Women constructing their lives; women constructing workers: four evaluative case studies

Women constructing their lives; women constructing workers: four evaluative case studies

		Introduction
		Home makers and house builders
		Women's work, men's pay?
		The case of India
		Brick by brick, training women to build, the case of india
		Women construction workers: a case study on the impact of women's participation in the construction sector in Ghana
		Women construction workers: A case study evaluation in Mexico, The impact of women's participation in the construction sector
		Women in construction: The Jamaican experience

Women constructing their lives; women constructing workers: four evaluative case studies

The views in this book are solely those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of UNCHS (Habitat).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was undertaken by four women:

Victoria Abankwa, Meera Bapat, Angela Heron and Christianne Chauvet-Urquidi.

Marieke van Geldermalsen and Catalina Hinchey Trujillo provided the terms of reference and general guidance to the researchers. Marieke van Geldermalsen was responsible for content editing and for the introductory summary.

Photos are by the authors of the respective case studies.

Drawings on cover, page 5, 9, 73, 82 and 89 Remedi.

Graphic design by Ineke Duursema, Fotografica Nijmegen The Netherlands.

This document has been published thanks to the support of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate General of International Co-operation

H S/442/97E

ISBN 92-1 -131323-6

Women in Human Settlements Development Programme

United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)

PO Box 30030, Nairobi, KENYA

e-mail: [email protected]

tel: (254-2) 62 30 31 1 62 30 30; fax: (254-2) 62 42 65/62 42 66

FOREWORD

The Women in Human Settlements Development Programme of UNCHS (Habitat) regularly receives requests to support women's projects in the construction sector. The case studies presented in this volume are meant to evaluate the effectiveness of such projects. Is construction a sector in which women can gain income and independence? Is it worth the effort for women to venture into a sector that is so much associated with men and male values? If so, how can women enter the construction sector, or are the obstacles to entering such a male bastion too large to overcome?

The case studies are from Ghana, India, Jamaica and Mexico and describe how women, both trained and untrained have participated in the construction sector with varying degrees of success and personal fulfillment. They describe the obstacles: from lack of access to training, to unequal pay, to harassment on construction sites.

UNCHS (Habitat) in general, and the Women in Human Settlements Development Programme in particular, will use the findings from these studies to determine what form the Centre's support to women in the construction sector should take. In the meantime, this volume is presented to a wider readership than the Centre with the hope that it will be of use to those planning construction projects and/or involved in increasing and improving women's skills in human settlements related fields.

UNCHS (Habitat) welcomes your views on this subject and invites you to actively join in the search for ways to further the empowerment of women within the human settlements development process.

Dr. Wally N'Dow,

Assistant Secretary General,

UNCHS (Habitat)