Tough as Nails

Photo courtesy of bigrentz.com

Tough as Nails

by Sweiskloss Staff
March 7, 2024

Meet Natalie Cervantes, a 29-year-old single mother of four who is an Electrical Inside Wireman (Local Union IBEW 11), and Catherine Dillon, who learned basic welds from her father and is now a welder and Eighth Period Apprentice (Ironworkers Local 433). Jenna Dorrough graduated from Women in Non-Traditional Employment Roles’ pre-apprenticeship training program as a carpenter and is now getting on the job training working on the Metro’s Regional Connector project, while Yurvina Hernandez, a Laborer Apprentice (Local 300) inspects segments of massive tunnel boring machines. Coming from a construction family, Christina Lara, a Miner working underground on Metro’s Purple Line Extension explains, “At the end of the day, you feel like you’ve had a purpose.” (Success Stories from Metro’s PLA and Construction Careers Policy, 9/2023) These women, among others, are inspiring and mentoring females to break into, and flourish, in the male-dominated construction industry. Women comprise nearly 47% of the national workforce yet they make up only 10% of the construction industry, according a 2023 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This means that “for every 10 people in a construction-related role, [only] one of them is a woman.” But those numbers are on the rise! In honor of Women’s History month, we celebrate women in construction. Whether they’re wearing a hard hat or managing a building site, women are demolishing barriers. The majority of female held construction positions are in office, sales, and project management or leadership roles, such as Mahsa Safaei, SK’s accomplished construction project manager, who oversees several of our projects. Still, only a small number can be found working at the job site. According to the National Association of Women in Construction, “of 8.3 million construction field laborers in 2018, 3.4% were women.” Unconscious gender bias, lack of exposure to the industry, inadequate training opportunities, and negative stereotypes, have all contributed to this discrepancy. But as the construction workforce ages, the demand for skilled labor has forced companies to look outside the box, and women represent a major untapped resource. (Washington Post) Tapping into this asset, one example is the LA Metro, working in conjunction with private and public sectors, established the Women Build Metro Los Angeles platform to bring awareness to the industry and increase the number of qualified female candidates for apprenticeships and job placements. Under their Project Labor Agreement, they have advocated for diversity in the workforce on construction jobs, encouraging contractors to recruit, employ and retain women. Some strategies include having gender-specific portable toilets on job sites, to creating women’s networking groups, and providing resources for childcare. From electricians to welders to carpenters, women are thriving in trade school programs, apprenticeships, and Union jobs and challenging industry stereotypes.