“My wife is a house painter… so what’s the problem?”
A growing number of women are entering the construction industry to build their careers, embracing their passion for their profession. In a sector where 90% of jobs are held by men, how do these women experience their professional lives?
Marion Polge, University of Montpellier; Agnès Paradas, University of Avignon ; Caroline Debray, University of Montpellier and Colette Fourcade, University of Montpellier
Above all, are we witnessing a transformation of the building trade sector or, more broadly, a change in society?
The study conducted by the CoCréatec Chair (Montpellier University Foundation), funded by the European Social Fund (2016-2018), shows that women are now entering this sector with new ambitions, bringing a breath of fresh air that is improving overall performance.
Although our survey shows that only 60% of tradespeople view the arrival of women in their companies as somewhat or very favorable, the push for gender diversity in certain professions is becoming a reality. Women and men, business leaders, employees, and stakeholders working in the construction sector were surveyed. Everyone agrees on the need to grant women genuine status as managers and skilled tradespeople, in particular by combating stereotypes.
This is what emerges from the series of verbatim quotes below.
Bypass the physical obstacle
The arduous nature of certain construction jobs remains a reality, especially in structural work (activities involved in building the framework of a building): handling, transporting loads, physical labor.
"I'm supposed to work until I'm 73. Can you imagine redoing a ceiling?"
"There's still a lot of heavy lifting involved, which for me is a barrier to women doing this job."
But the activities of construction companies are not limited to these physical aspects:
"Apart from lifting very heavy weights, a woman can perform the same tasks as a man."
Physical difficulty remains a barrier for certain professions in the collective mindset, while others, such as carpentry, are seeing gender diversity become established in training centers.
Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock
Nevertheless, this physical obstacle seems to be surmountable. First, technical advances have reduced the physical strain, facilitating the integration of women while also lightening the workload for men. Second, the women interviewed demonstrated great ingenuity in overcoming physical obstacles (recruiting employees, temporary workers, collaborating with other companies, positioning themselves on suitable construction sites, etc.). Ultimately, the physical difficulty seems to be more present in people's minds than in the reality of construction sites.
The real problem today is that "we don't have all the necessary professions." Women are not applying for certain jobs, and girls are also virtually absent from certain training programs, despite the pro-diversity policy initiated by the Ministry of Education and then disseminated by local education authorities. So what is still holding us back?
The answer may be... all of us.
Parents, business leaders, clients, colleagues, friends, spouses, neighbors, children... the study clearly shows that societal pressures greatly dampen women's motivation. The family circle exerts a particularly dissuasive influence on young people. Even when parents are themselves artisans, they discourage their daughters from entering the profession:
"From the very beginning, my father told me that painting was not a profession for women."
The constraint generally expressed by female entrepreneurs is also found in this sector: family responsibilities. These are emphasized much more by the partners of women working in the construction sector than by the women themselves: "We don't know what time we'll finish... it's a bit complicated."
Another obstacle to gender diversity in the building trade is a social barrier, perpetuated by stereotypes associated with a divide between professions.
"There needs to be diversity in all professions, not just in construction." (woman's statement)
"We are not providing our young people with adequate information. In my opinion, this is deliberate." (words of a man lamenting the underrepresentation of women among young apprentices)
There are numerous accounts of societal barriers. The study clearly shows that the harshness attributed to this sector is in fact merely a reflection of a society that identifies construction workers with exaggerated masculinity. Take, for example, the female carpenter who received the following response from a customer:
"But you're the carpenter? Then I don't want a quote. A carpenter is a man, and I don't want your services!"
From "craftswoman's wife" to "craftswoman"
Stereotypes help structure our perception of others. In a way, they organize our view of society by categorizing the population. On the other hand, they risk limiting women's roles to essentially administrative tasks, since the collective unconscious ofthe 20th century taught us that there are "craftsmen's wives" but not "craftswomen." The "craftsman's wife" supports her husband, while the "craftswoman" takes on the role of business leader.
Stereotypes become truly dangerous when they turn into prejudices, that is, when they reach a discriminatory level that equates the role of second-in-command with incompetence in leadership. What our study shows is the prevalence of shared responsibility between women and men in these prejudices. Some revel in their leadership, while others, shaped by a patriarchal upbringing, slip comfortably into the shadows of the former. More surprisingly, we did not find a generational divide in these behaviors.
"They are different": traditional view
Stereotypes can be negative, stemming from physical constraints due to the harsh nature of certain construction activities.
"These are physical jobs... it's true that for a woman it might be a little complicated."
But the stereotypical view also has non-discriminatory aspects, expressed by both men and women. When it comes to management and organization, women appear to be better:
"The difference on construction sites is organization. For starters, they arrive on time for meetings... They are much more rigorous than the guys." (man's words)
Mark Agnor/Shutterstock
Women are also valued in customer relations:
"In people's minds, having a woman do the work reassures them that the site will be kept clean."
Finally, the quality of relationships with employees, but also with partners, is seen as superior for women. As a result, their role as operations managers seems to interfere in the daily life of craft businesses, without being formally assumed or contractually generalized.
"What's a woman doing on a construction site?": hostile discrimination
The look can be frankly disapproving:
"Sometimes we feel, we sense, that we are taking up space..."
But more often than not, the difficult issue of professional recognition arises.
"No woman is going to teach me how to do my job."
In any case, mistakes, or even simple clumsiness, are not tolerated from women on construction sites (whereas they would be accepted from male tradespeople...).
"I'm not sure I would have been tested if I had been a man": excessive professional demands
When a woman arrives on a construction site, she feels as though she is being put to the test by her male colleagues. Her competence is questioned from the outset:
"They express doubts... They don't trust us."
Women are expected to demonstrate a higher level of expertise than their male counterparts; they must prove themselves. However, once their competence is recognized and their technical mastery is evident:
"Men are even more impressed."
Are women the future of construction?
The term "entrepreneurial" used to describe women's motivations for entering the world of building trades is justified in two ways: professionalization and capability.
Displaying technical professionalism
Women's orientation toward construction trades is a career choice (not a default choice):
"I didn't choose this job because it was for men; I chose this job because I liked it." (woman's words)
As a result, women demonstrate great rigor in the exercise of their profession:
"When they say they're going to do something, they do it." (man's words)
Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock
This (stereotypical?) perception that men have of female professionalism seems to motivate their desire to welcome more women into the technical aspects of their profession. The men interviewed acknowledged that they are more vigilant about the quality of their work when there are women on their teams. Gender diversity could therefore help to improve business performance by generally enhancing professional rigor.
"I like gender diversity: I like it because it makes us all better together." (words of a craftsman)
Asserting capability, the foundation of entrepreneurial determination
Expected to demonstrate their skills, women are confident in their abilities.
"A woman can remain herself, go all the way... there's no reason why not."
These motivations drive an entrepreneurial approach, leading to the decision to start a business. This explains the high proportion of one-person start-ups created by women in the sample analyzed.
The individual, organizational, social, and economic performance indicators we measured show improvement when there is gender diversity in the building trade. Not only does the working environment become more harmonious, but professionalism also improves, both within companies and on construction sites where several different trades are involved. This further reinforces the importance of breaking down the many stereotypes that still exist.
Marion Polge, Associate Professor in Management Sciences, University of Montpellier; Agnès Paradas, Senior Lecturer in Management Sciences, University of Avignon ; Caroline Debray, Senior Lecturer in Management Sciences – SME Management, University of Montpellier and Colette Fourcade, Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Montpellier
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Readthe original article.