Tools For Building An Equitable Infrastructure Workforce

Tools For Building An Equitable

Infrastructure Workforce

GENDER EQUITY STRATEGIES AS A MODEL

September 2023

Elyse Shaw

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TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

Toolkit Overview

The unprecedented levels of federal investment in infrastructure create a unique opportunity to design and

implement policies and programs that will ensure equity and inclusion in good jobs that pay family-sustaining

wages and meet the demand for workers on a wide range of infrastructure projects. This module provides

guidance on strategies and best practices for recruiting and retaining women in construction, manufacturing, and

clean energy jobs. This module can and should be used by a wide range of stakeholders. These strategies should

be viewed as a menu of options and entry points that can and should be used to either initiate new projects and

programs and ll the gaps for existing work, depending on their community and workforce needs. The toolkit

includes strategies, resources, and examples of the following:

Make the Intentional Choice to Build a Diverse Workforce

• Build inclusive local/regional partnerships.

• Intentionally center diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).

• Make data-driven decisions.

• Creating an intentional regional equity and diversity plan.

• Creating the demand for a diverse workforce.

Targeted Recruitment and Addressing Barriers to Entry

• Using inclusive language and images.

• Target locations frequented by women.

• Engage and empower women to help recruit other women.

• Build strong partnerships with women-focused pre-apprenticeship programs and tradeswomen

organizations.

• Provide comprehensive wraparound supportive services.

• Maintain exibility in the recruiting process.

Retaining a Diverse Workforce

• Committing to regular and consistent monitoring and reporting on progress.

• Provide equitable training and work opportunities.

• Implement policies and programs to change workplace culture, prevent and address gender-based violence

and harassment, and address health and safety concerns.

• Continued investment in wraparound supportive services and benets.

Resources

Research

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Introduction

The unprecedented levels of federal investment in infrastructure – from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the

CHIPS and Science Act, and the Ination Reduction Act – create a unique opportunity to design and implement

policies and programs that will ensure equity and inclusion in good jobs that pay family-sustaining wages. Building

a diverse and equitable workforce requires intentional and thoughtful strategies for recruiting and retaining

underserved and underrepresented populations.

Successfully implementing strategies requires clear guidance on

best practices as well as dedicated funding and technical assistance.

Women

are vastly underrepresented

in critical infrastructure elds such as manufacturing, construction and clean

energy. Research also shows that there are pay disparities for women in these elds, and for some, particularly

women from underserved communities, these pay disparities can be signicant. For instance, in the skilled trades,

women earn less than men

and women with disabilities make signicantly less than men with disabilities;

and

in manufacturing, Black women and Latinas are “particularly likely to work in lower-paid jobs or sectors in the

industry.”

Additionally, the construction, manufacturing, and clean energy industries need to rapidly hire a skilled workforce

across the United States.

As federally funded projects continue to launch, there is an opportunity to meet the

demand for workers on federally and privately funded projects. Women are severely underrepresented and

underserved in the construction, manufacturing, and clean energy sectors. Despite being almost 50% of the

workforce, women make up only 10.9% of the construction workforce – with only 4.2% of those working in skilled

construction trades occupations – and 29.3% of the manufacturing workforce. Moreover, women in construction

and manufacturing are overrepresented in lower-wage occupations.

In order to meet the workforce demands,

workforce development plans must center equity for all women.

Advancing equity in these jobs requires partnerships, intentional investments in workforce development, and a

commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) at all levels. This module can and should be

used by a wide range of stakeholders, including local, regional, and state governments, project owners and those

who are recipients of federal infrastructure funds, employers, unions, workforce development entities, philanthropy,

non-prot and community-based organizations, and any other actors working to build equitable pathways to good

jobs for women. The strategies found in this module apply to various stakeholders but work best when used

by a coalition of participants who are working together from different sectors to advance equitable workforce

development in their community. Additionally, stakeholders should view these strategies as a menu of options and

entry points that can and should be used to either initiate new projects and programs and ll the gaps for existing

work, depending on their community and workforce needs.

When advancing equity, consider the following:

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TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

Make the Intentional Choice to

Build a Diverse Workforce

Diversity benets both employers and women workers. Research has shown that

a diverse workforce attracts

top talent, increases retention, improves productivity and prots, and enhances problem-solving abilities. Creating

pipelines for women into male-dominated jobs is one part of reducing occupational segregation

and narrowing

the gender wage gap. Attracting diverse workers – women and other underrepresented groups – can help

employers meet critical workforce demands in construction, manufacturing, and clean energy.

Strategies to support building a diverse workforce include:

• Building inclusive local/regional partnerships. These partnerships should include

community-based organizations – especially those with an equity focus – unions, employers, workforce

development entities, pre-apprenticeship/apprenticeship readiness programs, community colleges, and

local government. Any public-private collaborations should actively engage and include the nationwide

network of tradeswomen organizations and women-focused pre-apprenticeship programs. These

partnerships should also include a formalized process for setting diversity goals and include establishing

regular meetings and engagement among a diverse group of stakeholders, especially those from

and who serve underrepresented populations, and ensure that all have the opportunity to voice and

communicate their needs.

