Although women’s experience of working in management has been studied extensively, the particular challenges they face in this role within male-dominated professions merits further attention.This article draws on research into the career experiences of women civil engineers in the UK to critically discuss the possibilities for women to pursue a management pathway within construction. A feminist theoretical framework has been used to analyse data from 31 in-depth interviews with women working in both the consulting and contracting parts of the industry. The study highlights cultural issues of visibility and the presenteeism ethos of the sector as well as the material constraints of construction sites. Women are taking up senior management posts but only in very few numbers.Their success depends on assuming ‘male’ norms and in these roles they straddle a marginal territory that is bordered by exclusion and resistance.
Ashburner, L. ( 1994) ‘Women in Management Careers: Opportunities and Outcomes’, in J. Evetts (ed.) Women and Career: Themes and Issues in Advanced Industrial Societies pp. 188-202. Harlow : Longman.
2.
Bales, R.F. ( 1950) Interaction Process Analysis: A Method for the Study of Small Groups. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
3.
Blair-Loy, M. ( 2004) ‘Work Devotion and Work Time’, in C.F. Epstein and A.L. Kalleberg (eds), Fighting for Time: Shifting Boundaries of Work and Social Life, pp. 282-316. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
4.
Bolton, S.C. ( 2005) ‘"Making up" Managers: The Case of NHS Nurses’, Work, Employment and Society19(1): 5-23.
5.
Bolton, S.C. and Muzio, D. ( 2007) ‘Can’t Live with ’em; Can’t Live without ’em: Gendered Segmentation in the Legal Profession’ , Sociology41(1): 47-64.
6.
Brush, C.G. and Bird, B.J. ( 1996) ‘Leadership Vision of Successful Women Entrepreneurs: Dimensions and Characteristics’, in W. D. Bygrave et al. (eds), Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Summary. Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Babson College, Babson Park, MA.
7.
Burke, R.J. and Nelson, D.L. ( 2002) ‘Advancing Women in Management: Progress and Prospects’ , in R.J. Burke and D.L. Nelson (eds) Advancing Women’s Careers, pp. 3-14. Oxford: Blackwell .
8.
Butler, J. ( 1993) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York, NY: Routledge.
9.
Carli, L.L. and Eagly, A.H. ( 2007) ‘Overcoming Resistance to Women Leaders: The Importance of Leadership Style’, in B. Kellerman and D.L. Rhode (eds) Women and Leadership, pp. 127-48. San Fransisco, CA : John Wiley.
10.
Cockburn, C. ( 1991) In the Way of Women. Basingstoke : Macmillan.
11.
Cohn, S. ( 2000) Race, Gender and Discrimination at Work. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
12.
Collinson, D.L. and Collinson, M. ( 2004) ‘The Power of Time: Leadership, Management and Gender’ , in C.F. Epstein and A.L. Kalleberg (eds) Fighting for Time: Shifting Boundaries of Work and Social Life, pp. 219-46. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Dainty, A.R.J., Moore, D. and Murray, M. ( 2006) Communication in Construction: Theory and Practice , Abingdon: Taylor and Francis .
16.
Davidson, M.J. and Burke, R.J. ( 2000) Women in Management. London : SAGE.
17.
Davies, C. ( 1996) ‘The Sociology of the Professions and the Profession of Gender’, Sociology30(4): 661-78.
18.
Davies, C. ( 2003) ‘Workers, Professions and Identity’ in J. Henderson and D. Atkinson (eds) Managing Care in Context , pp. 189-210. Routledge : London.
19.
Druker, J. and White, G. ( 1996) Managing People in Construction. London : Institute of Personnel and Development.
20.
Evetts, J. ( 1993) ‘Women and Management and Engineering: The Glass Ceiling for Women’s Careers’, Work, Employment and Society8(7): 19-25.
21.
Evetts, J. ( 1996) Gender and Career in Science and Engineering. London: Taylor and Francis.
22.
Fielden, S.L., Davidson, M.J., Gale, A.W. and Davey, C.L. ( 2000) ‘Women in Construction: The Untapped Resource’ , Construction Management and Economics18(1): 113-21.
23.
Goffman, E. ( 1967) Interaction Ritual. New York : Pantheon.
24.
Greed, C. ( 2000) ‘Women in the Construction Professions’ , Gender, Work and Organisation7(3): 181-96.
25.
Hearn, J. and Piekkari, R. ( 2005) ‘Gendered Leaderships and Leaderships on Gender Policy: National Context, Corporate Structures, and Chief Human Resources Managers in Transnational Corporations’, Leadership1(4): 429-54.
26.
ICE (2007) ‘Institution of Civil Engineers’, URL (consulted 22 April 2009): www.ice.org.uk
27.
James, D.T. ( 2008) ‘Importance of Diversity in a Successful Firm’ , Leadership and Management in Engineering8(1): 16-18.
28.
Kanter, R.M. ( 1993) Men and Women of the Corporation, 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Basic Books.
