Hammering It Out, Women In The Construction Zone (review)

Hammering It Out explores the experiences of women recruited into a construction training program mandated by a California state court consent decree. The consent decree required that ten percent of the work hours in the $2.2 billion Century Freeway Project in Los Angeles were to be performed by women and sixty-five percent by minorities. Although the video focuses on the Century Freeway Project, the insights into the struggles women face in entering the construction industry are universal.

One-hundred-twenty women began the pre-apprenticeship training program. Participants hammered nails, shoveled sand, carried lumber, moved cinder blocks and completed a timed framing exercise. The women lifted weights, ran, and did sit-ups to improve their strength, flexibility and endurance. The physical challenges were compounded by the rarity of women on a construction site. Many women found themselves to be the sole female on the job.

The women speak eloquently about their experiences. Denise Johnson talks about the strenuous physical challenges faced by ironworkers, while operating engineer, Cynthia Cruz, discusses the value of experience and learning on the job. All of the women speak about the challenges they had to overcome to succeed, ranging from childcare and transportation, to obtaining the clothing and work boots required for construction jobs, to gaining acceptance from male co-workers. Many of the female construction workers faced hazing, poor job assignments, and sexual harassment.

The program included support groups for the female construction workers to share their experiences and gain advice and support in handling workplace challenges as well as site inspections to ensure compliance with the court order. In the final analysis, women worked 9.2% of the hours worked on the Century Freeway project. They acquired skills and experience preparing them for additional job opportunities and earned wages up to $22 per hour.

However, these gains appeared to expire with the completion of the freeway project. The California Department of Transportation's requirement to employ 6.9% female workers on all highway projects was viewed as the mechanism to ensure that women workers would have the opportunity for continued employment on state-funded highway projects. But gender and minority set-aside program on public construction projects were terminated by the passage of Proposition 209 which prohibited the use of race or gender in employing workers on state funded highway projects. Ultimately only eight to ten of the original one hundred-twenty pre-apprenticeship class members were able to secure continuing employment in the construction industry.

This video could be used for classes on women workers in non-traditional careers, civil rights, affirmative action and the construction industry in general. However, it may be best suited to classes focusing on the critical importance of public policy and political action. Affirmative action programs offered women the opportunity to enter the previously closed field of construction and demonstrate their ability to perform this well-paid work. Absent such programs, women have had little opportunity to enter the construction industry.

Hammering It Out, Women In The Construction Zone, a video by Vivian Price, is distributed by: Women Make Movies, 426 Broadway, #500, New York, N.Y. 10013 212-925-0606, Orders@wmm.com; http://www.wmm.com. Rental $60, Sale $195.