For example, Labor-Management Partnerships (LMPs) – a strategic partnership between an employer

and union that represents workers’ voices and enables both parties to work toward improved workplaces

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TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

and worker experience – is central to developing equitable demand-driven workforce training connected

to good jobs, allowing employers, labor, workers, workforce development entities, and other partners to

work together on shared priorities through joint decision-making. LMPs foster an approach of designing

training tailored to prepare workers for the actual jobs that employers need to ll. This benets workers

who are hired and placed into good jobs and employers who are more competitive with a skilled

workforce.

Examples/Resources:

❍ The Department of Labor’s Ofce of Labor-Management Standards Labor-Management Partnership

Program highlights examples of, and demonstrates the importance of having employers and

workers joining together and working collaboratively.

❍ The Department of Labor’s Ofce of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ (OFCCP) Mega

Construction Project (Megaproject) Program includes an intensive “front-end” approach from the

earliest stages of a designated project that regularly engages a wide range of stakeholders to

regularly participate in Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Committees. The EEO Committees

promote a diverse pool of qualied workers and remove barriers to equal employment opportunity

for applicants and workers from underrepresented communities.

• Intentionally center diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). To realize

the vision of equitable economic gains and prosperity for all, equity must be intentionally addressed and

proactively discussed at every step of any workforce development plan and at every step of the process

in the deployment and usage of federal funding sources. For example, successful LMPs not only focus

on reacting to changes in the labor market, but employers, unions, and employees commit to a shared

vision of how the LMP can use its role to reshape the labor market to be more equitable for women and

people of color. Additionally, commitments to DEIA must include strategies to proactively address bias –

both conscious and unconscious – discrimination, and gender-based violence and harassment.

Examples/Resources:

❍ Oregon’s Metro regional government Career Construction Pathways program – which aims to bring

more women and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) individuals into the construction

industry – began their efforts by building a diverse partnership that included 16 public agencies,

workforce development partners, pre-apprenticeship programs, and minority contractors’

associations, among others. This coalition created the Construction Careers Pathway Regional

Framework and Regional Workforce Equity Agreement.

❍ The city of Rochester, MN was awarded a Bloomberg Global Mayor’s Challenge and $1 million in

2021 to support the city’s work to remove barriers that prevent women of color from construction-

related, well-paying jobs. The city nancially compensated women of color to ensure they would

be able to participate and work in partnership with key stakeholders to co-design and shape new

programs, policies, and services to create career pathways for women of color.

❍ California’s High Road Training Partnerships (HRTP) are industry-based and worker-focused

training partnerships that build skills for California’s “high road” employers – rms that can generate

family-supporting jobs where workers have agency and voice. Equity is a central tenet of California’s

HRTP model, which focuses on ensuring diverse voices are part of these partnerships.

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TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

• Make data-driven decisions. Efforts should begin with an analysis of the employment

landscape in each area, which can then be used to build a shared understanding of opportunities and

challenges and inform a regional diversity plan. In order to address barriers and ll critical workforce

gaps, stakeholders should identify existing data and analyses and utilize these resources in order to

make informed data-driven decisions. Stakeholders should also identify any gaps in the analysis and

ensure that studies include disaggregated data, including gender, race/ethnicity, disability status, etc.

Additionally, any employment landscape must include analysis of occupational segregation to help

better understand which industries have a large gender gap in employment.

Examples:

❍ Portland Metro Region Construction Workforce Market Study (Oregon)

❍ Building a Better Future for Women in New Orleans Post COVID-19: Opportunities for Women in

Skilled Trade and Technical Jobs (Louisiana)

❍ Springeld Construction Disparity Study (Massachusetts)

❍ City of Worchester Construction Workforce Disparity Study (Massachusetts)

• Creating an intentional regional equity and diversity plan. A regional or localized diversity

plan is needed to set consistent and clear expectations, goals, and coordinate efforts across multiple

construction projects or manufacturing employers to ensure improved regional- or local-level gender

diversity in the construction, manufacturing, and clean energy workforce. These plans should also

address diversity across the workforce development pipeline, from pre-apprenticeship/apprenticeship

readiness programs to apprenticeship and on-the-job-training, to promotion and career advancement.

Without a regional and coordinated plan, project-level gains or improvements by one employer, may not

translate into broader diversity gains for the region. For example, contractors and sub-contractors often

have a “core” crew that moves from project to project, and these crews often do not include women.

This means that women are often the last to be hired and the rst to be let go once their work on a

project is complete. Effective regional plans help ensure that women are not only recruited but retained

in these male-dominated elds. This intentional equity and diversity plan should be data-informed and

data-driven. However, regions should leverage existing data and reports and tap into local efforts that

are already underway by tradeswomen and equity organizations.

Resources:

❍ The Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau (WB): Women in Apprenticeship and Non-traditional

Occupations (WANTO) grant program provides a list of current and past WANTO grantees and their

WANTO-funded projects.

❍ National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues: Provides a list of tradeswomen organizations and

pre-apprenticeship training programs, research and best practices, including the Framework For

Promoting Equity And Inclusion For Women And People Of Color Working In The Trades On

Publicly Funded Infrastructure Projects

❍ National Center for Women’s Equity in Apprenticeship and Employment: Provides resources on

policies, gender equity partners, training, and a Best Practices resource list.

