Building confidence for women
Megan Watson became the first female metal sheet estimator hired at John W. Danforth Co. in 2013. She is one of 85 women working at the company, which employs 900 people.
“My biggest challenge has been being confident in my abilities and the knowledge I’ve learned on the job,” Watson said. “I think it can be pretty intimidating being a woman in a male-dominated industry.”
Danforth Construction, a nationwide mechanical contractor with offices in Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and the Hudson Valley, hosted a seminar last week celebrating women and helping
women in construction reach their goals.
The virtual and interactive two hours led by Dale Carnegie brought the women at the company together in a way they had never been brought together before: They had time to network, discuss challenges they face in their jobs because of their gender, and strategize about how to be more confident and take more risks.
Watson’s biggest takeaway from the seminar was what she learned about how to build selfconfidence and to be assertive and confident about her answers.
Focusing on your past successes and achievements to foster self-respect, realizing your qualities and strengths and staying focused on those, and remaining your authentic self, will help portray confidence, Watson learned.
Samantha Pommer, Danforth’s eastern New York office manager, voiced similar challenges. “I know I have been in scenarios when I haven’t been taken seriously and I do end up having that self-doubt,” Pommer said. “I’ve definitely learned that I need to not worry about that and keep my head up and be a little more confident.”
“It has been such a drastic change even from last year,” Pommer said, about last week’s Women in Construction Week, which included the seminar compared to the previous year’s smaller celebration. “We are bringing awareness to the idea of women and women in their roles in construction.”
In 2020, only about 10 percent of those employed in the construction industry were women, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Community Population Survey.
“Over time it is going to get better,” Pommer said. “We have to break the stereotypes and the perception of only men can be in construction and they can only build things. It will take time but we will get there.”
The pandemic shuttered industries in which women make up the majority of workers. In the Capital Region, those industries include health care workers, administrative office workers, and personal care and service jobs.
Nationally, women typically make up the majority of workers in education, hospitality, medical care and retail.
“With the workforce shortage, it is important for women to know this is a viable career option,” Pommer said. “I think (women) should be open minded to new jobs and perspectives … we need to move past the typical jobs women think they can have.”
“We are committed to encouraging more women to pursue a career path in the construction industry, while also continuing to look for and develop programs tailored for our employees,” said Wendy Glauber, the company’s general counsel and vice president of human resources. “In fact, we will be regrouping this week to start talking about ways that we can build on last week’s seminar.”