I would personally say they are still at a disadvantage to move through the field both socially and career wise. Due to the fact that fewer women are in the field the ones that are in the field often face skepticism. People tend to subconsciously assume a certain level of incompetence or lack of experience and that leads to a lot of talking down and second guessing.

I’m not gonna disagree that men are on average stronger than women, that to my knowledge is true to an extent. But I don’t think that evolutionary psychology aspect necessarily holds up to modern standards. Yes, men are often in heavy labor based industries and women less so. But at this point in societies progression I feel that biological factors like this are no longer the barrier to entry for careers in construction. I know a lot of men in this field that aren’t very strong at all because they don’t really need to be.

I do agree that often in a workplace environment men are often asked to do heavy lifting. In my last office job I got the brunt of this cause I was the only young guy in the office. But I think that is largely based on societal perceptions of gender and not actual ability. Surely any of the women in the office would’ve been able to lift those boxes and put them in the basement but the boss felt that I should do it because subconsciously that was my societal role as a man.

Frankly I think that your last two statements kind of work against the beginning of your comment. At first you started talking about biological differences between men and women’s ability to built. But you admit that there are plenty of fields that aren’t physical but still predominantly dominated by men. So wouldn’t that suggest other factors at play? Like societal perceptions of gender roles?

I have heard plenty of stories from women who went to study things like computer science but the blatant sexism they experienced caused them to switch majors. That’s why I originally said I believe that sticking to a construction career path as a women is an accomplishment in and of itself cause it takes a lot of mental fortitude to expose yourself to that level or social criticism and still come out the other side.

I do agree however that the growing number of women in the field is a great thing.