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TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

❍ Women Building Infrastructure Initiative includes 11 place-based teams that are working to build

equity for women on federally funded infrastructure projects. As a result of this work, the Vermont

team released a state equity plan: Equity in Infrastructure: Creating opportunities for women in

Vermont’s skilled trades workforce.

❍ National Urban League works to provide economic empowerment, educational opportunities and

the guarantee of civil rights for the underserved in America.

❍ Policy Group on Tradeswomen Issues: Provides best practices including a checklist for creating

diversity on jobsites: Finishing the Job: Best Practices for a Diverse Workforce in the Construction

Industry

• Creating the demand for a diverse workforce. Creating employer demand for hiring diverse

workers is a key element of increasing equity. Successful programs and projects in the construction

industry use Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and/or Community Workforce Agreements to set rm

equity objectives and goals with specic targets for the share of women and other underrepresented

groups working on each project. For the manufacturing workforce, creating demand for a diverse

workforce includes setting clear goals and targets for hiring, retaining, and promoting women at each

manufacturing facility and tackling bias in the hiring and promotion processes.

Examples:

❍ OFCCP’s Megaproject Program fosters equal opportunity in the construction trades workforce of

federal contractors and subcontractors on large federal construction projects. From the earliest

stages of a designated project, OFCCP engages a wide range of stakeholders to remove hiring

barriers and promote consideration of a diverse pool of qualied workers.

❍ In Boston, a PLA was signed for a development at Suffolk Downs which permitted direct employment

of graduates from the Building Pathways pre-apprenticeship program and created a committee to

track and monitor the progress of retaining and supporting women and workers of color on the jobsite.

This included funded efforts to ensure access to affordable childcare for project workers.

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Targeted Recruitment and Addressing

Barriers to Entry

Women are less likely to enter jobs in construction, manufacturing and clean energy because they are not aware

of job opportunities in those sectors and may not understand how to access these careers. Women have a

reduced likelihood of working with tools growing up, receiving encouragement to pursue math or relevant career

and technical training classes in school, and being told about opportunities in the trades by family, friends, or

career counselors. Women also face bias and discrimination when attempting to access male-dominated jobs,

which is a signicant barrier to entry.

The increased nancial burdens that come from starting a job training program is another major barrier to entry for

many women. Women need support to enter male-dominated jobs, including resources that help them manage

things like caregiving responsibilities, access to tools and equipment for work, or transportation to get to work.

Therefore, conducting targeted outreach and recruitment to inform women about available jobs, what they entail,

and that women are not only welcome in them but can also access nancial supports, is a major step to getting

more women into male-dominated occupations. Additionally, addressing bias and discrimination in hiring and

supporting women to enter these jobs is essential to overcoming barriers to entry for women.

Strategies to target recruitment of women include:

• Use inclusive language

and images. Inclusive language and images in advertisements may

seem insignicant but can signicantly impact the diversity of applicants in the recruitment process. Most

people make career decisions based on what they know about those careers and who they see working

in those positions.

Images are a powerful recruitment tool and can help break down stereotypes about

who can and should be applying to construction, manufacturing, and clean energy jobs. All recruitment

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materials should include language such as “women encouraged to apply” and should use images/

photos of women from a diverse range of backgrounds for posters and advertisements, including

images of multiply marginalized women such as black women or women with disabilities.

Example:

❍ The New York State Department of Labor has conducted a media campaign to increase diversity

in the workforce, including specically increasing gender diversity in non-traditional occupations:

Who Runs the World? Girls; This is Why: Nancy and Heraclio, Highway Maintenance Workers at

NYS DOT; This is Why: Wendy, Apprentice; This is Why: Asa, Lineworker; This is Why: Advanced

Manufacturing Assembly Lead; This is Why: Truck Driver

• Target locations frequented by women. Additional efforts are needed to specically target

women – like placing accessible advertisements in childcare and community centers, gyms, college

women’s sports teams facilities, places where women work long or unpredictable hours (bartenders,

food servers and home health aides), on public transportation. By partnering with public housing/local

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) agencies and engaging trusted intermediaries with ties to

underserved communities, underrepresented women may be reached.

Example:

❍ Building Pathways in Massachusetts has focused their recruitment efforts on conducting outreach

where women are, including grocery stores, court houses, and high school career fairs. Building

Pathways partners with the Boston Housing Authority (BHA)whose staff engage residents by calling

them to inform them about the pre-apprenticeship program in addition to hanging yers in buildings

and community centers.

• Engage and empower women to help recruit other women. Word of mouth

recommendations are often the best way to recruit other women. Hearing from a trusted friend or family

member or those with experience about career opportunities and the ability to earn a living wage while

you get trained often works better than advertisements and recruitment materials. Additionally, forums

where women who work in the construction, manufacturing and clean energy industries can talk to girls,

young women, and women in their community who may be interested in a career in the construction

trades is an invaluable recruitment tool.

Examples:

❍ Massachusetts Girls in Trades holds two annual Conference and Career Fairs (one in Eastern and

one in Western, Massachusetts) that bring together young women from high schools, tradeswomen,

union construction trade organizations, government agencies, and contractors to introduce young

women to careers in the construction trades.

❍ Union-supported women’s committees are another important recruitment tool. They spend a

substantial amount of time on recruitment efforts, including attending career fairs, participating in

training events, and spending time in communities showing other women that an apprenticeship in

the trades is a route to a rewarding, well-paid career.

