As More Women Enter the Construction Industry, Job sites and Equipment are Slow to Adapt

Women face challenges ahead when they enter the roofing industry.

Although the percentage of women who work in the construction industry is below 10 percent, there has been a steady increase of women in the field during the past decade, and their search for construction jobs has been made a bit easier by the high demand for construction workers. Still, the industry needs to take steps to ensure safety for women on job sites, according to www.marketplace.org.

Many women face warnings about the challenges ahead when they choose to enter the roofing industry. But Tamara Crooks with the National Association of Women in Construction says, even with the warnings, more women are training for new jobs in the construction industry.

"We notice that the numbers between male and female in classrooms is starting to equal out," Crooks says. "[Now] you have just as many women joining those courses as you have men."

However, there is limited information about how women fare in the construction industry, and one of the most comprehensive studies on the subject was conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1999, which found 88 percent of women in construction reported being sexually harassed.

But sexual harassment is not the only challenge. Women who work on construction sites say some basic equipment still doesn't meet their needs. For example, many sites don't have a women's bathroom, and women often aren't allowed to use the men's port-a-potties.

Additionally, equipment often has not adapted to be manufactured with women's bodies in mind. For example, heavy-duty work gloves typically are designed for big hands, and oversized gloves can be a hazard for workers such as female welders, who must maneuver a flaming torch.

Still, women who work in construction often can make a good salary, and the wage gender gap in the industry is smaller. Although women in the U.S. continue to make an average of 80 cents for every dollar men make, women in construction make 97 cents for every dollar men make.

Learn More about the National roofing Contractors Association (NRCA)