Repost: Construction-Training Grads Are All Women

The Construction Workforce Initiative 2 Program in New Haven, CT, recently presented 37 women with certificates of completion. This graduation ceremony marked the matriculation of their first women-only class in the construction training program. (Markeshia, 23 Oct. 2014).

Visit http://www.newhavenindependent.org to read the full article.

Repost: Francoise Jacobsohn Joins ERA with Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues

Equal Rights Advocates recently announced that Françoise Jacobsohn, who serves as a co-chair of the National Task Force on Tradeswomen's Issues and a Fellow at the Cornell ILR Labor and Employment Law Program (LEL), recently joined their organization to restart their Tradeswomen’s Advocacy Project (ERA Staff, 21 Oct. 2014). Along with co-chair Wider Opportunities for Women, the National Task Force will aim "to improve and enforce the law on equal opportunity for tradeswomen through education and legislative and policy advocacy" (ERA Staff, 21 Oct. 2014).

Visit http://www.equalrights.org/ to read the full article.

Repost: Where Are All the Blue-Collar Women?

HuffPost Live's Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani recently interviewed Lorien Barlow (@hardhattedwoman), the director of Hard Hatted Woman, a feature-length documentary film that will explore the experiences of American women working in the construction industry.
Ambra Melendez, a journey ironworker; Francoise Jacobsohn (@fjacobsohn), a project manager at Equal Rights Advocates; and Rudy Mulligan, a second-year carpenter apprentice, also contribute their thoughts on the stereotypes tradeswomen confront in a "hyper-masculine arena."

Visit The Huffington Post online to watch the interview.

Visit www.hardhattedwoman.com to learn more about the documentary.

Repost: Iron fist in a velvet glove, Chinese women on construction site

© 2009 - 2012 ChinaHush

ChinaHush recently published striking photos of women working in construction in China, where "woman construction workers have taken up 10.18% of the total construction site workforce" (Lee, 24 Sept. 2014). Many of these women work side-by-side with their husbands, earning wages to support their families. While these jobs often provide better wages and greater freedom than factory jobs, women workers typically make less money than their male counterparts--in the case of 32-year-old Yang Amei, 120 yuan instead of the 160 yuan per day that her husband earns (Lee, 24 Sept. 2014). In recent years, women have taken on roles that require "heavy lifting" on the construction sites--work that was previous reserved for men.

To read the full article and view the photos, visit http://www.chinahush.com/.

Repost: Become a Union Carpenter [video]

Awesome video just released by the NERCC's Sisters in the Brotherhood to recruit more women to become union carpenters. Pass it along!

Repost: Is construction still a losing game for most women? Are you part of the problem?

A recent article by Julia Evans, Chief Executive at BSRIA, describes the ebb and flow of women workers in the construction field during the past two centuries and questions the long-term efficacy of legislation that simply "throws money" at the job access problem. Through a look at the historical efforts to incorporate women in the building trades workforce, Evans smartly argues:

"Funding new training opportunities is a great step forward, but to see real change we need industry leaders to be proactive in embedding a more diverse and inclusive work culture. The majority of women aged 25-45 find that attitudes, behaviours and perceptions are the greatest barriers (3)." (Evans, 23 July 2014)

To read Evans' full argument regarding women workers in Britain's construction workforce, visit http://www.link2portal.com/.

Repost: Mind the Gap - How One Employer Tackled Pay Equity

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal describes a successful policy implemented at McGill University to close the pay gap between male and female employees. After 13 years and $19 million US dollars, McGill provided equal wages to the 12,000 men and women whom they employ full-time (Murray, 8 July 2014). Their gender-equity program even provided backpay to employees who were considered underpaid according to a new Quebec law. The article explains how the program mathematically determined fair pay:

"The program's goal was to ensure that pay for female-dominated professions was keeping pace with male-dominated ones of equal importance. If administrative assistants were considered as valuable as groundskeepers, the thinking went, the women who jotted down phone messages and kept appointment calendars should be compensated as well as the men working the lawns" (Murray, 8 July 2014).

A similar pay gap between men and women persists in the United States, with some estimates as high as 19% (USDOL as cited in Murray). With federal legislation delayed, states and cities are working to develop their own solutions. In Boston, the Mayor and the Workforce Women's Council lead "100% Talent: The Boston Women's Compact" (www.cityofboston.gov/). Through this initiative, companies such as Suffolk Construction work independently to address equal pay issues.

To learn more about "100% Talent: The Boston Women's Compact," visit http://www.cityofboston.gov/.

To read the full article in The Wall Street Journal, visit http://m.us.wsj.com/.

