When Working Hard Is Not Enough for Female and Racial/Ethnic Minority Apprentices in the Highway Trades

Abstract

Drawing on employment records, qualitative interviews, and a survey, we explore the experiences of apprentices in the highway trades in Oregon. We demonstrate that female and racial/ethnic minority apprentices have lower rates of recruitment and retention and disproportionately face challenges with interpersonal interactions, hiring practices, and supervisory practices. Yet, we find a pervasive narrative that attributes apprentices' success to "hard work," which contributes to the legitimacy of these inequalities. Consistent with the conceptualization of work organizations as inequality regimes, we argue that the apprenticeship system has policies, practices, and ideologies that are on the surface gender and race/ethnicity neutral, yet lead to the perpetuation of inequalities.

Women’s career development in the construction industry across 15 years: main barriers

“…Matthewson (2015), Barreto (2015), Kelly et al (2015), Alessandrini and Winter (2014b), Azhar and Griffin (2014), Kaewsri and Tonghthong (2014), Navarro-Astor and Caven (2014), Pickerill (2014), Caven and Navarro-Astor (2013), Agudo and Sánchez (2011), Kaewsri and Tonghthong (2013), Choudhury (2013), Denissen (2010), Wellington (2010), Construction Sector Council (2010), Barnabas et al (2009), Enshassi et al (2008), Eliufoo (2007), Menches and Abraham (2007), Dainty and Lingard (2006), De Graft-Johnson et al (2005), Fowler and Wilson (2004), Borrás and Bucci (2003), Dainty et al (2000) and Greed (2000).…”

Representation justice as a research agenda for socio-hydrology and water governance

“…For example, Williams et al (2012) studied women geoscientists in the oil and gas industry, focusing on four dimensions of this occupation that disadvantaged some women: job insecurity, teamwork, networking, and career maps (characterized by individual responsibility for career development). Kelly et al (2015) identified similar findings in their research on the construction trades: apprentices who were women and/or people of color experienced barriers to consistent employment, networking, and mentorship as well as overtly racist and sexist harassment on the job site. Both studies described policies, practices, and ideologies that were, on the surface, gender and race-neutral; however, these conditions disadvantaged women and people of color.…”

“…Holding multiple marginalized identities impacts experiences of oppression in these sectors (e.g. Healy et al 2011, Williams et al 2012, Kelly et al 2015.…”

“…Acker's work has been widely applied in sociological and interdisciplinary research on work organizations, particularly concerning workers in occupations that have historically been white male-dominated, such as construction tradespeople (Kelly et al 2015), geoscientists in the oil and gas industry (Williams et al 2012), and public-sector workers in health, local government and higher education (Healy et al 2011). These studies have assessed how organizational policies, practices, and ideologies disadvantage marginalized workers.…”

“…We focus on the US to illustrate how inequality manifests in water systems in the global North, 2 where access to clean water is often taken for granted (Gandy 2014, Meehan et al 2020. We take cues from feminist and intersectional studies of other white male-dominated industries (Acker 2006, Healy et al 2011, Williams et al 2012, Kelly et al 2015 to explore how the social composition of governance may affect human-environment interactions. Finally, we propose an agenda for future research and discuss how a representation justice approach might benefit sociohydrology and water management practice.…”