29.
Kerfoot, D. and Knights, D. ( 2004) Management, Organization and Masculinity. London: SAGE.
30.
Langford, D., Hancock, M.R., Fellows, R. and Gale, A.W. ( 1995) Human Resources Management in Construction. Ascot: Longman.
31.
McDowell, L. ( 1997) Capital Culture. Oxford: Blackwell.
32.
McKay, P.F. and Avery, D.R. ( 2005) ‘Warning! Diversity Recruitment Could Backfire’ , Journal of Management Inquiry14(4): 330-36.
33.
Mattei, N.J. and Jennings, L. ( 2008) ‘Pit Stops and Scenic Routes: How to Aid Women to Stay on Track in Their Careers’, Leadership and Management in Engineering8(1): 27-31.
34.
Michielsens, E., Clarke, L. and Wall, C. ( 2001) ‘Diverse Equality in Europe: The Construction Sector’ in M. Noon and E. Ogbonna (eds), Equality, Diversity and Disadvantage in Employment, pp.118-35. Basingstoke: Palgrave .
35.
Muzio, D. and Bolton, S.C. ( 2006) ‘Feminisation and Paradox: Stratification and Segmentation in Professional Contexts’, The Irish Journal of Management , 1: 79-93.
36.
NCE (2000) ‘Discrimination Causes Construction Skill Shortages’, 3 February 2000 : 7.
37.
NCE (2003) ‘A Gender Agenda - Working Lives: Women in Engineering’, 17 July 2003: 46.
38.
NCE (2007) ‘Women Shun Construction over Equality’, 5 July 2007: 12-13.
39.
NCE (2008a) ‘Women MICEs Earn Third Less than Male Engineers’, 15 May 2008 : 5.
40.
NCE (2008b) ‘Mind the Gap’ , 22 May 2008: 14-15.
41.
NCE (2008c) ‘Civils Careers: The Woman’s Point of View’, 3 July 2008: 10-11. Paap, K. (2006) Working Construction. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
42.
Peel, S. and Boxall, P. ( 2005) ‘When Is Contracting Preferable to Employment? An Exploration of Management and Worker Perspectives’, Journal of Management Studies42(8): 1675-97.
43.
Powell, G.N. ( 1999) ‘Reflections on the Glass Ceiling: Recent Trends and Future Prospects’, in G.N. Powell (ed.), Handbook of Gender and Work, pp. 325-45. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
44.
Powell, A., Bagilhole, B.M. and Dainty, A.R.J. ( 2006) ‘The Problem of Women’s Assimilation into UK Engineering Cultures: Can Critical Mass Work?’, Equal Opportunities International25(8): 688-99.
45.
Ramazanoglu, C. and Holland, J. ( 2002) Feminist Methodology. London : SAGE.
46.
Ravlin, E.C. and Thomas, D.C. ( 2005) Status and Stratification Processes in Organizational Life’, Journal of Management31(6): 966-87.
47.
Schinzinger, R. and Martin, M.W. ( 2000) Introduction to Engineering Ethics. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
48.
Simpson, R. ( 1998) ‘Presenteeism, Power and Organizational Change: Long Hours as a Career Barrier and the Impact on the Working Lives of Women Managers’, British Journal of Management9(s1): 37-50.
49.
Sinclair, A. ( 2005) ‘Body Possibilities in Leadership’ , Leadership1(4): 387-406.
50.
Smith, D.M. ( 2000) ‘Gender and Leadership Style’, in D.M. Smith (ed.), Women at Work: Leadership for the Next Century pp. 36-50. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
51.
Social Trends ( 2007) Social Trends 37. London: HMSO.
52.
Vinnicombe, S. and Singh, V. ( 2002) ‘Developing Tomorrow’s Women Business Leaders’ , in R.J. Burke and D.L. Nelson (eds), Advancing Women’s Careers, pp. 206-19. Oxford: Blackwell .
53.
Wajcman, J. ( 1998) Managing Like a Man. Cambridge : Polity.
54.
Watts, J. ( 2006) ‘The Outsider Within: Dilemmas of Qualitative Feminist Research within a Culture of Resistance’, Qualitative Research6(3): 385-402.
55.
Watts, J. ( 2007a) ‘Can’t Take a Joke? Humour as Resistance, Refuge and Exclusion in a Highly Gendered Workplace’, Feminism and Psychology17(2): 259-66.
56.
Watts, J.H. ( 2007b) ‘Porn, Pride and Pessimism: Experiences of Women Working in Professional Construction Roles’, Work, Employment and Society21(2): 297-314.
57.
Watts, J.H. ( 2008) ‘Impression Management: A Form of Emotion Work for Women in a Male-Dominated Profession’, International Journal of Work Organization and Emotion2(3): 221-35.
58.
Wiles, R., Charles, V., Crow, G. and Heath, S. ( 2006) ‘Researching Researchers: Lessons for Research Ethics’ , Qualitative Research6(3): 283-99.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
