Women and glass ceilings in the construction industry: a review

Abstract

ABSTRACT
 At the global level, the representation of men and women in the hierarchical scale within the labor market manifests itself unevenly, generally concentrating the occupations of women in the lower scales. An explanation for this phenomenon is the glass ceilings, invisible barriers faced by women during the development of their careers, which do not allow them to progress towards higher positions. This phenomenon is not indifferent to the construction sector, where a relatively unknown situation is observed for women; This situation has prompted a series of investigations with the shared concern to identify the obstacles that prevent women from developing in the construction sector. This article carries out a bibliographic review of the subject using the technique of documentary analysis, which has made it possible to obtain the state of the art and identify the dimensions that make up glass ceilings in the construction sector. The results point to the presence and constancy of glass ceilings due to the nature of the sector, the walls that begin in the hiring activity and persist throughout all professional development; thus, perpetuating inequalities between women and men from one generation to another within the sector.
 
 RESUMEN 
 A nivel mundial, la representación de hombres y mujeres en la escala jerárquica dentro del mercado laboral se manifiesta de forma desigual, concentrando generalmente las ocupaciones de las mujeres en las escalas inferiores. Una explicación de este fenómeno son los techos de cristal, barreras invisibles a las que se enfrentan las mujeres durante el desarrollo de sus carreras, que no les permiten progresar hacia posiciones más altas. Este fenómeno no es indiferente al sector de la construcción, donde se observa una situación relativamente desconocida para las mujeres; esta situación ha impulsado una serie de investigaciones con la preocupación compartida de identificar los obstáculos que impiden a las mujeres desarrollarse en el sector de la construcción. En este artículo se realiza una revisión bibliográfica del tema mediante la técnica del análisis documental, que ha permitido obtener el estado del arte e identificar las dimensiones que conforman los techos de cristal en el sector de la construcción. Los resultados apuntan a la presencia y constancia de los techos de cristal debido a la naturaleza del sector, muros que se inician en la actividad de contratación y persisten a lo largo de todo el desarrollo profesional; perpetuando así las desigualdades entre mujeres y hombres de una generación a otra dentro del sector.

Assessment of Glass Ceiling Barriers to the Career Advancement of Professional Women in Construction Industry

“…Similarly, the topic of the glass ceiling continues to be relevant in today's literature for responding to women's lack of passive or active representation in the upper ranks of nontraditional occupations (Yu, 2020). Specifically, Rivera et al (2021) found the presence and constancy of glass ceilings throughout the professional development of women in the construction industry. The glass ceiling was also found to differ in the career stages of female architects (Aydın & Erbil, 2022).…”