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International Women’s Day
#IWD2020: Celebrating Women’s Achievement and Raising Awareness About Continued Bias
Posted By Christine Cube

International Women’s Day is March 8.

According to the IWD site, “The race is on for the gender equal boardroom, a gender equal government, gender equal media coverage, gender equal workplaces, gender equal sports coverage, more gender equality in health and wealth.”

This has been a work in progress over several years, but we’re not there yet. Women’s equality is not just a women’s issue. It’s an everybody issue.

Recent news reports have found women constantly work against big barriers, from being underrepresented in New York’s construction sector to female firefighters in California and New Zealand who must wear uniforms made for men. Even Forbes has reported that women in STEM leave the field twice as often as men do and released a piece on 9 ways to recruit and promote women in STEM.

Recently, the National Institute of Building Sciences wrote about #GirlDay2020, which aims to inspire youth entering into STEM careers. We found this type of education needs to start early.

It’s Time

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, fewer than 5 percent of skilled construction jobs are held by women. The Society of Women Engineers reports that just 13 percent of engineers are women.

An equal world is an enabled world, says International Women’s Day. But, how do you help forge a gender equal world? It starts with celebrating women’s achievement and raising awareness against bias.

Taking action.

In recent months, the NIBS board of directors approved gender-neutral bylaws. This is just one step of many.

Last fall, NIBS hosted female leaders from across the built environment to network and discuss industry issues, diversity, and thought leadership at the Women Executives in Building (WEB) Summit. The event drew dozens of association leaders to talk about challenges and address possible solutions.

Welcome to WEB

On Sept. 23, we plan to host the next WEB event in Nashville. The details still are coming together.

For the inaugural summit, the NIBS team hand-picked the executives to attend. Going forward, the event will be open to female business owners and C-suite leaders across the built environment.

Stay tuned. For questions about this event, contact Jennifer Hitzke at jhitzke@nibs.org.

Let’s be social! We’re @bldgsciences on Twitter, or you can find us on Facebook.

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Women Executives in Building