Building Opportunities for Women in Construction through New Pledge Initiative

Many homebuilders started this month with a pledge that goes against the preconceived notion some may hold about construction by committing to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Million Women In Construction Pledge.  The Pledge encourages companies to build on their workforce development and recruiting efforts to broaden opportunities for women in the construction industry.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10.9% of workers in the construction industry in the United States are women. An April review by the Department of Commerce put the number at 14.3 percent. The number has hovered around 12 percent for more than a decade.

The Million Women in Construction initiative aims to double that number over the next decade. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has pushed for more women in the industry for nearly two years, noting that women only hold 4 percent of the skilled jobs in construction.

“Right now, there are about one million women working in the construction industry,” Secretary Raimondo said when she launched the initiative at the 2022 North American Building Trades Union (NABTU) Tradeswomen Build Nations conference. “I’m here to tell you that together we are going to double that over the next decade to create opportunity for another million women.”

According to a 2022 survey from the National Association of Home Builders, Texas (137,000), California (135,000) and Florida (119,000) lead in the number of women working in the construction industry. Florida also has a higher concentration of women in the industry at 13.5 percent, trailing only Alaska, South Carolina and Oregon.

Since launching the initiative, the Department of Commerce has worked across the federal and other levels of government – and now many in the private building and construction arena --  to ensure everyone – workers, women, people of color, unions, contractors, businesses, and America as a whole – can benefit from the historic investments made in infrastructure, manufacturing, clean energy, and technology.