Built to Be Here:
A Woman’s Perspective on Leadership, Opportunity and the Changing Face of Construction

For generations, construction has been an industry built largely by men, not only on jobsites, but around boardroom tables, in operations departments, equipment divisions and executive suites

That history is changing.

I know because I am part of that change.

I work as an Operations & Administration Supervisor in the heavy equipment sector, supporting people, operations and the business behind an industry that I have grown to genuinely love. My career has allowed me to work alongside tradespeople, apprentices,
operations leaders, administrators, suppliers and executives, and it has shown me just how
much opportunity exists within construction.

It has also shown me that being given an opportunity and being truly seen, heard and recognized are not always the same thing.

That is a conversation I believe we need to be willing to have. Not negatively. Not to diminish the incredible progress our industry has made. And certainly not to suggest that every woman’s experience is the same. We need to have it because construction is evolving, women are increasingly helping lead that evolution, and acknowledging where challenges remain is how we continue moving forward.

The Numbers Tell Two Stories

The first story is one of tremendous progress.

According to Build Force Canada, women represented 13.6% of Canada’s construction workforce in 2024, the highest proportion recorded since the Labor Force Survey began in 1976. Employment among women in construction increased 3.5% that year, while employment among women aged 15 to 24 increased 10.4%.

Apprenticeship numbers are equally encouraging. Women accounted for 8% of new apprenticeship registrations in 2023, up from 6.3% the previous year, with registrations among women increasing 26%. Gains have occurred in traditionally male-dominated trades including heavy equipment mechanics, welding, sheet metal and refrigeration and air-conditioning.

These numbers matter.

They tell young women something previous generations heard far less often:

There is a place for you here.

But the second story appears when we look beyond entering the industry and examine who advances into leadership.

Statistics Canada reported that women represented only 14.7% of middle managers and 12.4% of senior managers in construction in the 2021 Census.

Put those numbers into perspective: across industries overall, women represented approximately 42.7% of middle managers and 30.8% of senior managers.

That difference tells us something important.

Our challenge is no longer simply getting women through the door.

It is ensuring there is a path forward once they get there.

My Experience Has Not Always Been Easy

I want to be open about another part of this experience.

Being a high-achieving woman in a male-dominated sector has not always been easy.

There have been times throughout my career when I have felt undervalued or unheard.

There have been moments when I have questioned whether the standards being applied to me were the same standards being applied around me.

I have experienced situations where expectations seemed capable of shifting depending on tenure, title, relationships or internal dynamics. At times, I have wondered who was allowed to challenge whom, whose behavior was tolerated, and why intensity and determination could be viewed as leadership in one person and as “too much” in another.

Those experiences have challenged me.

I have been told that I am capable. That I am driven. That I have potential. That I am doing
an amazing job.

And I have still heard no.

I have watched opportunities move past me and wondered whether I was watching the train go by.

That is a difficult thing to admit publicly, particularly when you are someone who prides herself on resilience.

But growth has also required me to understand something equally important: my experiences do not remove my responsibility to examine my own behavior, leadership or impact.

I can ask whether an environment is treating me fairly while simultaneously asking whether I could communicate differently, listen better, lead more effectively or understand another perspective.

Those two things can exist together.

Self-reflection should challenge us to grow, but it should not require us to pretend the environment around us has no influence on how our behavior is interpreted.

Sometimes we need to be pushed outside our comfort zones to understand ourselves better.

Some of the hardest moments in my career have forced me to do exactly that.

They have made me ask difficult questions about who I am as a leader, how others experience me, what I need to improve, what I should own,and what I should no longer automatically assume is mine to carry.

That process has made me a better leader.

The Boardroom Can Be a Different Kind of Jobsite
There is a reality many women understand that can be difficult to put into statistics.

You can earn your chair at the table and still must establish that your voice belongs there.

Women can become conscious of when they speak, how strongly they disagree, how much emotion they show and how assertive they should be.

Speak softly and you risk being overlooked.

Speak firmly and you risk being labelled difficult.

Show emotion and you may worry about appearing weak.

Remove emotion and you may be perceived as cold.

Be ambitious and you may be viewed differently than a male colleague expressing the same ambition.

This is not every workplace, every boardroom or every woman’s experience. I have also worked alongside men who have supported me, challenged me, mentored me and encouraged me to grow.

Those men matter enormously to this conversation.

Because progress cannot happen if women are having the conversation only with other
women.

Find Your Allies
One of the greatest lessons my career has taught me is the importance of finding allies.