Repost: Dayton signs law to give women a better workplace

Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota recently signed a law that requires state contractors to provide equal pay regardless of gender and expands benefits for parents working in the construction field. This is the first law of this kind in the country! Here's a clip from a recent Star Tribune article, describing the bill:

"The Women’s Economic Security Act, comprised of nine separate pieces of legislation, won legislative approval last week with bipartisan support. It forces about 1,000 state contractors to certify that they pay men and women equally for similar jobs, extends parental leave from six to 12 weeks and requires employers to make new accommodations for expectant and new mothers.

Dayton signed the bill surrounded by women at an event at the governor’s reception room. Women’s groups fought hard for the package.
'Nothing else like this is happening in the nation,' said Lee Roper-Batker, president of the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota. 'I have to tell you the nation is watching and cheering … right now'" (Roper, 11 May 2014).

Visit http://www.startribune.com/ to read the full article and visit http://wdoc.house.leg.state.mn.us to read a full description of this bill.

Repost: Newly launched program gives women a pathway to building trades

Great article in the May 16 2014 issue of New Hampshire Business Review describing Building Pathways New Hampshire (BPNH)'s efforts to help women access good jobs in the construction industry:

"Lisa Wiggin was looking for a career change. A 40-something nurse’s assistant, she wanted a job that was 'more hands-on' and gave her the satisfaction of working on a project and seeing something finished. 

At a visit to the unemployment office, Wiggin learned about Building Pathways New Hampshire, a program to provide pre-apprenticeship training to unemployed and underemployed women in hopes of building the female ranks in the construction industry. About 13 women were selected for the inaugural class, which began May 12 and runs for five weeks" (Lamontagne Hall, 16 May 2014).

Visit http://www.nhbr.com/ to read the full article.

Repost: Kudumbasree’s masons all set to enter construction industry

Kudumbasree members undergo masonry training in Kochi.

Construction training for women happening in India!

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M. P. PRAVEEN

On successfully creating a pool of women engineers and supervisors in a largely male-dominated construction sector, the Kudumbasree Mission in the district is all set to expand its presence in the sector by training women in allied activities.

The mission is now focused on training skilled masons, plumbers and electricians.

A 90-day training in masonry for the first batch of 30 women has been completed and the second batch of 25 women is set to complete training this month-end. Ten of those who completed training are undergoing internship while many among the rest are doing independent works.

As part of their practical training, Kudumbasree members constructed three houses at Panayikkulam near Aluva. The houses are pucca houses and could be sold by the agency concerned, a senior Kudumbasree official in the district told The Hindu.

An agency based in Ettumanoor was roped in to create the module of training and to execute it. The same agency has been entrusted with training plumbers and electricians.

The masons trained under the programme will be roped in for projects to be undertaken by the construction wing of Kudumbasree, thereby helping them gain more experience and get more works.

A pool of 37 engineers and supervisors trained by KITCO and split into three teams is now equipped to take up construction assignments.

The agreement for their first assignment, a project to construct houses for scheduled communities at Edakkattuvayal, is likely to be signed soon after the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April 10.

The training module for plumbers and electricians has already been prepared. Training will start only after the elections to avoid violation of the model code of conduct in force.

Applications are being sought from aspiring candidates through the neighbourhood Kudumbasree units. Attitude and aptitude for the job are paramount considerations.

The Kudumbasree Mission is looking to train a batch of 20 plumbers and 20 electricians initially,

The Ernakulam branch of the mission was the first to initiate training for engineers, supervisors, masons, plumbers and electricians. Now, Wayanad and Palakkad units are planning to launch training programmes in masonry.

The district unit of the mission has concluded training for supervisors and engineers in the construction sector for the time being.

The project was implemented with the aid of HUDCO and it would be resumed only if someone offered assistance, the official said.

Toys for future tradeswomen!

Check out this great ad from Goldie Blox that targets future female engineers:



Read more about this advertising campaign in this Slate article.
Learn more about the Goldie Box company at http://www.goldieblox.com/.

Repost: Weighed Down

In India, women (who make up about 50% of construction workers there) are told that they "aren't smart enough" to do the skilled construction work. In the United States, women are told they "aren't strong enough" to really do construction.

Do all the smart women live in the United States and all the strong women live in India? We think not.

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The HinduPhoto: Mohammed Yousuf

The construction industry in India has always been male-dominated, with men doing the more skilled jobs and women reduced to unskilled labour. Women are involved mostly in physical work such as carrying construction material, breaking bricks and rocks, cleaning, etc. However, women construction labourers often face discrimination in wage payment. It has been found that women workers are usually paid 40 to 60 per cent less than men; sometimes even below the minimum wages set by the government.

Apart from that, there are hardly separate facilities like toilets, first-aid and child care for the women workforce at construction sites. Women labourers work under serious life and health risks with no safety gear and a polluted environment.

