Repost: 'I Chose Construction Because of a Desire to Create'

20 Questions for Women in Construction

Posted: 03/01/2013 2:48 pm
By Nedelka "Mac" McLean, Carpenter Apprentice

What was your first job in construction? My first project was a King Kullen Supermarket in Long Island.

What is your current job? Renovating a school in Staten Island damaged by Sandy.

Are you in a union? What is the best part of being in a union? I am in a union and enjoy the sense of family and guaranteed benefits.

Why did you choose construction? What led you to construction? I chose construction because of a desire to create.

Who inspires you? I am inspired and motivated by the stories of the women who came before me.

What has been the most surprising part of being a woman working in construction? The majority of the men I have worked with judge you on your skills and not your gender.

What is your favorite part of your career? When a project is near completion and I know I have made a contribution.

What is the biggest change you have seen in the field since you started? The biggest change is in the number of women in the field thanks to NEW.

What is your favorite tool? My favorite is the screw gun and T-square.

What would surprise us about you? I started in this field at age 50.

What would surprise us about you? I started in this field at age 50.

What is your favorite hard hat sticker? My Local 157 sticker.

View the original article at www.huffingtonpost.com.

Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) prepares, trains, and places women in careers in the skilled construction, utility, and maintenance trades, helping women achieve economic independence and a secure future. At the same time, NEW provides a pipeline of qualified workers to the industries that build, move, power, green, and maintain New York. NEW transforms women’s lives. NEW’s free training program starts a woman on the path to a career where she learns a skilled trade, earns a good salary, and is able to provide a secure future for her family.

Repost: A Day in the Life of a Woman in Construction

20 Questions for Women in Construction

Posted: 02/15/2013 1:07 pm

By Amy A. Peterson

Hard Hats. Strong Women. Building the Future.

Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) prepares, trains and places women in careers in the skilled construction, utility and maintenance trades, helping women achieve economic independence and a secure future. NEW graduates are working as carpenters, electricians, ironworkers, laborers, plumbers and operating engineers.

NEW was founded in 1978, when less than 3 percent of engineers were women and less than 6 percent of architects were women. Today, those percentages are above 13 percent and 25 percent, respectively. The number of tradeswomen hasn't grown as fast. Nationwide less than one percent of carpenters were women in 1978 and by 2009 the percentage nationwide was still less than 2 percent. According to the New York Building Congress analysis, "Construction remains a male-dominated industry, with men accounting for 93 percent of all workers." However, in New York City, the number of women in construction is growing. Today, thanks to a unique partnership between NEW, labor unions, contractors, and government, 10 percent of the apprentices in the building and construction trades in New York City are women.

Follow our blog to hear the stories of women working in construction in New York City at every level as we ask 20 questions to women working in construction.

Denise Doyle, D.C. 9 Painter, Recruitment Manager of Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW), Recording Sec of Local 20 D.C. 9, Executive Board Council Delegate, Trustee - D.C. 9- Council Delegate

What was your first job in construction? Sanding walls

What is your current job? Recruitment Manager and Painting Instructor at Nontraditional Employment for Women

What job do you want in the future? I have honestly never thought about it, I love what I do now!

Are you in a union? What is the best part of being in a union? Yes, D.C. 9 Painters and Allied Trades Local 20. The best part of being in a union is being part of an organization that helps build New York.

Why did you choose construction? What led you to construction? I believe that construction chose me.

When did you realize you wanted to work in construction? When I was a first year apprentice I realized that I truly enjoyed my job.

Is there someone in particular in your life that led you to this career? My parents always told me that I can do whatever I wanted to do. And my husband is a Union carpenter.

Who inspires you? All the women in construction that paved the way before me.

What has been the most surprising part of being a woman working in construction? After earning respect, how great the guys were in teaching me their trade.

What is your favorite part of your career? Turning journey level.

What is your most memorable moment working in construction? 9/11/2001

What is your favorite project you have worked on? I have worked at the United Nations on two different occasions.

What is the biggest challenge of being a woman working in construction? Fitting in sometimes as the only woman on the crew.

What is the biggest change you have seen in the field since you started? There are more women now than when I started.

What advice would you give someone starting out? I would advise them that they need to earn respect and work hard every day.

What is your favorite tool? My 5-in-1

What is your favorite hard hat sticker? My D.C. 9 Local 20 Queens sticker.

What is your most valuable certification? What was the most challenging? My Labor Studies Degree from Empire State College that the union paid for. It was challenging to work and keep up with studies.

See the original interview at www.huffingtonpost.com.

Repost: Women in Combat

The armed services have announced the opening of combat positions to women. Before this announcement, women already made up 15% of the military. There is NOTHING more difficult in construction than in the military, and yet construction is only at 2 - 3% women. It is clear the military has lessons to teach about bringing women into nontraditional occupations.

We hope the military will share these lessons, and that researchers will document them.

-PGTI

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Women in Combat: The Fight Isn’t Over

By Mary Gatta

U.S. Marine Corps

Women have served dutifully and effectively in our armed forces, from the American Revolution to the ongoing war in Afghanistan, without equal opportunity or just reward – until now.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s announcement that women will be able to serve in full combat roles breaks the final glass ceiling in the military. It also eliminates the last formal practice of sex discrimination by the federal government.

Women’s role in the military has grown in fits and starts over the years. Early in the 1900’s, military policy opened up nursing and clerical jobs; more recently, women have performed nontraditional roles, such as radio operators, medics, tank mechanics and more. (View a slideshow of women currently serving in the military.)

Yet the combat ban excluded women from 20% of jobs across the active-duty force; such jobs pay more than others and represent the route to top leadership.  And though many women have actually served in combat roles during war, the legal exclusion largely prevented them the recognition and material benefits — largely pay—of combat veterans.

This historic change is critical for women both in and out of the military.  It may encourage other women to pursue opportunities in male-dominated industries; within the military, it may bring important new voices to military decisions and foreign affairs.

As for critics who say women don’t want these combat roles, not only have women already performed them, this change provides additional opportunities for women to advance in the armed forces and access greater economic security, along with fairer wages and benefits. (Despite the grueling working conditions outlined in this Opinion piece from Thursday’s Journal.)

But access to combat roles is only the first step. Discrimination does not magically vanish when women gain entry to previously restricted sectors; in fact, it sometimes worsens. Military leaders will need to address other forms of discrimination, such as sexual harassment, assault and bullying. They’ll also need to ensure leadership opportunities are fairly available to women, and devise work and family policies to support them.

The end of legal sex discrimination by the federal government and the military is a significant step towards ensuring that all jobs, industries and workplaces are open to women’s full, equal and safe participation. However our work still continues, in the effort to remove all legal, social, and cultural barrier — such as pay inequality, sexual harassment, and occupational segregation — that prevent women from achieving full equity and equality in our nation’s armed forces and throughout our workplaces.

Dr. Mary Gatta is currently a Senior Scholar, at Wider Opportunities for Women in Washington. She has published several books, articles, and policy papers on women in the workplace, occupational sex segregation, low-wage work and workplace skills, and social welfare policy. Read more of her work here.

Copyright 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

View the original article on The Wall Street Journal blog.