Women Professionals in Construction Industry: Barriers and Approaches to Improve Wellbeing, Safety and Health

The construction industry's male-dominated image, working ethos, and environment have led to an abysmal representation of women professionals in the workforce. The industry, the second largest employer in India, contributing 9% to India’s GDP has a mere 2% representation of women professionals (architects, site engineers, quantity surveyors, planning engineers, safety professionals, etc.) in employment. Manpower shortage continues to challenge the industry and poses an opportunity for women and employers alike. In this context, the paper aims to identify and evaluate the barriers and approaches to improve the wellbeing, safety, and health of women professionals at project sites thus increasing their share in employment. A mixed approach of questionnaire survey, interviews, and focused discussion was adopted. The top three barriers identified were – Long working hours and a culture that working long demonstrate work commitment, Remote and changing work locations of project sites impacting family life, and Inflexible work hours; while the top three approaches were – Providing appropriate sanitary facilities, Separate and clean restrooms and Evaluating performance based on output rather than hours put in. Results suggest that men and women shared a common perception of all barriers and approaches except for three. The findings will aid in advocating for women's wellbeing, safety and health at construction sites and spread the word about the value of gender mainstreaming. Copyright © Journal of Engineering, Project, and Production Management (EPPM-Journal).