In the photograph, the camera captures women toiling at a construction site in Hyderabad.

Visit http://www.thehindu.com to view the original article.

Save the Date: 9/20/13 USDOL Women's Bureau & The Construction Institute Will Host "Engaging Women for STEM, Non-Traditional, and Green Careers"

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WOMEN’S BUREAU & THE CONSTRUCTION INSTITUTE INVITES YOU TO AN IMPORTANT ROUNDTABLE: ENGAGING WOMEN FOR STEM, NON-TRADITIONAL, AND GREEN CAREERS 

The roundtable will bring together leaders in the Metro Boston area to discuss potential pathways for women to become involved in careers related to science, technology, math, and engineering (STEM). This discussion will also draw on ideas for engaging women in green and non-traditional careers. Some of the topic questions to be considered are:

1. How can women qualify for STEM, Non-Traditional, and Green Careers? 
2. What opportunities are available for women in “green” jobs and STEM? 
3. How can we help women transition from traditional occupations to non-traditional ones? 

DATE: Tuesday, September 20, 2013

TIME: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: Sheet Metal Workers Training Center, 1181 Adams St. Dorchester 

Attendance is free but registration is required. Space limited to 25.

RSVP: To register, please send an e-mail to Rizzolo.Angela@dol.gov by close of business hours on September 18 and include your name, organization, and telephone number.

For questions, please call: Angela Rizzolo @ 617-565-1988.

Our special thanks to the Sheet Metal Workers Training Center for co-hosting this roundtable.

Repost: Whites Get 92% of Contracts in Post-Affirmative Action L.A.

Thank you to Jeremy Thompson of Economic Justice Research Hub, LLC for sending us this article!

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More than a decade after Los Angeles started trying to sidestep California’s affirmative action ban, firms owned by white men won 92 percent of the $2.1 billion in contracts awarded by the city, though they’re just 14 percent of the population.

A diversity program in place since 2001 has had little impact because it’s rarely enforced, according to critics and city officials. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, elected in 2005, has called it “absolutely insufficient.” A compliance scorecard for 2012 detailed how the second-most populous U.S. city fell short of its own goals for bringing female and minority contractors to 22 percent.

Los Angeles started its outreach program in 2001,
four years before Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa,
a Democrat and the first Hispanic mayor since 1872,
took office. Photographer: Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg

The struggle to shake up the status quo in Los Angeles -- which has the second-highest share of minority residents of the 10 largest cities, at about 71 percent -- underscores the power of prohibitions against preferences for women and traditional minority groups.

With 1996’s Proposition 209, California became the first state to outlaw gender and race preferences, inspiring bans in Washington, Michigan, Nebraska and Arizona. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering Michigan’s law in a college case that may affect state prohibitions against factoring in race and ethnicity in hiring, contracting and university admissions.

In Los Angeles, the city hasn’t been aggressive enough in finding ways around state law, said Tim Lohrentz, who has studied contracting for the Insight Center for Community Economic Development in Oakland, California.

‘Really Varied’

While “Los Angeles has in some ways a really innovative policy,” Lohrentz said, “at the implementation level, it’s really varied and not very well done.”

There is no national census of contractors broken down by race, ethnicity or gender, according to the National Association of Minority Contractors.

The city requires agencies to set diversity goals and their main contractors to document good-faith efforts to reach out to nonwhite, non-male subcontractors.

“We laughingly call it the ‘good-fake’ effort,” said Beverly Kuykendall, an African-American who owns a consulting business and is on the board of the Southern California chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors.

Los Angeles has to force the hands of companies that win the biggest jobs, Kuykendall said. “Only if there’s a pain point will some of these prime contractors make an effort.”

About 100 miles to the south, San Diego, with a non-Hispanic white population of 45 percent, has achieved results by mandating that a certain amount of contract work go to small businesses. The system has pulled in women and minorities without creating a bureaucracy that targets them directly. Lohrentz called it “very simple” and easy to police.

To give the Los Angeles program some teeth, Villaraigosa in January opened a $400,000-a-year Office of Contractor Relations. The outreach program had operated until then without a city agency designated to manage and enforce it.

Read the remainder of this article at www.bloomberg.com.

Repost: Why secretary is still the top job for women

More on why construction is a good choice for women, and why as a policy issue, moving more women into construction is a good anti-poverty program.

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Why secretary is still the top job for women

By Annalyn Kurtz @CNNMoney January 31, 2013: 8:37 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

What's the most common job for American women?

The same as it was in the 1950s: secretary.

About 4 million workers in the United States fell under the category of "secretaries and administrative assistants" between 2006 and 2010, and 96% of them were women, according to the U.S. Census.

How secretary became women's work

The rise of the secretary began with the Industrial Revolution, which created an enormous amount of paperwork. In the early 20th century, it became a female job as companies realized they could pay women lower wages to do the work.

