New Report Examines Experiences of Tradeswomen in Construction — And Why 44% Are Considering Leaving

Amid a substantial labor shortage, the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill will soon give rise to tens of thousands of construction projects in need of skilled tradespeople — yet women remain an underutilized and undervalued resource. A new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) found that 44% of women working in the construction trades have seriously considered leaving their jobs, largely due to experiences of discrimination and harassment.

In 2020, a record number of women — more than 300,000 — were employed in construction occupations, but they still account for only 4% of workers in the field. Programs and research have often focused on recruitment, says Ariane Hegewisch, IWPR senior research fellow and co-author of the report along with Eve Mefferd, IWPR research assistant. With this study, IWPR wanted to examine retention and the factors pushing tradeswomen out. Recruitment is important, Hegewisch says, “but if you get them in, you have to ensure that they can and want to stay.”

The 2021 IWPR Tradeswomen’s Retention and Advancement Survey, from which the report draws, was answered by 2,635 tradeswomen and nonbinary tradespeople, the largest sample of tradeswomen ever surveyed.

Women enter the trades primarily because of the opportunity for high earnings and good benefits, the report shows. Like many tradeswomen, Thia Tomasich “stumbled into” the field. Proactive recruitment of women remains an issue, with the majority of survey respondents finding out about the trades through family and friends rather than through high school counselors, job training programs, or job centers.

Tomasich knew what she needed in a job but didn’t know where to get it. She had several boxes to check: at least $15 an hour to maintain her housing and support her two kids; manual skilled work with on-the-job training; and no gender pay gap (which had been an issue in her prior work in the security field).

Tomasich sought guidance from a job center but continued to be presented with options that weren’t a good fit. As she was walking out of the office one day, she noticed a flyer for a welding class and asked the staff about the opportunity. “They said they hadn’t even considered me,” Tomasich recalls. That class, which she “absolutely loved,” led to a women’s pre-apprenticeship program, and Tomasich became an apprentice ironworker at age 36. A proud member of the Ironworkers Local 10 in Kansas City, Tomasich recently finished her four-year apprenticeship and is working toward journey status.

What’s driving tradeswomen away

Despite the benefits of working in the trades and the critical need for skilled workers, many women report that they face an unwelcoming work environment. Nearly half (47.7%) of respondents said they are held to a different standard than their men co-workers, encounter discrimination in many aspects of their work, and sometimes face an unsupportive if not hostile work environment.

“Lack of equal treatment — on top of being a minority in the workforce — creates a work environment where women, especially women of color, are under constant pressure not only to be good but to be better than their male coworkers,” the report states.

Harassment is also a serious concern for women in the trades, with 26.5% reporting that they are always or frequently harassed merely for being a woman. The survey also found that 23.6% of respondents report they always or frequently face sexual harassment, 21% of women of color report that they are always or frequently racially harassed, and 19% of LGBTQ respondents say that they always or frequently face harassment based on sexual orientation.

Considering the report’s findings, it may come as little surprise that 44.4% of respondents say that they have left or seriously considered leaving the trades. This response was particularly high for LGBTQ respondents (54.3%), Native American respondents (52.8%), and respondents who do not have children (50.3%). Of those with leave intentions, the most common reason cited was harassment and lack of respect.

Although Tomasich has heard many “horrible stories about how women have been mistreated on job sites,” she says that she faces ignorance more often than hostility. She spoke of foremen and ironworkers who “just don’t know how to treat you” and co-workers who “don’t know what to do with you because they don’t know what we are capable of.”

Hieu Nguyen — whose self-described tagline is “I’m a journeyman carpenter, and I build big shit” — has also worked hard to prove herself. “We have to show up and show out every day for our job, but the reality of the situation is, you showing up and showing out looks different than what a man does,” Nguyen, a 5-foot-1 woman, says. “And that's not to say that we can't do what they do. You just have to figure out a different way to do what they do.”

With more women in the field, things are improving, Nguyen says. She explains that now tradeswomen can look out for one another, saying things like “Yo, sis, you don’t want to do it that way. Let me show you how,” helping to combat any feelings of inadequacy when compared to their 6-foot counterparts.

“Sometimes it’s disheartening,” Nguyen shares. “A lot of times, I want to say 75% of the time, women have this mentality of ‘I’m just a number. I’m just here because they needed a girl on the job [for quotas].’” Nguyen used to think like that, too, but after seven years in the industry, her attitude has changed. “Now, I’m like, ‘No, I’m a badass carpenter,’ and that’s what I tell my sisters. ‘Yo, hold your head up. Walk in there like you’re a boss bitch and say: ‘This is what I can do. This is what I don’t know how to do. This is what you’re going to show me how to do. Let’s move on to the business of the day.’”

