In the 21st century, women have become equivalently acknowledged as the opposite gender. Women have been getting into more diverse fields over the last few decades. Whatever the reason, women are starting to leave their mark in industries that were previously dominated by men. Rapidly advancing technology has created a lot more positions to be filled, and gender is not an issue anymore. All around the world, women have stepped up to fill those vacant roles.

Thinking about the architectural business industry, the first thought that comes to my head is labor work and men that construct the buildings. In other words, a purely male dominated industry. ‘Men’ is the first thing that does pop up but now I think it’s time to change that view. The Gritnova course of the Architecting for future – Cohort II has more female students enrolled on the course. Being part of the Gritnova Community has allowed me to contribute in offering the course to other females around the world. This course is a 3-month duration which provides students with an immersive experience working alongside leading architects and firms on real projects while acquiring the hottest in-demand skills.  

It is equally challenging for women to do the labor work that is endured while constructing different projects of residential or commercial buildings. But it is not like women cannot be the leaders of projects and give instructions to the workers. It’s not an impossible task to do. ‘Come on girl, power all the way!’

The construction industry has changed a lot in the last decade.The construction industry is defined as the “meaning of art and science to form objects, systems or organizations.” This industry field is designed to construct the branch of manufacturing and trading based on the building, maintaining, and repairing structures. As per the statistics provided online by Big Rentz, of all the people working in construction industries, women comprise only 10.3 percent of the total. 

Manual labor is generally related to men, leading women already in this field to complain about the challenges that they face; high risk of injury, pay gap and also lack of mentorship. Because most of the construction equipment is designed to be used by men, women are more at risk of injury. That is why the ‘one size fits all’ leaves women at a higher risk of being injured on site. There is obviously a huge pay gap between what women and men make in construction. The lack of mentorship, due to the shortage of women, discourages other females from choosing this career path, or even advancing in the role.

In contrast to the challenges that are usually faced, the benefits are more convincing for women to join the construction field. Firstly, there are many leadership opportunities that could tempt women to join. The shortage of female leaders provides opportunities for women to improve team performance and contribute their perspectives to grow and advance their career. On average, women who work in construction, earn up to 30 percent more than any traditional female-dominated careers like childcare or saloon services.