An Appraisal of the Career Experiences of Professional Women in the Nigerian Construction Industry

An Appraisal of the Career Experiences of Professional Women in the Nigerian Construction Industry

Chapter One

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

AIM

The research aims to expose the actual lived career experiences of professional women along their career path in the Nigerian construction industry. Through this knowledge, it should be possible to enhance women’s participation and their retention rate within the industry so as to ensure a steady career progression of women in active practice.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives are to:

Examine the challenges to women’s participation within the industry and how they were overcome
Identify their notable and career satisfying moments along their career path,
Assess the Career experiences and expectations of women in the Nigerian Construction Industry
Develop guidelines for enhancing women’s career within the construction industry

CHAPTER TWO:

REVIEW OF WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Definition of the Construction Industry

The construction industry is a sector of the economy that transforms various resources into physical economic and social infrastructure necessary for socio-economic development. It embraces the process by which the said physical infrastructure are planned, designed, procured, constructed or produced, altered, repaired, maintained, and demolished. The constructed infrastructure includes:

Buildings
Transportation systems and facilities which are airports, harbors, highways, subways, bridges, railroads, transit systems, pipelines and transmission and power lines.
Structures for fluid containment, control and distribution such as water treatment and distribution, sewage collection and treatment distribution systems, sedimentation lagoons, dams, and irrigation and canal systems.
Underground structures, such as tunnels and mines.

The industry comprises of organization and persons who include companies, firms and individuals working as consultants, main contractors and sub-contractors, material and component producers, plant and equipment suppliers, builder and merchants. The industry has a close relationship with clients and financiers. The Government is involved in the industry as purchaser (client), financier, regulator and operator (The Construction Industry Policy).

Women in the Nigerian Construction Industry

It can be said that in Nigeria today, women are truly weaving themselves into the fabric of the entire industry through enrolments in Quantity Surveying, Architecture, Building, Engineering and Construction education programs and being in positions of significance in design and construction firms (Babalola, 2008). Unlike before, Nigerian women are changing the face of the economy. They have overcome the barriers and are no longer bench – warming spectators even in the midst of the male dominated professional fields. Omar and Ogenyi (2004) discovered that Nigerian women are becoming more aware of their full potential to contribute to the growth of the nation. However, the engagement and involvement of professional women in the construction industry is not encouraging enough.

Efforts are still required in attracting more women into the industry.

Statistics of women in the Nigerian Construction Industry

National Bureau of Statistics (2008) report shows that from 2001 to 2005, the female population was 49.9% out of the nation’s population, while the growth rate from 1999 to

2006 was pegged at 3.5%. The report also shows the statistics of Data on Employment in the Building and Construction sector which indicates that as at December 2007, the population of unemployed female in Nigeria is at an average of 43.2% out of the entire population and these women fall within the age bracket of 25 to 44 years and they form the bulk of an untapped resource within the Nigerian economy. Adeyemi et al. (2006) revealed that women constitute only 16.3 percent of the workforce in the Nigerian construction industry, of which 50 percent are administrative staff, 10 percent employed as professional and management staff, and 2.5 percent as craftswomen. Shanmugam, Amaratunga and Haigh, (2006) also noted that the under-representation of women in the construction industry has been a concern for many years and has attracted both government and industry’s wide attention. This is more prominent recently due to the ageing of the current workforce and the potential skill shortage facing the industry. The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC, 2005) opined that breaking gender barriers will help solve skill shortages. Therefore, construction employers need to access a wider pool of talent from a more diverse range of people in terms of gender in order to recruit and develop a high quality workforce that is motivated and skilled to meet growing construction needs. Hence, female professionals are needed at all levels, in management, design, trade skills and in all the various parts of the supply chain.

Women Career Pathways

The construction industry varies in its constituent elements and components; it encompasses a wide range of activities and products. It is broken down into various sectors such as oil and gas, civil and heavy engineering, manufacturing and fabricating sectors etc. According to Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB, 2006) it now makes use of new partnering arrangements and procurement strategies with mechanized and prefabricated standard products. Gurjao (2006) noted that there are improvements in supply chain management and quality assurance with new innovations being the order of the day. Different skills requirement are evolving due to industrial changes gradually moving from manual labour towards white-collar / technical work.

CHAPTER THREE:

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Approach

Research methods and styles are not usually mutually exclusive although only one or a small number of approaches will normally be adopted due to resource constraints on the work. The different approaches focus on collection of data rather than examination of theory and literature. According to Yin (2003), the selection of a suitable research approach should be governed by the basis of-

The nature of the enquiry and the type of questions being posed;
The extent of the investigator’s control over the actual behavioural events; and
The degree of focus on contemporary events.

There are three types of research methodology; quantitative, qualitative and a combination of both methods called triangulation or mixed method (Fellows and Liu, 1999)

Quantitative Research

Quantitative approaches tend to relate to positivism and seek to gather factual data and to study relationships between facts and how such facts and relationships accord with theories and the findings of any research executed previously (literature) (Fellows and Liu, 1999). The samples collected from quantitative research are often large and representative with scientific techniques used to obtain measurements – quantified data. Analysis of the data yield quantified results and conclusions derived from evaluation of the results in the light of the theory and literature can be generalised to the larger population within acceptable error limits.

