Paving the Way for Women in Construction: Creating Systems and Supports that Work

1. Paving the Way for Women in Construction: Creating Systems and Supports that Work U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau Wednesday October 1, 2014 2:00-3:00pm EDT

2. Moderator: • Latifa Lyles Director, Women’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor Speakers: • Connie Ashbrook Executive Director, Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. • NeenaChaudry Senior Counsel, National Women’s Law Center • ArianeHegewisch Study Director, Institute for Women’s Policy Research • Lauren Sugerman Director, Women and Work Projects, Wider Opportunities for Women

3. Women Working in ConstructionThe 2013 IWPR Tradeswomen Survey Ariane Hegewisch hegewisch@iwpr.org Institute for Women’s Policy Research

4. Why focus on women in construction: Job growth, decent pay, earn & learn • Above average job growth • Economic recovery and replacement of retiring workers. • Higher median hourly earnings than many other fast growing occupations Personal care aides: $ 9.57Laborers & helpers: $14.02 Nursing care assistants: $11.73 Painters: $16.92 Preschool teacher: $13.04 Carpenters:$19.20 • Apprenticeships (3 to 5 years full-time work with on and off-the-job training) • U.S. Department of Labor $100 million initiative to double number of apprenticeships. Source: Employment Projections program, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and BLS

5. “Let women know that there are women out there in nontraditional jobs. I did not know.” 2013 IWPR Tradeswomen Survey respondent In 2006, before the Great Recession, there were more women construction workers than women doctors. In 2013, 185,000 women worked in Construction and Extraction Occupations, as many or more than: • Dental hygienists (182,000 women) • Pharmacists (155,000 women) • Veterinarians (47,000 women) In 2013, women were only 2.6 percent of workers in construction occupations. Source: Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey 2014, Table 11. U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

6. 2013 IWPR Tradeswomen Survey(Distributed via Survey Monkey in Spring 2013) Objectives • Who are women construction workers? • How are they faring as the construction industry recovers? • Equality in training and on the job? • 219 tradeswomen from 33 states and over 10 trades. • Overrepresents union members (80%) and white women(81%) • 7 in 10 completed apprenticeships. • 4 in 5 arethemainbreadwinner in theirhouseholds. • Over half aremothers, one in five still havekids at home. • Highest level of education: A skilledworkforce12% high school, 39% some college, 22% AA degree, 28% 4-year college plus. Respondents

7. Construction Tradeswomen: A Mixed Picture • The construction trades employ many women, and many tradeswomen are doing well, earning a good living and feeling largely treated equally. • 40% of respondents earned at least $50,000 in 2012. But: High unemployment and underemployment. • 22% unemployed at time of survey, and only 27% worked for most of the year in 2013. Career counselling for women ignores the trades. • Fewer than 2 % of respondents learned about opportunities in the trades from a high school career counsellor or a job center counsellor. Isolation, harassment and discrimination.

8. “If you mean another electrician, there never is another woman, I am joined by other women when the cleaning brigades arrive.”2 IWPR Tradeswomen Survey respondent Source: Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey , Table 11, various years. Hegewisch et al 2010 and U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014. CPS Table 11.

9. Have you ever personally experienced the following in your trade? Respondents saying ‘Always’ or ‘Frequently’ More thanone in tenwomenmade a sexdiscriminationcomplainttothe EEOC! Sources: 2013 IWPR Tradeswomen Survey; sexual harassment for all respondents; racial harassment only women of color; sexual orientation harassment only LGBT; age discrimination only women ages 45 plus..

10. Do you think you are being treated equally to men in hiring and on-the-job? Respondents saying ‘Always’ or ‘Frequently’ Sources: 2013 IWPR Tradeswomen Survey.

11. Women andConstruction Jobs: Break the Patterns ofthe last 30 Years • Career Advice, Outreach and Supports for women and girls who try construction careers • Fundingforthe Dissemination ofGood Practice andTechnical Assistance. • Proactive Enforcement of Non-discrimination and Affirmative Action Rules • Research: Women in the non-union sector;womenofcolor;differencesbetweenwomenwholeaveandwomenwhostay in theindustry;effectiveemployerpractices, etc.

