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130). But As Studies By Susan Eisenberg Show, Women Are Attracted To ...

130). But as studies by Susan Eisenberg show, women are attracted to construction for a number of reasons. An obvious attraction is the financial rewards, especially from the skilled trades. Her case studies found that women were encouraged by the concept of learning and practicing an interesting craft: ‘Lorraine Bertosa, a carpenter, put it this way, "Carpentry is concrete - it's so tangible! There's something good about that. . . . You have this thing you can touch and see and experience.'21(Eisenberg 1998,10-11)
The construction industry can indeed be exciting and dynamic. The problem on construction sites today is that men are possessive over such environments which have been traditionally male. As Turrell summarised in her paper, ‘Why do Women like Building Conservation?' many women perceived the other aspects of the construction industry, which were unrelated to conservation, to be ‘cut throat', ‘egotistical,' and ‘financially beneficial.'36 (Turrell et al, 2002). Consequently what contemporary research needs to address is how to work with prejudices and discrimination rather than against them. The research which follows aims to incorporate these aspects of the past into contemporary projections for the future, investigating whether research is being targeted at the right people and the right areas for change.
1.2 Are women right for the job?
It is arguable that women do not have the physique suitable for labour intensive outdoor jobs which involve long hours. However, this is only one aspect of the industry. Others areas which women can excel at include carpentry, design, and management. The interpersonal skills of women can be better than a man's, for example, one large major contractors' group company now prefers to employ female quantity surveyors rather than their male counterparts because they believe they have more appropriate skills sets that will improve project and company bottom line performance. (The Journal, 36). It is arguable too that a large percentage of women do not have 'hands on' experience of actual building methods and that this could be seen as a disadvantage. Current attitudes suggest that women are hoping to be regarded as equals to men in an industry which has only relatively recently seen changes relating to Equal Opportunities. As Herbert Applebaum says, ‘women believe that they should not have to develop strategies for coping, but should be judged on their ability to perform the work they are assigned to do.'59 (1999, p.133).Furthermore, with the use of advanced technologies, designs can be made accessible to a wider range of customers, and firms are not restricted to small localities. This means that team communication is vital and more so in offsite manufacturing companies where the amount of time spent on site is considerably less - with more time being spent on organising and designing, roles which are suitable for women.


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