Secretarial schools offered professional training, which made it possible for many women to enter the career without a full college education.

It wasn't until 1950 that it became the most popular job among women. Back then, 1.7 million women worked in a category the Census defined as "stenographers, typists or secretaries."

While the title has evolved since then, it remains the top female job.

"It was out with the stenographers, and in with the data processing people. But many women are still employed in that large category," said Cindia Cameron, organizing director at 9to5, National Association of Working Women. Cameron worked as a secretary before joining the organization in 1983.

Why so little has changed

First, generalists tend to dominate the list of most common jobs, regardless of gender. The top job for American men, for example, is truck driver.

As workers become more specialized, either with years of experience or education, their job titles tend to become more specific to their industry.

So why are so many secretaries still around?

"Every time a major new technology showed up, there were always predictions that this would spell the end of secretaries," said Ray Weikal, spokesman for the International Association of Administrative Professionals. "You saw that with the development of electric typewriters, the personal computer, and the internet, but every time technology gets more efficient, the amount of business increases. You continue to need people who can use those tools."

Administrative assistant could very well continue to be the top job for women in 2020. The Labor Department projects the category will grow about 12% between 2010 and 2020, adding nearly 493,000 jobs during this decade.

To read the remainder of the article, visit the CNNMoney website.

Repost: Zimbabwe - Storming Into a Man's World

BY FORTIOUS NHAMBURA, 7 DECEMBER 2012

Charlotte Chani - clad in worksuit, helmet on her head and a trowel in hand - walks confidently to her workplace. It is 7.45am and Chani is about to start her day's work. She is bricklayer. As usual, she is the first to get to the workplace, something that even her male counterparts have failed to do. She has always accomplished her daily target of laying 600 bricks with ease despite being also the supervisor of the team.

Once her counterparts could not agree with Charlotte's choice to head the building brigade as they felt she was too young to lead them.

At 24, she commands a building brigade of 12 builders, with some men old enough to be her father.

But as destiny could have it prescribed, she has to lead and she does that with distinction.

For some of her workmates the hatred has now evolved into respect.

Charlotte is among the few women who have taken the construction industry by storm. They are bound not only to be part of the booming industry but to play a meaningful role in the sector that has been a male preserve.

That is the mission of the Zimbabwe Women in Construction Association, an organisation established with the primary objective of supporting women in the construction industry in Zimbabwe. The association is driven by the will to achieve more. ZWICA members are agreed that time has come to engender the sector and ensure more women participate fully in it.

Even companies with stakes in the construction industry are beginning to see the wisdom of bringing women in the sector and have started to contribute.

ZWICA president Mrs Elizabeth Chakadunga said years of working in a male-dominated environment had given her the zeal to open up opportunities for women in construction. As such she and others started the association of women in the construction industry.

Read the full article at allafrica.com.

Repost: Building career in construction possible for women too

COURTESY GILBANE

HOUSE RULES: Pamela House, senior accountant at Gilbane Building Co., says companies and programs need to begin talking about alternative career paths as early as middle school.

By Rebecca KeisterPBN Staff WriterPosted 10/1/12

Pamela House considers herself lucky to have found someone willing to take a chance and offer her a foot in the door to a lifelong career when she was a single mother in the late 1970s, with only a part-time job and no real job training.

That the career happened to be in construction was even more unheard of for women than it may be today. But House relished the opportunity to make her way up the chain at Gilbane Building Company, where she works as a senior accountant.

In September she was awarded the Crystal Achievement Award from the National Association of Women in Construction, an organization she has belonged to for close to 20 years. She has held several leadership roles with the group, including on its board of directors.

PBN: Why do you think women might be reluctant to consider a career in the construction industry?

House: Because there's the stereotypical digging the ditch [assumption about the work] and not realizing the full range of possibilities that there are. This industry is about a lot more, everything from architects to accountants to IT. Right now, there's a revolution in the construction industry and the technology is incredible. It's incredible the amount of knowledge that [you need] for this job. I'd like to see more women in the trades and there's really no reason there shouldn't be. The days of women not being [able] to be out in the field are gone.

PBN: But are there some job functions women cannot do, simply because of size and strength?

House: That's up to them. There's a lot of women who can do some physical stuff better than some guys. [But] no one is expecting someone to do a job they can't do. As long as you can keep up, the days of physical limitations are over. It's hard to attract the next generation to the trades, because it's a different animal today. Maybe the reason is a lot of young people have been behind a computer all their lives. Girls in nontraditional trades are an age-old problem. That's why [someone] encouraged me to think outside the box. I do believe that afforded me to work my way up in the time when the industry was growing.

To read the full interview, visit the Providence Business News at www.pbn.com.