Mt. Prospect resident Kay Livingstone was working as a clerk for the state of Illinois in 1982 when a new vision of what her future could be dawned upon her.
It was, quite frankly, not a pink-collar vision, but a blue-collar one. She remembers the moment well:
”I was working in an unemployment office accepting applications. One day, I realized that I didn`t take many applications from plumbers.”
Not long after, she spotted a billboard advertising career opportunities for women in the construction trades.
Livingstone, who is now 34, was at a crossroads. After holding a series of clerical jobs for nine years and feeling she wasn`t getting anywhere, Livingstone decided to take a less traditional route-for females, at least-and she became a plumber.
She has not regretted her choice.
”It`s definitely hard work, but it is worth it,” said Livingstone, who installs plumbing in high-rise buildings and residential properties. After working nine years for the state, Livingstone said her highest hourly wage was $9. Today, she makes $22.80 an hour.
Better pay, a chance to work with your hands, getting out from behind a desk in a sedentary office job, and being able to see and touch the concrete results of your labors are some of the reasons women are turning to careers in construction.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Women`s Bureau reports that in 1970, there were 203,000 women employed nationwide in various construction-related fields. That grew to 384,000 in 1980 and 541,000 by October 1991.
Percentagewise, the increase each 10 years amounted to 89 and 41 percent, respectively.
As these figures show, the number of women in construction careers is on the rise, though the growth is coming in ”inches” rather than ”feet.”
For example, a five-year report issued by the bureau in 1991 showed that in 1988, the last year the report considers, there were a total of 525,000 people employed as plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters nationwide. The percentage of those jobs held by women was 5.8 percent, compared to 4.9 percent in 1983. The number of carpenters nationwide in 1988 was 1,160,000. Women made up 1.5 pecent of the total, compared to 1.4 percent in 1983.
Since the 1970s, the push for equal rights for women and minorities has gradually opened up the construction trades. Now, some local governmental bodies, as well as the state and federal governments, establish goals for the hiring by subcontractors of women and minorities on publicly funded construction projects. Private companies, too, often establish voluntary goals for the hiring of women and minorities on their construction jobs.
It was not like that when Charlotte Bierk, owner of C.A. Riley Electrical Contractors in Elk Grove Village, ventured into the field.
In 1968, Bierk was in college studying psychology. She said her father, who founded the company, asked her to delay her studies for a year because he was experiencing a financial crunch. During that year she went to work in the office of her father`s business. Noting how well electricians were paid, Bierk decided to abandon her college studies and pursue an electrician`s apprenticeship with a local union.
But, she recalled, ”They just told me, `No`. There aren`t going to be women in the union,” said Bierk.
She said that in 1978, when she was 28, the doors were opening for women in the trades. By then, however, she was too old to apply for an apprenticeship.
Apprenticeships are on-the-job, paid training that often lasts four or five years and leads to certification as a skilled tradesman or journeyman. From 1978 to 1988, the labor bureau reports that the percentage of females registered as apprentices increased from 3.1 percent to 7 percent of the total number nationwide.
Despite these obstacles, Bierk eventually earned a supervisory electricians license in 1983. It means that she knows the electrical codes well enough to be qualified as an electrical contractor, though, ”They wouldn`t let me be an electrician.”
”I suppose I could be bitter if I were a bitter person, but I`m not,”
Bierk added.
As the operator of her own business, which her father turned over to her in 1985, Bierk said she does not want to be hired for a job because of quotas placed on public projects for the hiring of women-owned businesses. ”I want them to look past me as a woman,” said Bierk, ”and see what my company`s track record is.”
She said her father helped her to learn to compete in a male-dominated business. ”If he had just put me in the office and said, `Be the boss`
daughter, answer the phones and take people to lunch,` then I am sure today that I would be the laughingstock of this business,” Bierk said.
On the contrary, Bierk has earned the respect of competitors. ”She`s one of the best in our industry,” said Jack Block of Block Electric in Niles.
”She definitely runs her own business and she knows the business. She`s a hands-on manager. I have a lot of respect for her and her firm.”
Bierk followed two routes women have traditionally used to get into the construction field: They go to work in a family-owned business or get hired as the ”office girl” for a construction business.
Jan Turner of Elgin, who works as a project manager for Stein & Company, a Chicago developer, started as a secretary for a small construction company. ”There`s a lot of small companies where a secretary is file clerk, receptionist, and office manager all rolled into one,” explained Turner.
”She does everything, and if she is bright, she learns.”
Turner spent 19 years working for various commercial and residential general contractors until joining Stein & Company recently. In her current position, she locates sites for proposed construction projects, helps select architects and engineers for a project, monitors the bidding process and sees that projects are completed on time and on budget.
A college degree in the management or development side of the business can be helpful, but it doesn`t necessarily ease the access for women into a career in construction. Elizabeth Ciota, a 29-year-old project manager with Ragnar Benson Inc. in Park Ridge, said that, though she has a college degree in construction management, breaking into the industry was tough.
”I think if they (an employer) are looking at two people (a man and a woman) applying for a job and both have no experience, then they are going to go with the male,” she said.
While she said she does not encounter much bias from men, she added, ”If I do, I just ignore it. If you let it bother you then they (men) will lose respect for you.”
In fact, being a woman in the construction industry can be an advantage. Shari Tantari, director of marketing for McShane Builders in Des Plaines, has seen her career take off since joining the firm. Tantari began in November 1989 as office manager and has since received two promotions to her current position. As a woman, she said, ”You have the added advantage of standing out in the crowd.”
Women in all areas of the construction industry seem to agree that their jobs pay off in good salaries and a feeling of being productive. As pioneers in what is still a male-dominated field, they have had to overcome societal obstacles and stereotypical attitudes. By meeting these challenges, they have also changed traditional views of the type of work women can or should handle. Construction work can involve hard, physical labor, often outside in any weather and under gritty conditions. Livingstone, the plumber, remembers how friends and family first greeted news of her career change: ”It was with a smile and a raised eyebrow.”
However, seeing her succeed has changed their attitudes.
”They smile broader now and they don`t raise their eyebrows so much,”
Livingstone said with a laugh.
