How Contractors Are Opening Doors for Women

Marsia Geldert-Murphey’s first construction job was working on a bridge over the Mississippi River. She was excited about being out in the field, but the job did not have a safety belt small enough to fit her. 

“I had to hold on with one hand to the safety belt because it didn’t fit around my waist,” she said. “I was at even greater risk trying to use the safety equipment available at the time.”

Geldert-Murphey, now president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, said such a situation would be unthinkable now, with about 

1.2 million women working in construction

, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is about one-tenth of the industry’s workforce.

But change is happening. 

For example, Geldert-Murphey pointed out that, for the first time in its 117-year history, the ASCE board of directors has more women than men.

When it comes to labor, “as demand has increased, and supply has reflected a better percentage of what our actual population looks like, things are going to organically change, but we still have pockets in there where we just have to really stand up for everyone,” she said.

To read the rest of this story from our sister publication, Construction Dive, click here.