Understanding the barriers to women’s career in construction industry: Indonesian perspective

Abstract

Women’s involvement in the Indonesian construction industry is considerably low accounting for less than 3% of the total workers. Construction as a male-dominated industry becomes a barrier for women to join the workforce. The increase in the need for workforces is proportional to the growth in construction development. The needs cannot only be provided by male workers. Women's participation in the construction industry will contribute to the shortage of human capital demand. The aim of this research is to find the factors that impede women to pursue their careers in the construction industry. 21 factors are gathered from an extensive literature review. After conducting expert interviews, the factors are developed into a questionnaire and distributed to women who are already in the workforce. The analysis based on the Relative Important Index shows that the most influential barrier to women in construction is the lack of worksite security. The factor analysis found five critical barriers to women’s careers in the construction industry. Developing these barriers to a framework gives a broader perspective about the sources of each critical barrier. Internal as well as external elements including worksite, organization, and the industry itself have been the cause that prevents women to pursue their careers in the construction industry.