12. Women andConstruction Jobs: Break the Patterns ofthe last 30 Years • Oregon, bystatute, commitsover $1 mil per yearoffederalhighwayfundsfor: • Retention servicestohelpwomenandminoritiestocompleteapprenticeships. • Pre-apprenticeshiptrainingprogramstohelpwomenandminoritiesenterapprenticeships. • Outreach,educationandcareerfairs. • Supervisor trainingtotacklediscrimination on thejob. • Researchandevaluation. Untapped Resources, Untapped Labor Pool USING FEDERAL HIGHWAY FUNDS TO PREPARE WOMEN‘ FOR CAREERS IN CONSTRUCTION

13. Thank you! References • ArianeHegewisch& Brigid O’Farrell. 2014. “Women in Construction and the Economic Recovery: Results from the 2013 IWPR Tradeswomen Survey.” IWPR Research-in-Brief # C416. Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research. http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/women-in-construction-and-the-economic-recovery-results-from-2013-iwpr-tradeswomen-survey • ArianeHegewisch, Jane Henrici, Elyse Shaw and Thomas Hooper. 2014. Untapped Resources, Untapped Labor Pool: Using Federal Highway Funds to Prepare Women for Careers in Construction. Jobs for the Future (Green Ways) and Institute for Women’s Policy Research: Washington, DC. • ArianeHegewisch, Jeff Hayes, Tonia Bui and Anlan Zhang. 2013. Quality Employment for Women in the Green Economy: Industry, Occupation and State-by-State Estimates. Washington, DC, Institute for Women’s Policy Research. http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/quality-employment-for-women-in-the-green-economy-industry-occupation-and-state-by-state-job-estimates

14. Women in Construction Neena Chaudhry Senior Counsel National Women’s Law Center

15. Women are Severely Underrepresented in Construction • White, non-Hispanic women make up the largest group of women in construction (2% of all construction workers) • Hispanic women = .4% • African American women = .2% • Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native women = .1% • Women make up only 2.6% of workers in construction and extraction occupations. • This number has stayed nearly the same for three decades. Women of Color

16. Women are Underrepresented in Apprenticeship Programs • At the end of FY12, women were 6.3% of all active apprentices within federally administered programs, but only 2.2% in construction. • Women are less likely to complete their apprenticeships (51% female attrition compared to 46% male). • 70% of women left carpenter apprenticeship programs, compared to 53% of men.

17. Apprenticeships Continued

18. Increasing Women’s Participation in Nontraditional Fields is Vital to Their Economic Security • Women remain disproportionately clustered in jobs with lower pay and fewer benefits. Nontraditional fields like construction typically offer women the opportunity to earn higher wages. • Women in construction face a smaller wage gap than women overall (89% gap versus 78%). • Equal access to these jobs mean better pay and career opportunities.

19. Room for Growth • Women’s participation in construction is particularly low when compared to other nontraditional fields. • A 2008 report card on women in firefighting estimated that the proportion of women in firefighting should be about 17%, when currently it is 3.7%. Because jobs that resemble firefighting resemble construction as well, the report supports a higher goal for more women in construction.

20. Barriers to Entering and Staying in the Field Gender stereotypes • In career and technical education (CTE) programs, young women are often subtly encouraged and explicitly steered into occupations that align with traditional gender stereotypes instead of being encouraged to enter traditionally male programs like construction. “As a woman, you are not always given the hours that men get, but we are always the first ones sent home. The men would say to me, ‘You should stay home, have babies, and be in the kitchen.’” – Mary Battle, Washington, D.C.

21. Barriers Continued Sexual Harassment • A study by the U.S. Department of Labor reported that 88% of female construction workers experience sexual harassment at work, compared to 25% of the general workforce. • Women face a disadvantage in accessing high-skill training programs along with numerous roadblocks to program completion such as hazing and outright hostility by some men who see women as intruders. “On the construction site, men don’t see you as a plumber or an electrician—they only see you as a woman who shouldn’t be there… Women are groped, grabbed, and relentlessly harassed.” - Shane LaSaint-Bell, San Francisco, CA