Find the people who see something in you before you necessarily see it yourself.

Find people willing to challenge you rather than simply agree with you.

Find leaders who invite you into rooms you haven’t entered before.

Find mentors willing to tell you where you need to improve.

Find colleagues who mention your name when an opportunity arises and you aren’t in the room.

Some of the people who have challenged me the most have ultimately contributed the most to my growth.

An ally does not always make you comfortable.

Sometimes an ally sees what you could become and refuses to allow you to remain where you are.

And women need to become those allies for one another.

There is enough room at the table for more than one successful woman.

My World Became Bigger When I Stepped Outside My Role

One of the biggest changes in my own perspective occurred when I began stepping outside the boundaries of my everyday role.

The more opportunities I have had to attend industry events, listen to panel members, participate in community initiatives such as Canstruction, and We Build a Dream, and connect with people from across the construction industry, the more I have realized that I want to contribute beyond my day-to-day responsibilities.

I also sit on a panel with the TVDSB and Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP).

That experience has been incredibly meaningful.

Being able to engage with the next generation, participate in events and help create opportunities for students, including supporting co-op experiences through a heavy equipment shop, has shown me what can happen when industry professionals take the time to open a door.

Sometimes young people simply need someone to show them what is possible.

Construction offers far more career opportunities than many people realize.

You do not necessarily need to follow a traditional path to build an extraordinary career
within this industry.

That message is particularly important for young women.

We Need to Ask Better Questions

As I have become more involved in the broader construction community, I have also realized that no single company, association or leader has all the answers.

We need to talk to one another.

What are we doing well when it comes to attracting women into construction?

More importantly, what are we doing to keep them?

Where are women thriving?

Where are we losing them?

What helps an apprentice stay long enough to become a journeyperson?

What allows a coordinator to see herself becoming a manager?

What allows a manager to imagine herself becoming an executive?

What workplace practices are working?

Which ones aren’t?

Bringing industry leaders, associations, educators, tradespeople and women at different stages of their careers together to share those experiences could be incredibly powerful.

Because diversity is not simply about recruitment.

It is about creating an environment where women want to stay, develop, lead and
eventually open doors for the women coming behind them.

Advocate for Yourself, Even When It Is Uncomfortable

I have also learned that women cannot wait for someone else to map out their careers.

We need to advocate for ourselves.

That can be uncomfortable.

Ask for the opportunity.

Volunteer for the project.

Learn the business.

Understand the numbers.

Walk the shop floor and the jobsite.

Learn from the tradespeople doing the work.

Build relationships outside your department.

Find mentors.

Ask questions when you don’t understand something.

Put your hand up.

And when you want more responsibility, say so.

There is nothing wrong with ambition.

There is nothing wrong with wanting a larger role.

There is nothing wrong with believing you are capable of more.

But advocacy must also be backed by accountability.

We have to do the work.

We have to learn.

We have to accept feedback.

We have to make mistakes, own them and improve.

We have to demonstrate that we are capable, not because women should have to prove themselves more than men, but because credibility in construction is earned through consistency, knowledge, relationships and results.

We Are Still Building

Construction has taught me that worthwhile things rarely appear overnight.

You start with a foundation.

You build.

You inspect what you have built.

You discover weaknesses.

You make adjustments.

And you keep building.

Perhaps that is exactly where women in construction are today.

We have come an extraordinary distance.

We should celebrate it.

We should recognize the men and women who have become allies, opened doors, changed workplace cultures and challenged old assumptions.

But we should also be brave enough to acknowledge that the work is not finished.

My own journey has included incredible opportunities, meaningful relationships, difficult lessons, moments of disappointment, moments of pride, doors that opened and doors that didn’t.

I wouldn’t erase the difficult parts.

They have shaped me.

They have made me more determined to engage our community, inspire young minds, create opportunities, connect industry leaders and encourage more women to see construction as a place where they can belong, contribute, lead and thrive.

I don’t know exactly where my own career will ultimately take me.

But I know that I want to leave this industry a little better than I found it.

I want the young women coming behind us to spend less time wondering whether they belong and more time deciding what they are going to build once they get here.

The ceiling has not completely disappeared.

But every day, women across construction are putting cracks in it.

And eventually, perhaps we won’t need to talk about women succeeding in a maledominated industry.

We will simply talk about successful people building an extraordinary industry together.

Until then, we keep showing up.

We keep learning.

We keep advocating.

We keep opening doors.

And most importantly

we keep building.

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