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TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

• Build strong partnerships with women-focused pre-apprenticeship programs and

tradeswomen organizations.

These programs and organizations have long-standing histories

of recruiting and retaining women in the construction trades and manufacturing and have connections

with women across the U.S. These networks are invaluable resources when it comes to hiring women

for projects and should be used as an avenue for locating women who are trained and looking for work.

Women-focused pre-apprentice programs also have built connections with their regional workforce,

workforce development programs, and unions to ensure that women have the training needed and a

pipeline to construction, manufacturing and clean energy careers.

Resources:

❍ WB: WANTO grant program

❍ National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues

❍ National Center for Women’s Equity in Apprenticeship and Employment

❍ Women Building Infrastructure Initiative

• Provide comprehensive wraparound supportive services. The increased nancial

burdens that come from starting a pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship or other job training program are

a major barrier to entry for many women. Comprehensive wraparound supportive services are essential

to lowering the barriers to entry for women, especially women who are low-wage earners, experiencing

poverty, domestic violence survivors, human trafcking survivors, immigrants and refugees.

These

supports include (but are not limited to): funds for transportation, housing, union initiation fees, work

clothing, tools/equipment, emergency cash assistance, and internet access. One especially critical

support is assistance with and funds for securing childcare, especially during nonstandard hours.

Recent analysis shows that childcare prices vary substantially across the country, but prices are

untenable for families even in lower-priced areas, ranging from 8% to 19.3% of median family income

per child.

Supportive services also include non-nancial assistance such as mentoring, career counseling, peer

related support groups, and assistance with getting drivers’ licenses and identication cards. Research

ndings indicate that supportive services have the greatest impact when individuals receive both

nancial and non-nancial supports.

Resources:

❍ The WB’s National Database on Childcare Prices is the most comprehensive federal source of

childcare prices at the county level.

❍ The WB’s WANTO grantees are allowed to use up to 25% of grant funds on wraparound supportive

services for individuals to participate in grant-funded activities.

❍ Institute for Women’s Policy Research reports: Getting to the Finish Line: The Availability and

Impact of Supportive Services in the Workforce Development System; Supportive Services in

Workforce Development Programs: Administrator Perspectives on Availability and Unmet Needs;

and Supports that Matter in Workforce Development Programs: A National Client Survey on Access

to Services

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Examples:

❍ Care that Works, a coalition of grassroots community groups and labor unions in Massachusetts,

launched a nonstandard-hour childcare pilot program in Boston that matches working parents

pursuing careers in construction and hospitality with childcare providers who open as early as 5 a.m.

❍ Moore Community House (Biloxi, Mississippi) offers funding for childcare as part of its Women in

Construction (WiC) program, a pre-apprenticeship job training program designed to prepare women

for careers in apprenticeship and non-traditional career pathways. As part of the program, Moore

Community House offers childcare assistance for eligible participants in two ways: they either provide

childcare directly through their Early Head Start program or they help connect WiC participants with

a childcare provider in the community and pay directly for this care using funding from private and

public grant funds.

❍ Wisconsin Department of Transportation operates the Highway Construction Skills Training (HCST)

program, a six week intensive training program that prepares workers for careers in the road

construction industry and provides wraparound supportive services for those in the program.

❍ Philadelphia WORKS runs the Women in Nontraditional Careers (WiNC) program, which helps

connect women to careers in construction, manufacturing, and transit careers and supportive

services.

❍ California’s Equal Representation in Construction Apprenticeship (ERiCA) Grant program creates

career pathways for women, non-binary, and underserved populations into the building and

construction sectors by providing funds ($25 million) for childcare. Funds can be used for childcare

stipends, to cover the cost of childcare coordination, or for participants’ in-house childcare needs.

❍ TradesFutures launched two childcare pilot programs in New York City and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Both pilots will support local childcare coalitions comprised of labor unions and non-prots and will

connect women with quality childcare. The Milwaukee pilot offers childcare vouchers, while the

New York City program provides funding for tradeswomen’s childcare vouchers in partnership with

Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW).

❍ Sound Transit partners with local organizations that run construction job training programs, including

pre-apprenticeship programs that provide construction training and education as well as supportive

services such as transportation, childcare, and more.

❍ Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries (BOLI)

have partnered for the Highway Construction Workforce Development Program, which provides

both nancial and non-nancial supportive services for apprentices and pre-apprentices, including a

number of supports to assist those in the construction trades with access to childcare.

• Maintain exibility in the recruiting process. Ensuring women have equal access to careers

in the construction trades, manufacturing and clean energy workforce requires a exible recruitment and

hiring process. For example, rather than only having one in-person informational or recruitment event

every week or month, create materials that can be picked up or distributed or accessed virtually and

create times when applications can be picked up or submitted during early morning, lunch and evening or

weekend hours or use an online application process that is open for a clearly dened period. Additionally,

use standardized skills-based tests rather than in person interviews to determine competencies for any

qualications needed for the position. Finally, for Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) and on-the-

job training programs, ensure there is a fair and equitable process for selecting applicants for admission,

such as a lottery for all qualied applications.

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Retaining a Diverse Workforce

Equally important to recruiting women is retaining them in male-dominated industries. For example, while efforts

to recruit more women into the construction trades have made an impact – with the number of women working in

construction reaching the highest level ever – women still only make up 4.2% of the construction trades workforce.

