not just a man’s world anymore,” Tanay Matthews, of Brooklyn, told CBS2’s Vanessa Murdock.

Matthews works construction with Local 361.

“I love it, honestly. It’s tough, it’s physically draining, but every day I wake up and I give it my all,” she said.

She said she’s typically the only woman on site.

“I work with about 30 men now. My last job might have been 200,” she said.
According to the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York City, women make up just four percent of the construction unions workforce. But as Matthews said, times are changing.

“Work needs to be done to continue to get the word out to women and young girls that yes, you can do this, this is a career for you,” said Kathleen Culhane, president of Non-Traditional Employment for Women, or NEW.
NEW offers a two-month pre-apprenticeship training program for women of New York City, many of them unemployed or underemployed women of color.

“It’s booming now. I’m so confident now that I’m going to be great, my family is going to be great,” said Shanique Latimer, who’s finishing up her training at NEW.

“My last job I worked at the World Trade Center and I’ve seen all these women – construction women – walking back and forth and they have like this pride on their face, and I wanted that for myself,” Tshura Williams added.

Now, she has the tools. 

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Hiring women can ease the construction labor shortage

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Vicki O’Leary
March 23, 2018

Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Vicki O’Leary, who was appointed chair of the North American Building Trades Union (NABTU) Tradeswomen’s Committee after joining the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers Union in 2016. She is a 32-year ironworker member from Local 1 in Chicago, and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in labor and leadership. The opinions represented in this piece are independent of Construction Dive’s views.

It’s a time to celebrate the progress we have made in women’s rights but also time for reflection. We ought to stop and look back at the progress we have made or the lack there of. In many areas we have made progress but in many others, progress is rather illusive. Women are viewed as equal bread winners and they hold key positions in many industries. Does it mean that we have achieved gender equality?

Let’s turn to the construction industry. Despite the progress we have seen in the societal acceptance of women as equal breadwinners, capable leaders and successful entrepreneurs, in many industries such progress is less prevalent than others. Construction industry has a long history of sexism and discrimination against tradeswomen. In some cases, such treatment ended in tragedy such the fate of carpenter apprentice Outi Hicks, who was killed on the jobsite by a coworker.

An uphill battle

In the 21st century, it is shocking that women in the construction industry still face an uphill battle when it comes to advancement. But when you consider the root causes and statistics, it’s not such a shock.

Almost a third of women working in construction fear sexism will hold them back from the industry’s top jobs, a recent study by Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found last year. The construction trades have long been among the industries with the lowest percentage of gender diversity in the workforce. Women represent only 9% of the overall construction workforce and 3% of the building trades.

Why does it matter? The construction industry is experiencing a dire skilled labor shortage and women make up half of the population and workforce. It’s intuitive to conclude that a large part of the solution to the skilled labor shortage is in the hands of the untapped talent – we need more tradeswomen! It’s that simple. If the construction industry doesn’t act promptly to address and mitigate sexism and breakdown gender bias, it wouldn’t just be hindering progress in closing the gender gap but also the skilled labor gap.

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