🏗️ The Double Standard Women in Construction Still Face | April 17, 2026
People love a helpful woman.
Until she asks for power.
I’ve been reading Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s My Own Words. If you know anything at all about the “Notorious RBG”, you know she spent most of her life fighting gender-based discrimination, and in the 1970s, she argued six landmark sex discrimination cases before the Supreme Court, winning 5 of them!
In Part II of her book, she provides tributes to the female “Waypavers and Pathmakers” who have helped pave the way for her own opportunities. Sandra Day O’Connor was the first female to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, and in Ginsberg’s tribute to her, she offers a quote from Sandra that really hit me hard:
“The first step in getting power is to become visible to others…”
In the last several weeks, I have seen more and more on LinkedIn and social media platforms about women being “seen” and respected for everything they do. Not just in the workplace, but in life.
Many of us expected to hold down the homefront (keep the house running, get kids to school and sports on time, make dinner) all while holding down our full-time job.
Holding down the fort at home is a thankless and invisible job. Some would say it’s the “unpaid labor” that women are expected to do.
So, when we go to work, and are still expected to be the ones “helping” to maintain the work environment, the project, keep everything running smoothly, it becomes one more thankless and invisible job in our lives.
And let’s turn to Women in Construction.
We are often praised when we are:
🔹collaborative
🔹supportive
🔹dependable
🔹the one who keeps the project moving
We are often the project manager, construction manager or safety manager who is also expected to be the overall “office manager”. The women on the project are the ones that are looked at for keeping the trailers clean, the printer stocked with paper, the coffee pots filled, meetings organized, and my favorite: the note taker.
But the moment we ask for the promotion, the title, the leadership role, or the authority to make decisions?
The room dynamics change. The tone shifts. The mood darkens.
Because people are usually comfortable with a woman being “helpful”.
They are less comfortable with her becoming “powerful”.
It’s time that we change those dynamics.
When a woman finally asks for her fair share and recognition for the 18 different jobs she has been expected to hold down, when that tone shifts and the mood darkens, that’s when our reaction must be deliberate and intentional.
Visibility matters. Words matter. Reactions matter.
Because you know what? Everyone who is trying to hold us back, and hold us down, they are all watching to see if we will just “take it” again.
It’s time to be visible, but in a new way.
It’s time to make a change.
It’s time to:
🔹Speak up in the meeting.
🔹Tell someone they just talked over you.
🔹Take the credit for the idea someone else plays off as their own.
🔹Lead the walk-through.
🔹Take credit for the strategy you were quietly asked to provide.
🔹Demand equal pay for equal work.
🔹Voluntell others to clean the breakroom.
🔹Tell anyone who expects you to get them coffee: “Get your own coffee.”
Because power does not arrive quietly.
It is claimed through visibility, authority, and consistency.
And the industry is better when women are seen leading it.
— With Gratitude,
Ronda 💛