Women in nontraditional trades

We recently invited representatives from construction companies to shed light on why women do not figure much in the construction industry, except as contractors and maybe a few in delicate special jobs like painting (details) and welding.

Why do we need to know these statistics? Because women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs globally earn up to 30 percent more than their counterparts in office or clerical jobs. Second, these jobs make use of a woman’s innate ability to spot details, to use her gifts to do better jobs in detailed work, such as tile-setting or painting small corners of a ceiling with details, etc.

What’s the problem?

“It’s a business decision,” says a respondent in our stakeholder consultation with construction companies. Women are good at tile-setting but the law does not allow a woman to carry a load of over 50 kilos on her back. This means a contractor will need to hire one man to carry the bag of cement, and a woman for setting tile work on the floor. Two people for one job: tile-setting. So why even do it? But why does Tesda (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) graduate tile setters who will not be hired anyway? There lies the problem. It’s the law and it’s a business choice.

Much as we want to engage the CEOs of these construction giants about hiring women, they were not part of the first consultation. Their engineers and supervisors have to toe the line and make business decisions to be efficient and profitable. So we thought—we have to approach “women hiring” like corporate social responsibility (CSR). The decision must come from the top. CEOs who are not yet gender-sensitive will have to be briefed about gender equity, equality and how his or her company can comply with UN Sustainable Development Goals. Even if they are not publicly listed companies or borrowers of institutional lenders (Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corp., etc).

Women also take maternity leaves, which discourage human resource departments from hiring them. That is a fact. But the construction industry has a unique advantage: It does contact jobs that are project-specific. Therefore, women in child-bearing years can indeed be hired for short-term employment or contracts without management having to worry about their absence during maternity leaves. And that short-term job is usually found in the construction sector.

Women are good at details. Instead of hiring two men, maybe we can hire one woman and one man for a specific job like: finishing, detailed painting, welding and the like. All it takes is for men and women bosses to keep open minds about diversity and inclusion. Diversity (hiring people of different genders, faith and even talent) makes a company more profitable. Says who? Says the World Trade Organization’s International Trade Centre, or ITC (www.itc.org).

But alas, sometimes it is also women who prevent other women from coming onboard. And this is why enlightened leaders, bosses and business owners must be briefed about Gender 101, or gender sensitivity.

“I just hire them because of their talent, regardless of gender,” says one company official. “Granted you hire for talent, it then shows men and women are equal because your workforce is at least 30-50 percent female,” I thought. It would be nice if bosses made a conscious decision to hire for inclusion and gender awareness, too. Because what the boss says is carried down to the last rank and file team member.

Why do we even bother counting the women in the workforce? Because what you cannot measure, you cannot track. What you cannot track, you cannot improve. And so the story about women training in Tesda for technical-vocational education eventually end up taking the usual jobs—barista, culinary jobs and not STEM jobs. And we know women can do other jobs that can empower them to earn higher pay because of their special skills as women.

All we need is for CEOs and the C-Suite to not think of it as CSR, but to think of it as a way to make their businesses more profitable and sustainable.

How many women do you employ in nontraditional trades? Give your company the test. INQThis article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines, or MAP. The author is the chair of the Tesda Women’s Center Advisory Council and is a sustainability advocate as well as a women empowerment champion. She also heads the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. as president and runs a social enterprise called ECHOstore. She has been MAP member since 2003 and has been MAP governor three times since. Feedback at [email protected]. For previous articles, please visit map.org.ph.