Who is in the tradeswomen community

Another major takeaway from the report was that tradeswomen are a diverse group, with 46% of respondents identifying as women of color. The survey showed that 18% identified as Latina, 15.5% as Black, 5% as Asian American and Pacific Islander, 4% as Native American, 54% as white, and 3.5% as more than one race or other.

The tradeswomen community is also replete with parents: 64% reported having children, and 50% have children under 18. Despite the challenges that trades work may present for families, the survey shows that a majority of those with minor children have not considered leaving the trades. Among those with minor children who have considered leaving, 69.3% cited difficulties accessing child care and 63.4% mentioned lack of pregnancy accommodations as an important reason for leaving.

“Me being a mother was the driving force in me seeking out the trades,” Tomasich asserts, explaining that adequate pay and benefits were essential as a single mom. She acknowledges that child care is a challenge; “Just today, as a matter of fact, I had to leave work because my youngest son missed the bus,” Tomasich shared. Thankfully, she says, she has an “extremely understanding” foreman.

Where progress is being made

Although a significant number are having negative experiences, it is important to note that many tradeswomen report that they are respected and treated well on the job. “I think it shows change is possible and good conditions are possible,” Hegewisch says. She also noted that although women make up only 4% of the workforce, 43% say they often or always work with other tradeswomen, suggesting a “positive efforts cluster where you make progress, and then out of that progress, more progress comes.”

The report describes several initiatives that are working to improve the recruitment and retention of tradeswomen. Boston, Hegewisch notes, has the nation’s highest goal for hours worked by women and minorities on large construction projects; in 2020, women worked 7% of hours in the city, which is almost twice as high as women’s share of construction jobs nationally.

The state of Oregon has been diversifying its highway workforce with the help of federal highway funding, which it has used to support outreach and pre-apprenticeship programs and to provide direct supports to apprentices, including for child care. Hegewisch notes that the majority of people benefiting from the child care supports are white men and that efforts like these are a “very egalitarian way of supporting apprentices.”

Creating more inclusive workplaces

In addition to continued high earnings and good benefits, survey respondents said that community-building efforts and supportive policies were key to their success. On the community side, this means support and mentorship from other tradeswomen as well as from the tradesworker community (e.g., union locals and women’s committees, women-focused pre-apprenticeship programs, tradeswomen groups). In addition to community support, respondents noted the importance of workplace policies (e.g., anti-harassment), hiring goals for women, and employers’ commitment to diversity.

Nguyen, a union member with the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters and the co-chair of its Boston Sisters in the Brotherhood group, is a prime example of a community-focused tradeswoman. Nguyen speaks passionately about being a “hype girl” on and off job sites, organizing Tradeswomen Tuesdays social events and facilitating connections through a Facebook group called Boston Union Trade Sisters. “I’m passionate about making sure my sisters feel like there’s an avenue for them,” Nguyen says.

Tradeswomen themselves are working to change the environment, but buy-in from the industry at large remains necessary. If, as the report asserts, stakeholders “have access to industry-specific toolkits, resources, and technical advice to ensure that workplaces are welcoming and are not driving out women,” why aren’t more groups using these existing tools?

“Good question,” Hegewisch replies, noting that in future research they would like to examine supervisor and superintendent training. “I think it's a general problem that often if you get promoted to a level like that, you are the most technically competent person, but you are not getting any support on the management side,” she says. “It’s not prioritized.”

On the other hand, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is "serious about the goals for women in construction and for minorities,” Hegewisch says, “so the chance that companies will be held to account is higher.”

Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), a construction trade association, has established a “Culture of Care” program in response to feedback that many job sites “are not as welcoming to a diverse workforce, including women, as they should be,” says Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and strategic initiatives at AGC. The curriculum is designed so that superintendents and supervisors “can open up the materials and implement things at their level without it having to come from the office,” Turmail adds, noting that top-down approaches are not as effective at changing specific job sites. “People who wear steel-tipped boots for a living can pull out this material and benefit from it without anyone in a pair of loafers coming to tell them what to do.”

Despite interest in improving the landscape for tradeswomen, Hegewisch laments that the recently passed infrastructure bill contains no specific requirements that ensure “women or minorities and minority women get a certain amount of access to the jobs — that there’s monitoring, that there are targets.” Hegewisch also notes that “the Department of Transportation often leads on how those funds will be used, and they’ve kind of stayed on the sidelines a bit on this. So, I think people are thinking how they can lift up the pressure.”

Meanwhile, tradeswomen like Nguyen continue to show up each day: “Rain, snow, sleet, sunshine, I’m going to work,” she says. “The money’s good, the benefits are good, but what motivates me is seeing other women in the field, too,” says Nguyen. “Because if there’s more of us and we’re good, we’re going to be a force.”