Additional efforts need to be made to not only recruit women into these non-traditional occupations, but also retain

those who are recruited. Recent research on tradeswomen and women in manufacturing has found that close to

half of respondents (45% of tradeswomen, and 47% of women in manufacturing) have seriously considered leaving

the construction or manufacturing industries.

Additionally, more than 1 in 5 tradeswomen report that they are

rarely or never treated equally with men on work assignments, and almost 1 in 5 report a lack of equal treatment

when it comes to on-the-job training.

Any gains made through targeted recruitment and addressing barriers to

entry will not be sustained unless paired with intentional retention strategies, including ensuring that workers have

access to good jobs – which include the ability to join a union, organize, and advocate for collective bargaining

rights – with the benets and supports needed to provide economic stability for workers and their families.

Retention strategies include:

• Committing to regular and consistent monitoring and reporting on progress.

Ensuring continued opportunities for women and opportunities for career advancement, including creating

demand for journey-level women workers, is a key part of ensuring the recruitment efforts have a lasting

impact on diversity in the construction, manufacturing and clean energy industries. Part of creating

continual demand for a diverse workforce is establishing monitoring bodies – sometimes called Access

and Opportunity Committees or Equal Employment Opportunity Tables – that meet regularly, review and

discuss data on diversity efforts, and identify and address potential barriers to meeting diversity goals.

These forums also provide opportunities to develop strategies for addressing barriers and ensuring

more equitable outcomes. Ensuring continued opportunities for women and opportunities for career

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advancement, including creating demand for journey-level women workers, are crucial to ensuring that

recruitment efforts have a lasting impact on diversity in the construction, manufacturing and clean energy

industries. Regular and consistent monitoring and reporting on progress should be data-driven and

ensure that there are equal opportunities and pathways for women.

Examples:

❍ The Massachusetts Gaming Commission implemented Access and Opportunity Committees on

three casino projects to maximize opportunities for women, people of color, and veterans. There was

regular reporting on diversity metrics and goals.

❍ The Minnesota Sports Facility Authority consulted with stakeholders to develop an equity plan

with established diversity goals for the Minnesota Vikings Stadium. The PLA established an Equity

Oversight Committee to track progress on workforce goals and held bi-monthly meetings that were

open to the public.

❍ The OFCCP Megaproject Program conducts outreach and engages with prime contractors to

regularly convene a broad range of stakeholders in EEO Committees. The committees work to recruit

and remove barriers to employment for applicants from underrepresented communities.

• Provide equitable training and work opportunities. Many women report

they do not get the

same level of training or work experience and have less access to overtime and other opportunities for

advancement than their male coworkers. This limits women’s career and earning opportunities and often

means it takes women longer to complete apprenticeship programs. Retaining women means making

sure women have the same access to training and advancement opportunities as men. A key component

to this is proactive monitoring of work hours and duties for women.

• Implement policies and programs to change workplace culture, prevent and

address gender-based violence and harassment, and address health and safety

concerns.

Lack of respect, discrimination, gender-based violence and harassment undermine worker

health and safety and drive women out of male-dominated jobs. Lack of respect or discrimination is the

main reason tradeswomen seriously consider leaving the construction industry. Additionally, the EEOC

reports that discrimination and harassment pushes women to leave apprenticeship programs and keeps

women and people of color out of the construction industry.

Gender-based violence and harassment can also increase the risk of workplace accidents, especially

around heavy machinery. Workers who have not been integrated into a workplace culture are more likely

to have workplace accidents due to the increased psychological and emotional stress of being excluded.

Women’s safety is also undermined when measures, such as providing personal protective equipment

(PPE) for diverse bodies, are not implemented in favor of a one-size-ts all approach.

Components of successful policies and programs to change workplace culture and prevent and address

gender-based violence and harassment include: ensuring that a zero tolerance policy prohibiting

discrimination, gender-based violence, harassment and retaliation is widely communicated and easily

and equally accessible to all; providing worker-led and worker developed ongoing training, education

and awareness programming on identifying and responding to gender-based violence and harassment;

afrmatively preventing gender-based violence and harassment by prohibiting retaliation against those

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who report it; and establishing an independent, trauma-informed, gender responsive, consistent, and

transparent process for reporting concerns and/or remedying complaints that includes support for those

impacted, active ongoing review of workplace structures, and clear consequences for both harassment

and retaliation. Additionally, ensuring all workers have access to secure and sanitary bathrooms, private

places to express breast milk (if needed), and properly tting PPE are essential for ensuring the health

and safety of all workers.

Resources:

❍ The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration’s Ofce of Apprenticeship

Circular No. 2023-01: Guidance – Equal Employment Opportunity in Registered Apprenticeship

❍ National Center for Women’s Equity in Apprenticeship and Employment reports: Building Equity:

Addressing the Impacts of Violence on Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Programs; #MeToo

in Traditionally Male-Dominated Occupations: Preventing and Addressing Sexual Harassment; and

Being a Male Ally: Recommendations for Supporting Women’s Success in the Building Trades

❍ Futures Without Violence’s Workplace and Economic Justice resources for addressing gender-based

violence and harassment in the workplace.

