The challenges women in construction face, the obstacles that have been overcome and what more needs to be done to achieve a fairer and equitable workplace was the subject of a wide ranging question and answer seminar at the recent Canadian Concrete Expo in Mississauga.
Moderated by Andrea Boddy of Andrea Boddy Consulting, the Women in Concrete: Building Futures and Breaking Barriers session featured five senior construction executives.
They were: EllisDon building and material sciences specialist Maria Camila Castro Garrido; EXACT Technology CSO and co-founder Stacia Van Zetten; Innocon president David Kelly; Dufferin Concrete laboratories and quality control supervisor Manisha Nijhawan; and Northfleet Group Inc. general manager Tiffany Ongtenco.
In front of a large and fully engaged audience, they provided insight on their experiences, as well as opinions on what workplace conditions need to change.
Before directing a series of questions to the panellists, Boddy highlighted the many initiatives organizations such as Skills Ontario, the Women’s Trucking Federation and Concrete Ontario have been undertaking to attract women into construction.
Concrete Ontario publishes a series of ongoing profiles of women in the concrete sector and also conducted a survey of women’s experiences in the industry, she said.
“The response was great,” said Boddy, noting respondents want a work environment that offers dignity, safety, PPE (personal protection equipment) that fits, onsite women’s washrooms and the support of their supervisors.
Then the seminar transitioned into the question and answer section with questions dealing with the performance of companies in hiring and retaining women once they are hired.
“I think it could be better,” said Van Zetten, adding the caveat is she noticing more women applying for positions. “We are getting the word out there.”
But she also added job descriptions have to be “more real.”
That point was picked up by Kelly who said there has to be “fewer superlatives” in employment postings advertisements. Much of the terminology in those postings hasn’t changed much over the years.
“Typically men will apply for positions that are beyond their capabilities. But women don’t do that,” said Kelly, who went on to say one of the best operations manager’s he’s worked with was a woman.
A fair amount of the back-and-forth discussion focused on the prejudice and “hack-it mentality” women in construction contend with. But sometimes outdated attitudes are not as obvious, suggested Van Zetten.
“If you’re the only woman in a meeting and they need to have someone take notes, there is an assumption that it will be the woman.”
There is a subtle way to avoid that scenario the audience was told. Before walking into that meeting let a male colleague know you don’t want to be the note taker, said Ongtenco.
“Women need to raise their voice.”
Another question the panellists were asked to answer was: “Is the industry hesitating to hire and/or promote women because of potential life path choices like starting a family and taking mat leave?”
That question sparked a lot of response, including from some of the audience members.
“We, as humans face challenges. There has to be a work-life balance,” said Castro Garrido who, in her opening remarks, identified herself as a wife and mother.
Many in the audience seemed to agree with that statement including engineer Malcolm Hachborn.
An engineer who had conducted his own seminar earlier in the day, Hachborn said women should be “welcomed back” to the workplace after taking time for maternity leave.
One of the messages that arose during the seminar was the need for women in construction to “have male allies” — a phrase Boddy used to describe Kelly.
She also specifically recognized University of Toronto professor Doug Hooton and Northfleet Group’s David Garibotti who were in the room.
Hooton has taught concrete materials and concrete construction in the university’s civil engineering department for 40 years and 50 per cent of his graduating students have been women.
Founder/owner of Northfleet Group, an ICI concrete floor finishing and concrete forming company, Garibotti hired Ongtenco.
In follow up comments after the seminar, which was sponsored by the ACI Ontario Chapter, Boddy said it’s important panels and discussions dealing with women in the construction workforce have to include men.
“Too many times we have these panels and it is women talking to women. Our male colleagues are part of the solution — not part of the problem.”
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