100% more women. YES!

Dive is a great resource for information that is often interesting. The latest article to catch my attention is: https://www.constructiondive.com/news/report-finds-more-women-building-construction-careers/585883/

“The number of women in the position of construction manager increased 101% from 49,400 to 99,400, making that the third fastest-growing job for women overall.”

One of my biggest complaints about construction was that there were few, if any, women. When I was a project manager for a $35 million project in
San Jose, CA, I appointed an amazing young woman, Constance Reidinger, PE as assistant project manager and lobbied for her to replace me when it was time for me to move on. I regularly tell stories about her preparation for meetings, her self-guided ferocious work ethic etc. She started her own business, https://www.riedingerconsulting.com/ about 20 years ago and is still going strong. But she was, and is unusual. You don’t have to be a go-getter like Constance to contribute to the construction industry, and earn good money. But, it helps.

My thoughts are that if we create a certain percentage of women to crews and management, this analysis will become obsolete. Someday women becoming project managers won’t be such a phenomenon, that articles are written about them. It is quite a phenomenon now, just imagine the third fastest growing job for women overall is construction manager! Excellent.

The women could provide a benefit from a more cooperative viewpoint. I mean that the organizing principal of construction may actually shift from companies who build things and the money they make; to the projects themselves. If I might take a minute to remind us all, especially for those of you who are newcomers: It is the project that we are here to build, not our own wealth or ego. The time has past for the ego-agrandisment of the MasterBuilder and it is now time for the modern manager to eliminate waste and be cooperative in that effort. I’ve got my money on the growth of women in the workforce and running the companies of the future of the construction industry to achieve this important change.