22. Barriers Continued • Limited Access to Information and Opportunities for Apprenticeships • Entry into apprenticeships is highly dependent on access to information about when, where, and how to apply, as well as the training and skills necessary for particular occupations. • Access to such information has been tightly controlled by construction workers who are predominantly male. • “FBI – Friends, Brothers, and In-Laws” network. • “The first day of my internship I arrived with three other interns—two young men and one other female. The foreman called in two construction managers who would become our mentors. The first manager arrived and immediately stated, ‘I’ll take the two boys’ and ‘Sorry ladies, I don’t deal with women on this job.’… We need more women in the construction industry so we’re not longer a rarity. Women deserve to have access to skilled trades, and they deserve to be respected as fellow colleagues.”- Patricia Valoy, New York, New York

23. RecommendationsThe Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) should: • Increase the 6.9 percent goal for women, which was set in 1978 based on the overall population of women working at the time. • Streamline and strengthen the 16 good faith steps that contractors are required to take. • Require construction contractors to provide a written plan indicating how they plan to improve their numbers of women and minorities. • Update the sex discrimination guidelines to include the employer’s obligation under Executive Order 11246 to prevent and remedy sexual harassment at the workplace as a form of unlawful sex discrimination.

24. RecommendationsThe Office of Apprenticeship Should: • Revise its affirmative action regulations to help increase the numbers of women and minorities in apprenticeship programs. • Provide technical assistance to employers and community based organizations to address the obstacles female apprentices face and to implement best practices for their training and advancement. • Coordinate with OFCCP to address the discrimination that women face at all points along the employment chain in nontraditional fields.

25. Recommendations– Other Agencies Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) • Provide technical assistance to employers on model practices to prevent workplace harassment based on sex, race, ethnicity, etc. • Analyze data on harassment charges by industry and make this information publicly available, so as to enable effective targeting of public and private enforcement, education and outreach efforts. Department of Education • OCR should work with Office of Vocational & Adult Education (OVAE) to investigate CTE programs where young women are concentrated in low-wage, traditionally female courses and shut out of high-wage, traditionally male courses to ensure that girls are not being discriminated against. • OVAE, in conjunction with Department of Labor, should work to ensure that the Administration’s new American Apprenticeship Initiative includes a focus on recruiting and supporting underrepresented groups in apprenticeships.

26. Relevant Legislation • Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations Program (WANTO)- Increasing funding for WANTO would help more women gain access to nontraditional fields such as construction. • Women & Workforce Investment For Nontraditional Jobs (Women Win Jobs) Act- Passing the Women WIN Jobs Act bill would enable women in every state to increase their access to nontraditional fields such as construction. • Workforce Investment Act (WIA)- TheWIA reauthorization presents an opportunity to make progress by requiring states to submit plans to increase the numbers of women who enter nontraditional jobs after receiving training through WIA. • Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act- Continuing to include in the Perkins Act accountability measures for states to increase women’s completion of nontraditional CTE programs would help more women and girls gain access to nontraditional fields.

27. Strategic Approaches And Curriculum to Increase Women's Entry and Success In Construction Jobs 27

28. Increase Women's Entry and Success In Construction Jobs: Some simple steps • Set goals for women applicants, participants, graduates and placements • Assess program and partner's capacity to attract and serve women • Build staff understanding of the impact of gender wage inequity and gender segregation of the labor market • Design outreach and recruitment materials/plans to target women • Program allows for all prospective clients to receive career exploration activities • Career counselors are trained to promote nontraditional jobs to women • Develop and link to pre-apprenticeship programs that are promote women’s inclusion and unique needs

29. Outreach and recruitment: Reach your desired audience with a targeted message • Go out of your way to bring in diverse applicants: Go to where women are and cast a wide net, Connect to activities, institutions and organizations serving women • Get their attention: • information on benefits/advantages of nontraditional jobs • materials that appeal directly to women and feature women working in nontraditional jobs • Address women specifically in the headline • People need to hear/see the message more than once in order to respond. • Pair outreach with education • Target by who gives the message. • People need to hear/see the message more than once in order to respond. 29

30. Effective Orientation to Construction Jobs: Pair Outreach with Education Information Sessions and Career Fairs • What is a construction job like, what is apprenticeship? • What are the benefits • What are working conditions like? • What are the requirements for entry? • Explain entry routes and career paths • Inform about barriers and strategies to overcome. • Role Models: Let women workers tell their stories • Let women explore hands- on activities • BE REAL! the good, the bad and the ugly • People need to hear/see the message more than once in order to respond.

