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Reading the recent article in the STL Forum news last week concerning the rising female stars in the Construction Industry made me realize how many strong women leaders we are fortunate to have in the St. Louis design and construction marketplace.

In my consulting work with MBE/WBE firms, I am currently working with seven firms that are owned and managed by women.  RUCC, the organization dedicated to growing MBE/WBE firms find themselves with three woman owned business enterprises in their current program—all in the electrical contracting business.  Three very prominent GC’s in the city are owned and managed by females.  And, let’s not leave the professional side of our industry out as there are several first-class woman-owned A&E firms doing some great work in the area. The airport authority lists over three hundred firms on their roster that are WBE certified.  Women are well represented in the ownership of all major trades within our industry—whatever dividing lines may have existed over the years have vanished, hopefully never to return.

So, is the good ol boy network breaking up?  Is the male grip on the industry loosening?

I am sure we are a few years away from a total leveling of the playing field but the days of walking into a conference room or an industry gathering of any kind and seeing only dark suits and power ties are well in the past.  While we are far from the 50/50 ratio of MBE/WBE folks to Caucasian and majority firms, we are at least approaching a recognizable number of women and minority races in any room in town—especially on the female side.

I admire and respect the many women that dare to take the giant step of owning and managing their own firm.  Women take this step for a variety of reasons and they often face challenges that are much tougher to overcome than their male counterparts.  Access to capital is severely limited, if not non-existent without clear and concise collateral apart from the male spouse.  Woman owned business enterprises are under a brighter and more intense spotlight when they walk on to a job site or enter into a major contract.  Normal business matters intensify for woman owned firms; major negotiations escalate beyond the norm; and the power brokers in the industry are constantly seeking for the male behind the success of the firm.  The general expectation is that women cannot possibly know all there is to know in the running of a major construction firm.  Guess what, I am going to let everyone in on a little secret, neither do many men.

Personally, I feel this movement, if one wants to call it a movement, is great for our industry.  We need a shakeup; we need more accounting and sensibility; we need a more focused approach to business; we need leaders that will challenge the nonsensical payment practices and non-workable contract terms pushed down on those that least can afford it.  I do not think the women in leadership within our industry will accept 60, 90 and 120-day payment terms.  They can’t—and survive. 

Some will say this industry is too rough and tough and demanding for women.  Well, let me tell everyone that our industry could use a dose of niceness, all while not giving an inch on the roughness and the toughness.  I know of no work, in any industry, that is too rough and tough and demanding for women.  We will soon witness this firsthand in the leadership of our United States—all for the better I do believe.

Rising stars indeed–welcome to all women in our industry.  You make us men proud and you make our industry better, even though we men may be a bit fearful of giving up our perceived centuries old superior position in construction.