A 2018 study commissioned by the City of Springfield leading up to the construction of MGM Casino found there was substantial gender disparity in the region’s construction industry.
The report, which was led by Sofya Aptekar, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology at UMass Boston, notes, “Unfortunately, this sector of the economy has primarily benefited white men, as both social and structural barriers continue to prevent women and racial minorities from accessing these good jobs.”
Specifically, Aptekar’s team found that only about 2 percent of construction workers are women, even though there’s a large pool of women interested in working in the industry, and that “Qualified and interested women are extremely underutilized.”
More locally, a panel held earlier this semester at the Franklin County Technical School sought to bridge this gap, urging first-year female students to consider male-dominated trade fields such as construction, plumbing and electrical work.
These fields have historically been dominated by men, as evidenced by the Springfield study, although they’re becoming more accessible to women because of collective action like the tech school’s panel, according to Lisa Clauson, the New England Carpenters Labor Management Program’s director of strategic partnership.
The panel was made up of women in non-traditional fields: carpenters Julie Boucher, Lily Thompson and Samantha Crevier; Nicole Miller, a machinist who formerly worked at Hillside Plastics and is now a machinine shop teacher at Franklin Tech; plumber Chelsey Salls; electrician Melissa Leary; Mandy Talbert, an elevator repair worker; and Raye Young, the Franklin Tech cooperative education coordinator.
Locally, male students typically represent 70 percent of the Turners Falls-based tech school’s student body, according to Superintendent Rick Martin. Female students typically gravitate toward programs like the school’s cosmetology and health technology programs.
But there’s evidence of shifting demographics — more women are entering the trades.
In the last 20 years, Clauson told students that the portion of women working in carpentry nationwide has increased from 2 to 16 percent. Martin said he’s seen an increasing interest in historically male-dominated trades among female students. This year, the tech school introduced a veterinary science program, the first new shop since the school opened in the 1970s, which Martin noted seems to be particularly popular with female students.
Following the Springfield report’s findings, city officials created a bylaw requiring contractors to provide employment to at least 20 percent to minorities, at least 5 percent to veterans and at least 6.9 percent to women.
However, while news like this (and the fact that Springfield commissioned a gender study in the first place, which led to more women working on the casino) is encouraging, there’s still a ways to go.
Gender parity starts at home.
Around the dinner table, let’s encourage our daughters and family members and friends to enter traditionally male-dominated trades. Let’s support women who are currently working in those fields by contracting them for jobs. Let’s change the culture of workplaces by promoting fair hiring practices. As a society, let’s create an environment of parity in which women are set up to succeed, particularly in the trades.
Let’s normalize gender equality.