Women in construction and their evolution

Construction is always associated with men, but why is this so? The number of women working in construction is on the rise and is gradually becoming more and more important. We tell you all about their evolution and review the main figures.

At present, the level of female employment in construction is significantly lower and different from that of men. Construction will add more than 20,000 women in 2021, who alreadyrepresent 9.6 % of those employed in the sector.

Most of them are salaried workers, with permanent, full-time contracts, which gives them greater job stability than other employed women in other sectors, according to data from the Labour Force Survey (EPA), published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) and analysed in the latest report “Women in the construction sector” by the Industrial Construction Observatory.

In this regard, the study also provides revealing data: the growth of women employed in the construction sector was 21.4 % compared to 2020– a year marked by the pandemic – the highest in the last eleven years, and 8.3 % compared to 2019.

Women in construction and its evolution: updated data

Thus, in this context, the annual average number of female workers employed in the construction labour sector during 2021 was 123,637 employees – or 21,756 more than in the previous year – and represents almost 10% (9.6% in particular) of the total number of people employed in the sector, compared with 8.2% in 2020.

If we take into account the latest EPA data for the fourth quarter of the year, this figure improves significantly, with the representation of women in construction standing at 10.12 % (31,200 more women employed than in 2020).

Specifically, according to this latest “Women in the construction sector” report, based on the analysis of microdata extracted from the EPA 2021, of the National Institute of Statistics, the growth of women employed in construction was 21.4% compared to 2020 – a year marked by the pandemic -, the highest in the last eleven years, and 8.3% compared to 2019.

The report analyses the profile of women working in construction. By age, more than half of the female workers in the sector are between 35 and 54 years old (65.6%), coinciding with the highest concentration of male workers by age, followed by the range between 25 and 34 years old (with 17.7%), over 55 (13.5%) and, finally, the group of workers aged 20 and under (3.2%).

In terms of the educational level of female construction workers, 61.6% have higher education, 23% have upper secondary education (of which just over 12% come from intermediate vocational training), 15% have lower secondary education and, finally, 1.4% have primary or incomplete education.

Gender gaps in construction work for women

Bringing women into the sector and breaking the gender gap are two major challenges for the construction sector on which further progress must be made.

In this context, the National Construction Confederation (CNC) recognises that the role of women in its companies is not the one that corresponds to them and has therefore reinforced its commitment to promote the presence of women in companies. Thus, the employers’ association has adhered to the ‘Foundations of Equality’ manifesto with the aim of promoting gender equality and increasing the sustainability and competitiveness of construction.

This initiative, which has started as a strategic alliance of the sector, aims to make construction a more attractive sector for young women to join – taking advantage of new trends in production processes based on digitalisation, industrialisation and the circular economy –; to link the sector with commitment, and sustainability as a pending and necessary challenge and an opportunity for employment and development and innovation to attract women to start their professional careers in the sector.

The aim is also to promote quality employment with a future and to achieve the commitment of companies and organisations in the sector to develop gender diversity policies, including the promotion of women to management positions.

Generational changes in the construction sector

At Molins, Celia Pérez, our general manager, recently took part in a round table on the role of women in construction and analysed the evolution of women in the sector according to statistics. In 2020, she explained, the percentage of female managers in the sector was 29%.

“It is true that we are in a male-dominated sector, but through Equality Plans, as many companies have, this situation is changing every day”, as the director general underlined. She also explained that in the sector “we have the obligation to be an attractive sector for women, because it is possible”.

The construction sector must also face a number of challenges in the coming years, including enhancing the prestige of a sector that is gradually making inroads into new technologies, moving towards sustainability and overcoming an image distorted by the 2008 crisis. All of this will undoubtedly help to promote new generational changes.

In this respect, it is essential to attract young workers – essential, given the current high unemployment rate among this segment of the population – and women. Women bring creativity, a fundamental axis for productivity and competitiveness in construction companies, a contribution that will be decisive for the implementation of the European Funds and the objectives included in the Recovery Plan.

In any case, as in other sectors, we need to move forward with a rigorous analysis of the barriers and obstacles women face in accessing jobs in construction.

It is important, therefore, to identify opportunities for women to develop their professional careers within companies under the same conditions as the rest of their colleagues. It is a long road, but it is also true that much progress has been made. Gender taboos and stereotypes that limited access to the sector are being banished and the presence of women in the sector is being promoted. But, as in the construction sector, all productive sectors must broaden the range of training on offer and promote job opportunities so that women can access jobs and be promoted under the same conditions as their colleagues.

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