CHAPTER FOUR:

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF

RESULTS

The sample size of forty- five (45) respondents were interviewed for this research work and were drawn from the key participants in the building industry based on their level of interaction within the built environment. The key participants are Architectural, Quantity Surveying, Building and Civil Engineering female professionals.

CHAPTER FIVE:

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Objectives I: the challenges to women’s participation

The challenges of having to compete with their male counterpart for a lucrative job and setting up their own practice are fundamental and are not easily overcome. ii.The women in overcoming the challenge of work-family conflict have lowered their expectations in terms of achievements at the work in other to balance their career alongside their family. This attitude did not impact negatively on their careers.

Objectives II: their notable and career satisfying moments iii. The notable career experiences of these women have greatly overshadowed their challenges and their achievements have not gone unnoticed within the construction industry. They have enjoyed their career greatly and to them the challenges were surmountable.

Success in the perspectives of the women is rated in three ways. Achieving success at work; being a good mother; and also a good wife. They pride themselves as a role model to their children and cannot afford to relent in their efforts to excel in all aspects.

Objectives III: their career experience and expectations

The women’s career experience showed a wide gap between their expectations/perception and their preparedness for the realities of working life in the sector. The earlier the students are allowed to know the reality of the practical aspect of the industry, the best they are prepared to face it in practice.

The experiences of the women are not peculiar to them because they are women but because it is general and applicable to both sexes except that men can adapt easily and faster than the women. This shows that the nature/culture of the industry is not gender biased. The women are what they are and the industry is what it is. This goes a long way to demystify the mystery of the male only image.

The issue of money should be recognised as a barrier to women’s career progression within the construction industry. viii.Existence of inadequate and proper guidance towards diversification into fresh areas within the construction industry.

The industry is yet to be fully equipped to accommodate women, but it is not a basis for discouraging women from participating in it. Equal participation creates the physical environment that enriches our lives.

It was noted that the positive achievements of the women will speak for the industry such that we need not cajole anyone but rather they may be convinced to undertake a career within it.

It was agreed that the positive and masculine culture of the industry should be emphasised such that those who seek to be a part of that reality will undertake courses leading to careers within the industry.

CONCLUSION

The future offers the construction industry exciting opportunities and the industry can no longer afford to miss out on the contributions that women can make especially in the highly competitive market for talents. It is obvious that the Construction Industry needs diversity which in turn promotes creativity, and in order to compete successfully in today’s global market there has to be unleashing of the full potentials of the entire workforce.

The professional women understudied here have emerged with their head held high amidst challenges to their growth within the industry. They have sacrificed so much and what has got them going is the interest and love for the construction industry as a whole. The positive aspects of their career have greatly overshadowed the challenges such that at a point, the barriers seem to be nonexistent.

The study shows that the career experiences of women in terms of the joy and excitement derived from the different types of jobs undertaken and executed properly, breaking grounds to be well respected and commanding respect for a job well done and accomplishments well acknowledged within the industry are major attracting factors which can enhance the participation of women within the construction industry.

The study also shows that proper dissemination of the opportunities available within the industry for women and the successes attainable within can increase women’s participation.

This will ensure a steady flow of women as a work force within the construction industry.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Diversification – women should narrow themselves and be innovative. They should look at other things like branching out to other areas of their profession other than construction and make themselves relevant. There is a need to explore possible fresh areas and bring out new ideas which can be sustained in Nigeria like landscaping, developing different types of material, interior designs like furniture, the design of toilets and bathrooms, academics, consultancy, etc. they can specialise on some particular area and be perfect in it. The application of better solution that meets new requirements and articulated needs of the existing market is very necessary. This will help in reducing the competition with male counterpart.
Empowerment of women- Government legislations that will enhance women empowerment is necessary. This will encourage independence among the women folk in terms of establishing their own practice.
Dissemination of information- good news and the strength of the industry can be disseminated especially through women. The positive and masculine culture of the industry should also be emphasised such that those who seek to be a part of that reality may be well prepared for the working conditions within the industry. This can be done by showcasing successful women within the industry and getting them to talk about their career satisfying moments to the young ones in order to correct the negative image of the industry. Proper career guidance is also required at secondary school level.
The industry should assist and further enhance the capabilities of the various women group in meeting their various objectives. It is a way of equipping the industry to accommodate women.
Self Owned Practice- Women should think about establishing their own firms where they can easily direct and be in charge. Women should exhibit boldness and confidence and cast away timidity while exploiting legitimate opportunities to foster their career potentials. They should not be afraid of obstacles and failure, failure is a stepping stone to success. It will be easier if they are in charge in the office while the men go to the field on their behalf.
Elective positions- women should seek for elective positions within and outside the industry. This opportunity could be used to champion the cause for women.
Professional development- women in practice should make out time to develop themselves professionally and academically. This will give them an edge over others and make them more relevant in the profession.

REFERENCES

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