Examples:

❍ The RISE Up (Respect, Inclusion, Safety, and Equity) program is a respectful workplace campaign in

the construction trades.

❍ The Ironworkers Be That One Guy initiative aims to empower workers to stand up for their coworkers

and eliminate harassment and bullying on jobsites.

❍ The Sheet Metal (SMART) Be4All (Belonging and Excellence for All) effort is working to ensure that

all members have the same access to resources and opportunities.

• Continued investment in wraparound supportive services and benets. While those

who complete registered apprenticeships earn good, family-sustaining wages, rst year apprentices earn

only a fraction of those who have completed their programs. Though registered apprenticeships or on-

the-job training programs are a proven and successful earn-as-you-learn model, many women who begin

such programs will face a benets cliff: they will earn enough that they no longer qualify for subsidies

or public assistance programs, but not enough to afford childcare, transportation, or housing without

assistance. Individuals who do not complete their apprenticeships are more likely to report experiencing

nancial difculties and report difculties affording items such as tools and clothing, housing, childcare,

and transportation than those who stay in and complete their apprenticeships.

Additionally, workers in the construction industry are less likely to have access to paid family leave or

paid sick leave than workers in other industries, which can limit women’s ability to successfully complete

apprenticeships.

Caregiving continues to be a signicant burden for women entering and staying in

the workforce, including and especially in the construction, manufacturing and clean energy workforces,

where workers often face the additional challenge of needing nonstandard hour care. This makes the

continued provision of wraparound supportive services and benets that support caregivers essential for

apprentices and those in on-the-job training programs.

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TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

Examples:

❍ ODOT/BOLI’s Highway Construction Workforce Development Program is one of the few that provides

supportive services for apprentices, including a number of supports to assist those in the construction

trades with access to childcare. There is the Apprentice-Related Child Care funding, the Pre-

Apprenticeship Child Care Initiative, and Labor Littles, a new, privately funded non-prot supported by

Oregon’s Building Trades which is helping union tradespeople nd union in-home childcare providers

willing to provide care to cover the construction workday.

❍ Ironworkers and the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters have both introduced

paid pregnancy and maternity leave benets to support pregnant women and new mothers in these

unions.

• Examples of Federal Funding Sources for Supportive Services:

There are a range of federal funds that can be used for supportive services as part of workforce

development. Many federal grant opportunities allow for spending on supportive services, but do not require

a certain amount to be drawn down for these purposes. This means that it is at the discretion of the grant

recipient to set the amount and create a line item for supportive services expenses in their budgets. As a

result, there is a discrepancy between those who need supportive services and those who receive them,

and stakeholders will likely need to braid and blend funds to meet the supportive service needs. Federal

funds are available through various funding opportunities that can be used to provide supportive services for

participants going through pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship, and on-the-job-training programs.

Examples of grants and federal funding opportunities that allow for spending on supportive

services include:

❍ The WB’s WANTO grantees can, and do, use up to 25% of grant funds on wraparound supportive

services to assist individuals to participate in grant-funded activities. WANTO grantees also provide

counseling and resource referral about other funding sources that could provide supportive services

needed for women to be successful in apprenticeship and non-traditional occupations. These include

programs such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance

Program, Child Care and Development Fund, Head Start and Early Head Start.

❍ Supportive services are an allowable expense for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)

Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth program participants. However, Title I of WIOA (Adult and

Dislocated Worker Programs) makes supportive services, including needs-related payments, optional

and supportive services may be limited in some local workforce development areas due to local

funding or policy choices.

❍ The Department of Labor also offers a number of other grants administered by the Employment and

Training Administration that support workforce development activities. The allowable use of funds for

supportive services differs by grant program but typically ranges from 10%-20% of grant funds.

❍ The Department of Transportation (DOT) released guidance noting that, under the Bipartisan

Infrastructure Law (BIL), workforce development-related activities are funded at 100% federal share

and expands the types of activities eligible to be paid for using formula funding to include counseling,

transportation, and childcare services (among others). DOT funding opportunities and other BIL

resources can be found on DOT’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law webpage.

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TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

❍ The DOT’s Federal Highway Administration runs the On-the-Job Training Supportive Services (OJT/

SS) program, which specically states that states may set aside ½ of 1% of Surface Transportation

Program and Bridge Program funding for OJT/SS. Congress authorized the OJT/SS program in 23

U.S.C. § 140(b).

❍ The Department of Commerce’s CHIPS-Commercial Fabrication Facilities funding opportunity

requires applicants provide a workforce development plan and allows for spending on wraparound

supportive services as part of workforce development. Additionally, applicants requesting more than

$150 million in funding must also provide a childcare plan. More information can also be found in the

Department of Commerce’s CHIPS for America Workforce Development Planning Guide.

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TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

Resources

The WB’s WANTO grant program helps to expand pathways for women to enter and lead in all industries.

Organizations receiving funds provide one or more of the following types of technical assistance:

• Developing pre-apprenticeship or non-traditional skills training programs to prepare women for those careers;

• Providing ongoing orientations for employers, unions, and workers on creating a successful environment for

women to succeed in those careers; and

• Setting up support groups, facilitating networks, or providing support services for women to improve their retention.

