Powell, A; Dainty, A R J; Bagilhole, B M and Neale, R H (2005) Coping in construction: Female students' perspectives. In: Khosrowshahi, F (ed.) Proceedings of 21st Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2005, London, UK.
Abstract
All parts of the construction industry are quantitatively and hierarchically male-dominated. In response to widespread calls for greater diversity within the sector, a number of government initiatives have been introduced to encourage women to pursue engineering degree courses, including construction programmes. Women represent the most significant group of untapped potential for the UK construction sector and so their recruitment and retention in the industry is vital for its future prosperity. This paper reports on part of an ESRC funded study exploring the impact of women construction students' workplace experiences on their career intentions. Workplace experiences are examined in the form of the year long industrial placement, as this is usually women's first major contact with the construction industry. The industrial placement also represents a key transitional stage in each student's process of becoming a construction professional (or not). Specifically, the research presented uses qualitative interviews with female construction students on industrial placement to analyse how women manage their integration into the industry, and the coping strategies women adopt. The paper concludes by explaining how the findings will be built upon in future stages of the research, in which a practical guidance document identifying initiatives to improve women's careers in construction will be developed for industry employers.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction career; coping strategies; culture; women |
| Index terms: | women, career, coping, construction professional, integration, recruitment, construction sector, construction industry, becoming, retention, interview, placement, programme, government initiatives, strategy |
| Subjects: | management, professional development, sociology, organizational analysis, project controls, behavioral psychology, political science, philosophical process, industry analysis, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Time Control, Human Resources, Governance, Business Strategy, Information Management, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here