A New Twist on Home Economics

Generations of American girls learned how to run a household in high school home economics classes. In the 21st century, girls are learning how to build the house – and shopping malls, office buildings and virtually every other kind of structure on the American landscape.

The construction industry is poised to grow, and women's role in that growth is expanding as well. In 2007, women accounted for 9 percent of the nearly 12 million jobs in the construction industry, and their numbers are steadily growing, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures. The architecture and engineering fields, specifically, have seen significant growth of women workers, with women accounting for 14 percent of that segment's work force.

Women are actively involved like never before in all facets of construction, including architecture, engineering, trucking/hauling, excavation, building, design and even business ownership.

"The key to the growth is education," says Dede Hughes executive vice president of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), which has been supporting women in construction for more than 50 years. "Construction is not an industry that is typically promoted to young women as a career option. It is one, however, that with any level of education, you can earn a living."

As more educational programs impact youth, the diversity in the construction workforce will undoubtedly continue to increase. In the last five years, NAWIC and other organizations have established a variety of programs geared toward educating girls and young women about construction career opportunities. These programs include competitions; week-long summer camps for elementary to high school girls, and presentations at schools.

MAGIC Summer Camp

Local chapters of NAWIC and MAGIC (Mentoring a Girl in Construction) Summer Camp Inc., sponsor MAGIC Summer Camp programs throughout the nation. Founder Renee Conner, a member of the Sugarloaf, Ga. NAWIC Chapter has seen the program grow from its first camp in Georgia to rapidly expand throughout the states. MAGIC Summer Camp is a one-week day camp designed to introduce high school girls to exciting careers in construction. Girls learn about various employment opportunities in construction, and participate in hands-on activities to promote construction skills.

Build Your Future

Build Your Future is a program of the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) designed to promote the construction industry to future employees. One activity is Careers in Construction Week, which unites the community, schools and various companies in the construction industry. NCCER also provides promotional material and a career Web site to further encourage students to pursue a career in construction. NCCER and NAWIC work in conjunction to promote Build Your Future activities.

More and more women today are not satisfied with making a home comfortable; they want to make a comfortable home designed and built by their own two hands. Where once home economic courses alluded to "making a home nice," now women are creating communities that include the malls, parks, new housing and office complexes too.

Editorial is provided by the National Association of Women in Construction.