Sisters in Steel caps

joke. Media and society as a whole tend to ignore the many women who have risen above the stereotypes, harassment, innuendos, and doubt that all of society gives to women who remain in the construction and associated industries. How often do you hear stories from the women who have been in the industry for over 20 years, 30 years, and beyond? Not nearly enough. It is very difficult when even in 2021 there are some women who think that women can’t and

don’t belong in the industry, because “heavy things”.

The perception of these industries, and what it is like to work in them, has changed somewhat over the course of my 30 years of experience. When I first started, I was told bluntly to my face I didn’t belong, that it was a man’s world, that I needed to fit in with them, and not expect it to change to fit me. That might sound confronting and rude these days, but back then, it was “normal”. And I suppose I understood it somewhat after I got to know the industry better. It is hard work, with long hours, intense pressures, and on site it is dirty, dusty, thankless, and dangerous. And the men, before the advent of women, had a place where they could be themselves, without the filter that the feminine can

provide. I’m not justifying it, just trying to explain that once we ladies started to infiltrate, it was

challenging to some who couldn’t comprehend that a woman would want to be involved, let alone

be good at it! Some of them still do feel it to this day, but over the years, many have become more accepting as we women show that not only can we handle it, we love it as much as the men do.

When it comes to what female friendships offer from one sister in steel caps to another, it comes down to understanding. Just as it can be difficult to understand anything from outside, the friendships developed in the industry are usually as fast and intense as the work itself. We recognise a soul sister, a kindred spirit, a forever friend very quickly when we come across them because we know what it

took for them to get where they are.

I have a shared experience with a girlfriend from a job where one of the guys came into our office and dropped the stinkiest “social call” you can imagine. Gag worthy, which I promptly started doing. My very clever girlfriend had just been through the safety induction with its various codes for different safety alerts. She promptly named this event a “code brown” and so it remains until this day in our lexicon. That is the kind of humour that gets you the laughs on site, and creates lasting memories with sisters from that environment. There isn’t much

room to be precious on site when you are constantly surrounded by high risk activities that endanger lives. It is why the industry has a reputation for being an outlier when it comes to charm, because social

niceties come second to staying safe. And with that level of daily pressure, relief comes sometimes in the most childish of forms. Dark humour abounds

because if we thought about how dangerous our work really can be, we might never laugh again. You’ve got to be in it to understand it. You’ve got to love it to appreciate it. You’ve got to have spent a few years surrounded by the people in the industry to understand and value them.

I can tell you now, the truest and most loyal friends I have to this day come from the industry. Some of them I employed to be an assistant on my teams, some I met when we started together on the same day, and some I have met through external agencies that connected us. What binds us all together is a love of our industry and an understanding of the

lifestyle that comes with it. It can be hard for others to comprehend that we accept ten to twelve-hour days as our normal. That we take work phone calls at 11 pm on a weeknight, and 7 am on the weekend if we have to. These beautiful sisters of mine that get their boots on daily with me understand that the job is frequently all consuming, and construction waits for no one. When it wants your attention, you need to give it.

They also understand the rewards that come with this kind of life choice – the lack of judgement on makeup and fashion choices, the support when the rest of life conflicts with the role, the toll it takes

when you have that one guy who just won’t give up about you having a vagina on site and fails to understand we don’t actually use our genitalia in the conduct of our work, any more than they do. They get it because they live it daily with you.

We know how to laugh when we get asked (again for the thousandth time) to clean the kitchen when we are the project manager. Or when the room full of men assume you are there to take notes when you are the facilitator of the risk assessment for a $500

million project. Or when you get sent the eighth dick pic that day and start laughing because damn, girl, you’ve just got to laugh some days. They know how to help you shake it all off, and keep kicking the shit out of that concrete ceiling with those steel caps. I Sisterhood in the industry is precious and rare, because, with less than 12% representation across the board, we are precious and rare.

About the Writer

Becky Paroz doesn’t fit in, and she’s not sorry. She has worked for nearly 30 years in the construction industry, taking names and making one for herself. Bek makes her place in the world and has never waited for space to open up for her. She is a leader, the author of The Words of Bek, a coach, mentor, speaker and writer. She is a fan of other mavericks, rebels and non conformists. Becky is also the co-founder of Imaginarium 2.0, publishing other authors.