Professional Women and Career Impediments in the Construction Industry in Nigeria
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 130, Issue 2
Abstract
Male professionals have dominated the construction industry all over the world. This paper examines the issues that affect professional women, whose numbers are beginning to grow, within the industry in Nigeria. The study relied on data obtained using questionnaires administered on 120 professional women in seven areas of construction professions. The professionals in this survey were located in the cities of Abuja, Kaduna, and Lagos in Nigeria. A total of 89 questionnaires were received and used for the analysis and discussions. The result showed that there are considerable career opportunities for professional women in the industry, though some of these areas pose serious conflict with their roles as wives/mothers, which therefore affects their career advancement in such fields. The paper concluded with some recommendations to address these conflicts and encourage more women to join the different professions within the industry.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Adebayo, T. F. (1992). “Pre- and post-contract management for indigenous contractors.” Effective contract management in the construction industry, B. Olateju, ed., Nigerian Institute of Building, Lagos, Nigeria, 153–155.
Ademoroti, G. (1993). “Technological participation of women in the construction industry.” Proc., Luncheon Party, Association of Technology Engineers, Lagos, Nigeria, 3–16.
Ademoroti, G. (1995). “Professional women in human settlement.” Proc., Annual Conf., Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria, Lagos, Nigeria, 2–8.
Buckley, P. J., and Enderwick, P. (1989). “Manpower management.” The management of construction firms; Aspects of theory, P. M. Hillebrandt and J. Cannon, eds., Macmillan, New York, 108–112.
Gale, A. W. (1991). “What is good for women is good for men: Action research aimed at increasing the proportion of women in construction.” Practice management, P. Barret and R. E. Males, eds., E & FN Spon, London, 26–32.
Greed, C. (1991). Surveying sisters: Women in a traditionally male profession, Routtedge, London.
Hardings, S. (1985). Science and technology: A future for women? Chelsea College, University of London, London.
Ikani, A. A. (1998). “Women professionals in the Nigerian construction industry.” BS thesis, Dept. of Building, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
Kehinde, J. O., and Okoli, O. G. (1998). “Involvement of professional women in the construction industry.” Proc., Int. Conf. of Habitat—Afrique 2000 Int. Conf. and Exposition, Arewa House, Kaduna, Nigeria, 5–8.
Srivastava, A. (1992). “Gender and science and technology.” Proc., Gender and Science and Technology Conf., Gender and Science and Technology, 1, 175–184.
UNCHS–Habitat. (1985). Building-related income generation for women; lessons from experience, Geneva.
Whitehead, J. M.(1996). “Sex stereotypes, gender identity, and subject choice at A-level.” Educ. Res.,38(2), 147–159.
Zungula, N. (1997). “Gender in rural water projects.” Proc., 23rd WEDC Conf.: South Africa, Water and Sanitation for All: Partnership and Innovation, Water, Engineering, and Development Centre, Loughborough, U.K., 2–10.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 1, 2002
Accepted: Feb 21, 2003
Published online: Mar 15, 2004
Published in print: Apr 2004
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.