This is Women in Construction Week, celebrating women in the construction industry.
Several local construction organizations along with Samet Corporation, Triangle Chapter of NC’s National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), and HOPE Renovations came together to bring more awareness to construction jobs, CBS Raleigh affiliate WNCN-TV reported on March 7.
Currently, women are only 10 percent of the construction industry’s population, but this is a significant increase from before.
“In the last 10 years or so there’s been a real uptick in the number of women in this industry,” event organizer Nora Spencer of HOPE Renovations told the broadcaster.
She says there’s a movement in the Triangle to not only recruit more women to the industry but bring awareness to construction jobs in the field.
Cheryl Casatelli, an assistant superintendent with Samet Corporation, said she’s seen the industry change a lot.
“We’re coming around. It’s becoming a more appealing industry for women to be a part of,” Casatelli said.
“I talked to high school girls, they are going to school for engineering, they are going to school for architecture, and they don’t look at this industry as something that is just for men. It’s something that they’re getting into, they’re showing interest in and to me, that’s just incredible.”
“This industry went crazy during COVID-19 as we all know and the worker shortage has not gotten any smaller so it’s a real opportunity both for the industry and for women that I think a lot of women and a lot of employers just never really thought about,” Spencer said.