Q&A
source new opportunities, manage staff, sponsor projects and
support other corporate initiatives as assigned.
While I have the technical background and expertise,
I’ve always said that I’m an “engineer of the people,” and
not the typical engineer often seen as analytical, practical or
not seeing the human perspectives – that’s not who I am.
I’m naturally gregarious and social, and I like putting teams
together. I have innately strong leadership characteristics and
get excited about bringing people to work together but still in
a technical capacity.
As a woman in construction, in your experience,
do you think any of the challenges you face are
different than those of your male colleagues?
I see it more in the context that there are always relation-ship
dynamics differences between men and women. Having
been on job sites as a young female engineer, in my experi-ence
in oil and gas and in my current role, I believe there
is a lot of fear with men now. They are trying to make sure
they are inclusive, that they don’t get themselves in trouble.
Often, they don’t know how to interact with a woman in
a professional context, how to say the right thing, and are
afraid to make a mistake.
The young people coming through high school and uni-versities
right now have been brought up with diversity,
without it being a problem or even an issue. They will be the
change-makers in all this.
How do you think construction companies can
do a better job of recruiting more women into
the industry?
The next wave that needs to go through construction compa-nies
is to get more women into traditional male roles such as
truck drivers, excavators, carpenters. This is a huge untapped
workforce. They need to think about what they can do to
attract women to their industry such as subsidize training
opportunities, offer flexibility for families, great benefits and
pay, and provide opportunities to grow into different roles.
Women Building Futures, headquartered in Edmonton,
is an organization that could be a great resource. They are
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