Women in Construction Add Value to Our Industry

It’s an old phrase but it really puts the HIS in history: “The good old boy network” or “club” enabled White men to keep financial development opportunities within their network. Any woman or person of color that wanted to join the club quickly discovered membership was exclusive, not inclusive.

Let’s make a better historical legacy for all of us.

Mentoring Builds Future of Women in Construction

With the competition for talent becoming increasingly demanding, women in construction can be the solution to our industry’s skillset-shortage.

These women are making history today by providing mentoring and networking opportunities for women in construction:

• Antonya Williams is executive vice president at McCarthy Building Companies. She has mentored women in construction throughout her career and has served on the leadership committee for the McCarthy Partnership for Women (MPFW) as well as New Pathways for Youth, a mentorship program in Phoenix, AZ.
• Cindy Frank became a carpenter in 1979 when women in construction were an anomaly. Frank is organizing Sisters in the Brotherhood, a division within the carpenters’ Local 945 in Missouri of which she serves as president.
• Ellen Ward is a human resource manager at Joeris General Contractors. She is co-chairing the Building Capacity program/African American Community Fund and working on the HEB Supplier Diversity Construction Council.
• Kathryn Hart co-founded the Building Women in Construction student organization at Virginia Tech University. She is a superintendent at Trinity Group Construction.
• Kim Roy mentors women at HITT Contracting of Virginia, where she created a training and development program that includes development in business etiquette, emotional intelligence, ethics, and financial planning.
• Lizan Gilbert mentors women engineering students at University of Texas. She’s a founding member of Women In Tunneling, a segment of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration. She currently works as a preconstruction executive for Guy F. Atkinson.
• Pam Hummel has served women in construction as a mentor and leader for over 15 years. She assisted in founding CFMA (Construction Financial Management Association) Diversity & Inclusion Task Force of Orange County, CA. Pam is an executive vice president of Briq.
• Sonya Walton is the economic inclusion vice president of Messer Construction Co., OH. Over the years, she’s taken the company’s Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise program spend to $278 million by 2020.

Expand Programs: Include Skilled Women in Construction

It was 2016 when Construction Monitor noted the reduction of women in construction apprenticeship positions. We’ve seen a lot of improvement but the barriers that existed then are still in place today.

The change begins with you. Expand your current programs to include women in construction.

Is your marketing development hitting a wall? You can put technology to work for you. Building business leads begins with building permit information. Contact Construction Monitor for more information.