31. Putting a Gender Lens on Assessment Use Gender Neutral Assessment Tools Transferable Skills Career Exploration Career Pathways Income Adequacy: Wages to Gain Family Economic Security • Raise questions about fit without judging. • Ask probing questions that go beyond stereotypes. Minimize yes or no questions • Allow for applicant to get past the unknown • Experience aspects of working tasks and responsibilities. • Identify transferable skills from paid and unpaid work experiences.

32. A Gender/Race Lens on Training: Ensuring an Equitable Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program • Role models and mentors that are gender/race/ culture reflective • A safe and supportive place for: • breaking through stereotypes • overcoming fear of the unknown and the foreign • Trying and practicing new things • Peer networking and support • Integration of topics into curriculum that address sex-role and racial stereotypes, sexual harassment, and gender and race discrimination • Curriculum additions to reflect diverse populations’ experiences

33. A Gender Lens on Training What Do Women Need in the Classroom/Workshop? • Exposure to Different Trades • Tool Identification • Test-taking Anxiety Reduction Strategies • Spatial and Mechanical Aptitude • Building Physical Fitness for a the construction industry: Aerobics, Strength training, Agility • Technical Skill Practice Opportunities

34. A Gender Lens on Building Core Competencies for Work Readiness • Self-Esteem • Rights in the workplace • Developing support systems • Balancing Work/ Family • Workplace Culture • Effective Communication Skills • Ergonomics, PPE, Sanitary Facilities

35. Adding a Gender Lens to Curriculum Combating Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Prevention Building Successful Communication and Interviewing Skills Cultural Competency Health and Safety of Women in Nontraditional Jobs

36. Inclusivity Sensitivity Neutrality Policies and practices In the Classroom and at the Institutional Level • Professional development activities help training program staff examine how their own beliefs and actions about women in the trades effect the program. • Promote and enforce civil rights and sexual harassment policies and practices. • Engage a diverse teaching and support staff. • The program allows for students to receive the extra time and support they need to gain proficiency. • Examples of underrepresented groups are evident in materials and throughout the training facility • Facilitate informal support groups, mentoring, and peer counseling and networking activities. • Avoid isolating individuals from underrepresented groups: safety and support in numbers!

37. Adding a Gender Lens to Placement Equity Tools and Handles • When Being A Good Candidate May Not Be Enough: • Utilizing Public Policy Supports • Engage Industry in Program Activities • Engage Students in Industry Activities • Build Client Profiles • Utilize EEO/AA tools: • Title VII – 1964 Civil Rights Act: • Affirmative Action in Federal Construction Contracting • EEO in Apprenticeship Regulations • Community Benefit Agreements and Project Labor Agreements

38. Worksite Equity Initiatives • Higher goals for women and minorities • Greater information sharing – workforce projection/timelines, and utilization reports • Timely enforcement mechanisms • Greater public visibility and involvement of unions and community organizations • Additional training for relevant government and construction staff • More pre-project preparation and contractor education • Funding for technical assistance, site monitoring and job referral/retention services • Integrated Science Complex (ISC), 10% • General Academic Building 1 (GAB1), 5.5% • Edward M. Kennedy (EMK) Institute, 9.14% (12.45% March) • Utility Corridor and Roadway Relocation (UCRR), 6% (9% in March 2014 • Project labor agreement • Compliance oversight committee • Full workforce participation data

39. Adding a Gender Lens on the Job • Gender inclusive HR policy • Monitoring and supporting OJT • Creating equitable workplace environments • Work/family supports • Cultural competency for supervisory and frontline workers • Coaching, job shadowing, mentoring • Opportunities for advancement, leadership

40. Technical Assistance and The Pink-to-Green Toolkit • For the public workforce system, job training programs, community agencies to best serve women and address barriers of occupational segregation. • The toolkit includes presentations, trainings, webinars, curriculum modules, briefs, templates, tip sheets, and planning documents designed to: • assess capacity for recruiting, assessing, preparing, supporting and placing women in nontraditional occupations; • Assist training providers in developing plans, processes for recruiting and preparing women for nontraditional occupations; • Develop and add training curriculum that is gender neutral, inclusive and targeted. • Assist training programs in understanding and linking to organized labor, apprenticeships, and major employers.

