Barriers to the Professional Development of Qualified Women in the Peruvian Construction Industry

Abstract

The construction industry frequently offers an unwelcoming environment for women, and those who do manage to enter have high rates of turnover and abandonment. Within this scenario, this research aims to identify the barriers faced by qualified women, to analyze the different views that qualified men and women have regarding these barriers, and to find the underlying factors that group these barriers and their degrees of importance. In the context of this research, "qualified" men and women are those who hold a university degree (in construction-related areas). Initially, 20 barriers were identified analyzing previous contributions. These barriers composed the statements of the questionnaire survey; data was obtained from 429 professionals of the Peruvian construction industry. It was found that women face invisible barriers throughout their careers and have fewer professional opportunities than men. The main perceptual dissimilarities between men and women indicate that men interpret womanhood as a form of positive discrimination which, far from being a professional barrier, is considered by them as an advantage. Likewise, women agree that if they take maternity leave, they will suffer a loss in the hierarchical order; furthermore, the

Gender in the Construction Industry: Literature Review and Comparative Survey of Men’s and Women’s Perceptions in UK Construction Consultancies

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Obstacles to the career progression of professional female project managers (PFPMs) in the Ghanaian construction industry

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Women Workforce in Construction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Strategies

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