The WANTO website has a list of all past and current grantees:

2022 Cohort:

• Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Employment for Women in partnership with Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. &

Women Accessing Nontraditional Trades, Inc. (WANTT) (Washington, Oregon, and Oklahoma)

• Chicago Women in Trades (Illinois and Pennsylvania)

• Fresh Start Women’s Foundation (Phoenix, Arizona – semiconductor manufacturing)

• Hampton Roads Workforce Council (Virginia)

• Nontraditional Employment for Women (New York City)

2021 Cohort:

• Moore Community House, Inc. (Mississippi)

• Per Scholas, Inc. (Metro DC – Women in Tech Software Engineering)

• SER Jobs for Progress of the Texas Gulf Coast, Inc. (Greater Houston metro area)

• Tradeswomen Inc. (California)

• Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, Inc. (includes cities and counties in WA, CA, WI, IL, KY, LA, and NC)

Page 18

TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

In 2022 the Women’s Bureau leveraged a small amount of funding to support the Women Building

Infrastructure Initiative.

Teams included:

• Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW), New York City

• Heartland Women in Trades, Kansas City, MO and Kansas City, KS

• Building Pathways, Boston MA, working with both city- and state-based agencies

• Women in Nontraditional Careers Initiative (WINC), Philadelphia, PA

• Texas Women in Trades, San Antonio, TX

• West Virginia Women Work, Morgantown, WV

• NOLA Women in Skilled Trades and Manufacturing Careers, New Orleans, LA

• Vermont Works for Women, Winooski, VT

❍ As a result of this work, Vermont released a state equity plan: Equity in Infrastructure: Creating

opportunities for women in Vermont’s skilled trades workforce

• Tradeswomen Inc, Bay Area, CA

• Central Ohio Women in Trades, Westerville, OH

• Chicago Women in Trades, working with both city- and state-based agencies

• The National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues website contains resources and a list of tradeswomen

organizations across the country.

• National Center for Women’s Equity in Apprenticeships houses resources and best practices around

recruiting and retaining women in the construction trades.

❍ Best Practices (research)

The Department of Health and Human Services launched a new National Early Care and Education Workforce Center

to support research and technical assistance for states, communities, territories, and Tribal Nations to improve

the recruitment and retention of a diverse and qualied workforce across early care and education programs.

Policy Group on Tradeswomen Issues (PGTI) in Massachusetts has had much success in MA in increasing the

share of women in construction. Especially useful:

• Access and Opportunity Committees (AOCs): Best Practices for monitoring project workforce diversity

• Best Practices

• Finishing the Job (How-To Manual) w/ stakeholder checklists

• One Pagers (Quick guides to tradeswomen issues)

The Oregon Metro Regional Government has created the Construction Career Pathways program, which

focuses on increasing diversity (for BIPOC individuals and women) across higher skilled construction

occupations. Resources include:

• Construction Career Pathways framework

• Regional Workforce Equity Agreement (which pairs their strategy for supporting the recruitment of BIPOC

and women workers with strong protections for BIPOC and women-owned rms).

• Construction Career Pathways regional toolkit

• Regional Construction Workforce Market Study

Oregon ODOT/BOLI provides supportive services for heavy highway apprentices

• Maura Kelly (Portland State University) has done extensive research on the impact of Supportive

Services for apprentices in Oregon, including:

❍ 2022 Evaluation of the Highway Construction Workforce Development Program

❍ 2022 Needs Assessment for Oregon’s Highway Trades Apprenticeship

❍ Recruitment and Retention in the Highway Trades

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TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

Research

• Advancing Opportunities for Women through Apprenticeship case-based resource guide (Women’s

Bureau)

• Building for the Future: Advancing Equal Employment Opportunity in the Construction Industry (EEOC)

• Advancing Women in Manufacturing: Perspectives from Women on the Shop Floor (IWPR)

• Effective and Inclusive Child Care Solutions: Toolkit for Implementing CHIPS & Science Act Investments

(The Child Care for Every Family Network)

• A Future Worth Building: What Tradeswomen Say about the Change they Need in the Construction

Industry (IWPR)

• Equity in Focus: Job Creation for a Just Society (IRL School, Cornell University)

• Here to Stay: Black, Latina, and Afro-Latina Women in Construction Trades Apprenticeships and

Employment (CWIT/IWPR)

• Gold Standard Playbook for Workforce Development (Accelerator for America)

• Child Care Supports for the Construction Trades: Building and Sustaining Diversity in Oregon (IWPR)

• Growing the Numbers of Women in the Trade: Building Equity and Inclusion through Pre-Apprenticeship

Programs (CWIT/IWPR)

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives in the Construction Trades (NABTU)

• Women Only Pre-Apprenticeship Programs: Meeting Skills Needs and Creating Pathways to Good Jobs

for Women (CWIT/IWPR)

• Forging Gender Equity in the Sheet Metal Workers Local 28: The Importance of Leadership, Goals, and

Regular Review (CWIT/IWPR)

• Massachusetts Supply and Demand Strategy: A Successful Model for Increasing Gender Diversity in the

Trades (CWIT/IWPR)

• Women’s Committees: A Key to Recruiting and Retaining Women (CWIT/IWPR)

• Strategies for Meeting the Demand for Advanced Manufacturing and Shipbuilding Workers: Women-Only

Pre-Apprenticeship Programs in Mississippi and West Virginia (CWIT/IWPR)

• Untapped Resources, Untapped Labor Pool: Using Federal Highway Funds to Prepare Women for

Careers in Construction (IWPR)

Page 20

TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

Endnotes

Underserved communities include persons adversely affected by persistent poverty, discrimination, or inequality, including Black,

Indigenous, people of color; LGBTQI+ individuals; women; immigrants; veterans; individuals with disabilities; individuals in rural

communities; individuals without a college degree; individuals with or recovering from substance use disorder; justice-involved individuals;

and opportunity youth.

