The issue of workplace sexual harassment galvanized ENR's "Groundbreaking Women in Construction" gathering on May 6 as attendees at all industry levels shared incidents and impacts. In an electronic poll, 68% of attendees said they had been sexually harassed at work or thought they had been. More than 65% of attendees work for construction or CM firms.
Devotion to work and technical prowess may not be enough to boost women up the ranks among construction industry employers; they also need to beat their own drums for better roles on jobsites and in boardrooms. Women executives from industry firms urged more than 300 mostly younger female attendees at the ENR Groundbreaking Women in Construction conference to seek ways to raise their profiles to coworkers, bosses, clients and outside peers.