National Women in Construction Week took place during Spring Break, so this week we’re bringing you a few facts about women in construction, thanks to Skanska USA Building, Inc.’s own Emmalee Morris (Project Manager):
- Emily Roebling is known as the First Woman Field Engineer. She saw the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 after her husband became ill. At the time it opened, the Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world – 50% longer than any previously built.
- A 2023 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reveals that 10.8% of construction workers in the United States are women. The percentage of women in construction has been increasing since 2016.
- The first written record of women construction workers dates to 13th-century Spain. Historians unearthed records of women construction laborers and skilled tradespeople from the 13th to the 17th centuries in England, France, Germany and Spain. Record-keeping was spotty during the Middle Ages, so it’s impossible to know for certain how widespread this practice was.
- There is only US college of engineering named after a woman ~ RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. Through a combination of formal education and self-learning, Kate earned the title of engineer and became the first woman elected to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1914.
