In honor of Women in Construction Week, the Nevada Builders Alliance and Nevada Women’s Fund established a $10K scholarship for women attending school.
The scholarship is available for women with a minimum of a 2.5 grade point average. Eligible students can receive between $500-$1k every semester to be used for courses, childcare or class materials. The scholarship is intended to raise the number of women in the skilled trades.
Melissa Maguire with NBA said around 10.4% of the construction industry in Nevada is female. Northern Nevada Building Trades stated fewer than 10% of trades positions in the United States are filled by women. The company’s goal is to raise the percentage of women in trades in Nevada to 16%.
Maguire stated the lack of younger people wanting to work in the trades can be counteracted by making the field more accessible to women. One way to make it more accessible is to create programs and construction academies in schools.
Construction work has also become more analytical and machine reliant, as opposed to relying on strictly manual labor, according to Stacy Rich, NBA director of operations. (Source)