The overworked site manager: Gendered ideologies in the construction industry

Styhre, A (2011) The overworked site manager: Gendered ideologies in the construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 29(9), pp. 943-955. ISSN 1466433X

Abstract

Organizations are sites where gendered ideologies are established and played out and in the case of the construction industry there is a strong underrepresentation of women and ethnic minorities in certain positions such as site managers. Masculine ideologies here denote the totality of norms, belief and assumptions that serve to enact specific images of e.g. leadership work. In the case of the Swedish construction industry, the site manager role is enacted as a paternal figure having full control of the situation, always in the position to take care of emerging and unforeseen events, and spending long hours at work. Such site management role is thus reproducing gender ideologies, imposing expectations on individual site managers, and erecting entry barriers for e.g. women or individuals not willing to forsake family life. The managerial implications are that the construction industry needs to critically evaluate what demands are put on site managers and how to create more balanced leadership positions.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: gender; ideology; site manager work
Index terms: construction industry, site management, site manager, women, norms, ethnic minority
Subjects: practitioner, construction operations, demography, sociology, industry analysis
Topics: Urban Studies, Site Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions
Descriptive scope: 3 PCT

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