Celebrate the 25th Annual Women in Construction Week
If you don’t have this on your agenda, there’s still time to make plans.
- By Alex Saurman
- Mar 08, 2023
March 5 was the start of Women in Construction Week.
Running until March 11, 2023, this 25th annual week is a time to recognize and celebrate the women who work in the predominately male-dominated construction industry.
In 2022, 10.9 percent of construction industry employees—or about 1,285,000 workers—were women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), just slightly below the 20-year high of 11 percent in 2021.
From 2003 to 2018, the percentage of construction workers who were women never exceeded about 9.85 percent. In 2019, when 1,168,000 of the 11,373,000 workers were women, the number surpassed 10 percent, per BLS data. Every year since then, women have made up more than 10 percent of the construction industry.
The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) has been hosting the week since 1998. The organization offers a variety of resources and a list of some events in its toolboxes for people looking to participate. So far, three toolboxes have been released, each containing articles such as “Generations of Women in Construction and Trades,” Trailblazers: The first construction women to make an impact in their industry” and “WIC Week History.” Interested in viewing or signing up for the toolboxes? Visit wicweek.org.
NAWIC will also host Zoom meetings throughout the week, with the next scheduled for March 9 and 11. March 9’s session is titled Establish Balance & Avoid Burnout (register here), and the meeting on March 11 will be a toast to and recap of the week (register here).
Want to do something locally? Local chapters will also be putting on events throughout the week, like the Baltimore chapter’s Hard Hat Happy Hour and the Austin chapter’s construction job site tour. To view specific events by the local chapter, visit each region’s specific web page.
About the Author
Alex Saurman is a former Content Editor for Occupational Health & Safety,who has since joined OH&S’s client services team. She continues to work closely with OH&S’s editorial team and contributes to the magazine.