41. Resources Online • http://greenways.jff.org/toolkit/pinktogreen • http://www.chicagowomenintrades.org/top/top_home.html • https://sites.google.com/site/pgtihome/resources

42. Connie Ashbrook • Executive Director • Worked 17 years in the trades • Licensed Elevator Mechanic • Executive Director at OTI since ‘96 • 9 years on Oregon State Apprenticeship & Training Council • On Federal Advisory Committee on Registered Apprenticeship since ‘10 • Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. • 3934 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. #101 • Portland OR 97212 • e:  connie@tradeswomen.net • p:  503.335.8200 x 22 • f:   503.249.0445 • www.tradeswomen.net • www.facebook.com/OregonTradeswomenInc Our Successes and Efforts to Replicate Them

43. OTI’s Four Programs Building Girls Women’s Pre-Apprenticeship Women in Trades Career Fair Tradeswomen’s Leadership

44. Our Pre-Apprenticeship Results: • from July 1, 2013-June 30, 2014 • 83 women pre-apprenticeship program graduates became employed with our help; • 47 became apprentices • 13 commercial construction helper • 9 manufacturing/warehouse • 9 residential construction • 5 other • When they started training, 47% had no income at all. Another 20% were working minimum wage jobs. 22% were working, but making under 50% of median family income. The average annual income for our graduates when they started in our class was $11,104. Types of Apprenticeships 18 Carpenters 13 Electrical 3 Plumbers 3 Laborers 3 Cement Masons 2 Sheet Metal 1 Tree Trimmer 1 Steamfitter 1 Lineman 1 Heating & Frost Insulator 1 Brick Finisher Now, 75% of 2013 graduates are working in the trades. Their average wage is $15.55 an hour.

45. How we achieve results: Targeted advertising brings 900 women annually through our door. Partnering with industry ensures our women are prepared and connected.

46. Over 170,000 women are construction workers – a greater number than the number of women pharmacists, women dental hygienists, women veterinarians or women occupational therapists. Why does our culture not recognize this? Why does our culture still think it’s unusual for a woman to be working in the trades, but not unusual for women to be working in these other fields? And why do we care?

47. For women without a college degree, working in the trades is the difference between poverty and being in the middle class. For instance the median income for women high school graduates is $27,976 and for male high school graduates it is $36,972, almost $9,000 more a year. This is due in part to the exclusion of women from trades careers.

48. The Hidden STEM Economy, by Jonathan Rothwell of Brookings • Findings were that half of all STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs are available to workers without a four-year college degree, and these jobs pay $53,000 on average—a wage 10 percent higher than jobs with similar educational requirements. Half of all STEM jobs are in manufacturing, health care, or construction industries. Yet, because of how the STEM economy has been defined, policymakers have mainly focused on supporting workers with at least a bachelor’s degree, instead of investing in the development of a workforce of those with less education but substantial STEM skills. • http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2013/06/10-stem-economy-rothwell

49. Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. has had a huge impact on the 19 apprenticeship programs we work most closely with; they average 9.3% women compared to the state-wide average of 6% women. However, out of 136 apprenticeship programs in Oregon, 74 or more than half have no women apprentices at all. There are zero women utility lineworker or meterworker apprentices and only 5 women out of 538 manufacturing plant apprentices.

50. Growing System Capacity for Serving Women Despite the fact that over 900 women a year come in our door to explore a trades careers, we only have the capacity to serve 100 women a year, while to reach critical mass of 17% women in apprenticeship, we would need to serve about 340 women a year. That is why we need all of the high school shop classes, the community college technical programs, the Job Corps programs, the YouthBuild programs, the other pre-apprenticeship programs, and the America’s Job Centers to commit to serving an equitable number of women. Its only fair and is the right thing to do, and the benefits to our society of that many women moving out of poverty are huge. OTI has shown that it is not rocket science to reach out and serve women. In order to grow system capacity and replicate our programs, we partnered with Tradeswomen, Inc. of California and Apprenticeship & NonTraditional Employment for Women of Washington State to apply for a WANTO grant (Women in Apprenticeship and Non-Traditional Occupations) from the DOL.