While this module uses women as the target population due to their underrepresentation in these male-dominated fields, other groups

are also underrepresented in the construction, manufacturing, and clean energy industries. These strategies can and should be applied

when targeting a wide range of underrepresented populations. A local or regional analysis will determine the appropriate underrepresented

populations that should be targeted.

See: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/08/1025845773/women-are-underrepresented-in-the-trades-industry; https://iwpr.org/advancing-

women-in-manufacturing-perspectives-from-women-on-the-shop-floor/; https://iwpr.org/numbers-matter-clarifying-the-data-on-women-

working-in-construction/; https://tradeswomentaskforce.org/system/files/iceres_study_diversity_equity_and_inclusion_initiatives_in_the_

construction_trades.pdf

While jobs in the construction trades typically have a set hourly wage, the pay disparity mostly comes from differences in hours worked,

types of jobs, and seniority. Women are less likely to work in the higher paid, higher skilled constructions occupations, are less likely to

work the same number of hours as men or be offered overtime hours and are less likely to be promoted to higher-paying positions than

their male counterparts. For more information see: A Future Worth Building: What Tradeswomen Say about the Change they Need in the

Construction Industry and Building for the Future: Advancing Equal Employment Opportunity In the Construction Industry.

https://blog.dol.gov/2023/03/21/data-spotlight-employment-of-women-with-disabilities-in-skilled-trade-professions

https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IWPR-Advancing-Women-in-Manufacturing-report-2023-FINAL.pdf

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/us-tmt-global-semiconductor-

shortage-pov-v3.pdf; https://www.npr.org/2023/04/06/1158576556/where-did-the-workers-go-construction-jobs-are-plentiful-but-workers-

are-scarce

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/minding-the-gender-gap-in-manufacturing-industrial-products-and-services.

html

This document contains links to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. Please be aware

that the U.S. Department of Labor does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside

information. Further, the inclusion of links to particular items is not intended to reect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse

any views expressed or products or services offered by the author of the reference or the organization operating the site on which the

reference is maintained.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2023/05/11/the-business-case-for-diversity-equity-and-

inclusion/?sh=39c581d92838; https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters

Occupational segregation is the overrepresentation of women in certain jobs. Women are more likely to be concentrated in leisure

and hospitality or education and health care sectors and are often concentrated in low-wage jobs with few benets. For more

information, see: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/les/WB/media/BearingTheCostReport.pdf

A recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) report highlights the adverse impact that bias and discrimination have

on women in the construction industry, citing discrimination in hiring as a main factor for the lack of women in the construction industry.

For more information see the report: Building for the Future: Advancing Equal Employment Opportunity In the Construction Industry.

https://policygroupontradeswomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Finishing-the-Job-v.9.1-12.2.2021-1.pdf

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/minding-the-gender-gap-in-manufacturing-industrial-products-and-

services.html

Vital information and/or materials should be made available through translation and/or interpretation in appropriate languages other

than English for effective outreach and participation to persons with limited English prociency (LEP).

See: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-012-0228-1

Page 21

TOOLS FOR BUILDING AN EQUITABLE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE

See: https://peostcollaborationguide.com/chapter-4-2/; https://www.nawb.org/four-ways-to-serve-immigrant-and-refugee-jobseekers;

https://www.urban.org/sites/default/les/publication/98766/upskilling_immigrant_workforce_to_meet_employer_demand_for_skilled_

workers_2.pdf

See: A Future Worth Building: What Tradeswomen Say about the Change they Need in the Construction Industry and Advancing

Women in Manufacturing: Perspectives from Women on the Shop Floor

See: A Future Worth Building: What Tradeswomen Say about the Change they Need in the Construction Industry

See: Building for the Future: Advancing Equal Employment Opportunity In the Construction Industry; A Future Worth Building: What

Tradeswomen Say about the Change they Need in the Construction Industry; Advancing Women in Manufacturing: Perspectives from

Women on the Shop Floor

https://www.irbnet.de/daten/iconda/CIB20338.pdf

Olson, Nikki. “What to Know before Recruiting Women in Construction.” www.constructionexec.com, 13 Sept. 2021, www.construc-

tionexec.com/article/what-to-know-before-recruiting-women-in-construction

See: Pregnancy and Maternity Leave in the Trade: Good Practices for Apprentices and How Apprenticeship Programs in Construction

Trades Can Establish Family-Friendly Policies

For more information on supportive services see: Apprenticeship Needs Assessment in Heavy Highway Construction Workforce;

Supportive Services in Job Training & Education; and Supportive Services in Workforce Development Programs: Administrator Per-

spectives on Availability and Unmet Needs

See: Three Ways States Can Expand and Sustain the Infrastructure Workforce by Meeting Child Care Needs and Funding Career

Pathways and Career Pathway Bridges: A Federal Policy Toolkit for States