For more than 20 years, I have worked around piling and watched the industry change – sometimes for the better, sometimes only on the surface. There is no honest way to discuss women in this field with out admitting that the “good old boys’ club” has not disappeared.
There is also no honest way to discuss progress without acknowledging that the culture on many jobsites is more complicated now than it used to be. The barriers are not always loud or obvious.
When I first started out, seeing a woman on a jobsite was rare. Women were far more likely to be in administrative, HR or safety roles than in the trades themselves. That reality has changed. Women are more visible now, and more doors are open than ever before. Visibility is not the same as belonging. Opportunity is not the same as ease. Inclusion is not the same as comfort.
On many sites today, what I notice most is not open hostility, but caution. Some men seem afraid of saying the wrong thing, asking the wrong question or unintentionally causing offence. That may be preferable to the openly crude remarks and gestures that were once easier to identify and confront, but it does not always make for a healthier, safer workplace. In some cases, it simply creates a different kind of distance. Respect matters. So does the ability to speak plainly, work together and build trust without feeling as though every interaction is a risk.
Progress can feel uneven. Our industry is in a major period of transition, and that change can make people uncomfortable. Women are still uncommon enough on many jobsites that they are often seen as representing all women in the trades.
I have seen situations where one person’s poor judgment casts a shadow over everyone who comes after. When someone blurs professional boundaries, handles conflict poorly or treats every uncomfortable moment as proof of discrimination, the damage does not stop with that one situation. Fair or not, it can make employers more cautious and leave the next woman applying for a role having to overcome doubts she did not create.
When I walk onto a site where no one knows me, I am not trying to be a symbol. I am trying to be part of the crew.
When I walk onto a site where no one knows me, I am not trying to be a symbol. I am trying to be part of the crew. Piling is built on teamwork, and most of us want the same thing: to do our job well, pull our weight and earn respect through what we contribute. That also means meeting the standard we ask others to meet – showing up, learning the work, handling ourselves professionally and not expecting to be insulated from the normal friction that comes with demanding jobs. I do not need special treatment, and I do not want to stand apart forever as “the woman on site.” I want to be trusted as a teammate first, because that is how real belonging starts.
Often, you can feel the moment a crew relaxes around you. It is not about approving of everything that gets said on a jobsite; it is about people realizing they do not need to tiptoe around your presence. Healthy workplaces still need boundaries, but they also need room for personality, humour and honest interaction. If inclusion means constant anxiety for either gender, then something is still not working.
None of this changes the fact that women are still passed over for jobs they are qualified to do or overlooked for advancement because employers worry about complications that male employees are never assumed to bring. Sometimes that comes from old-fashioned gatekeeping. Sometimes it comes from risk aversion. Either way, the result is the same: women are judged not only on their own merits, but on assumptions attached to their gender. And those assumptions are sometimes placed there by the women before them.
Women have an enormous amount to offer this industry. More women are entering trades, technical roles and leadership than ever before, and that is so important. Skill, discipline, communication, organization and focus are not “male” or “female” traits – they are professional traits. The more this industry recognizes that talent is talent, the stronger it becomes.
If the goal is real progress, then everyone has work to do. Employers need to create cultures that are fair without becoming fearful. Men need to be able to work alongside women without suspicion or awkwardness. Women need to enter these spaces ready not only to demand fairness, but to uphold the same standards of maturity, professionalism and accountability that we expect from everyone else. Progress does not come from presence alone. It comes from trust, consistency and a shared commitment to doing the job well.
People often say it takes many positive experiences to outweigh one negative one. In piling, that can be pain fully true. That is exactly why the industry cannot afford to retreat into old habits – or into new forms of silence. Women do not need to be treated as exceptions, liabilities or symbols. We need to be treated as workers, teammates and professionals.
With that comes responsibility: to show good judgment, to carry ourselves well and to leave the industry stronger than we found it for the women who come after us. That is what real progress looks like.