BUSN20019 Professional Project of Management Development

 

equality is a norm that should be observed in every sector of economy. The Indian construction industry should bring more women on board with the rising demand for construction workers (BISHWANATH GOLDAR, 2012) as more women are training for jobs in the construction industry.

(Proctor, 2012) has shown that the numbers between male and female in classrooms training for jobs in the construction industry is beginning to equal out.  

However, there is limited information on women employees’ welfare in the Indian construction industry.

In India, various empirical studies have shown that women face lots of challenges in the construction industry (Mathew, 2005). According to the Occupational Safety and Health administration research done in 1999, it was shown that 88 % women in the Indian construction industry face sexual harassment.

Other than sexual harassment, there exist other challenges that women face in the Indian construction industry as outlined by (Lakhani, 2004). Discrimination on basic amenities such as bathrooms is one such challenge.

Another challenge faced by women construction workers in the Indian construction industry is inequality concerning renumeration compared to their male counterparts (Choudhury, 2013). Females construction workers were found out to be paid much less compared to male construction workers (Deininger, 2013).

Moreover, according to (Richard Neitzel, 2008) lesser women compared to men have risen up the ranks to take on managerial positions in the Indian construction industry. Men dominate top positions while women occupy junior positions. Women are not assessed by their skills, but by virtue of their gender (Acharya, 2013), thereby discriminated.

As found out by (Barnabas, 2011) it has also shown that women employees in the Indian construction industry are not equally motivated as men. Research has shown that extrinsic motivation has an impact on employee performance. Females are poorly treated to this type of motivation, thus lowering their work output. Men tend to be motivated better in terms of renumeration, job promotions and capacity building compared men. Females are treated as the inferior gender whereas men as the superior in this industry.

Previous research has identified that the Indian construction industry is male dominant, and this could be attributed to the following factors;

Mind set: The is a strong believe that the construction industry is reserved for men.

Risk: Women are at greater risk of musculoskeletal disorder which could result from strenuous jobs with the construction industry.

Leave: Women sometimes have to be off for maternity leaves, inconveniencing the construction industry which is in constant need of intensive labor.

Strength: Women are thought to be physically and mentally weaker compared to men. The construction industry requires physical strength, leading to discrimination against women

Problem statement

Although India is the second fastest growing economy in the world and has made advances in the construction industry, it experiences labor gender inequality in this sector (Jain, 2009). This industry has been playing a vital role in the economic growth of the country but nonetheless no measures have been put in play to ensure that women are treated equally with male employees in the industry.

It is uncalled for, in the twenty first century to see discriminations in the labor market as (TISDELL, 2014) argues that females are equally trained and skilled as their male counterparts to take on roles in the labor market. This study was therefore conducted in order to identify challenges that women face in the Indian construction industry.

Hypotheses

Based on the above review of literature, research objectives and research questions the following hypotheses were formulated;

1. H₀: Men construction workers are not paid better than women construction workers in the Indian construction industry.

H₁: Men construction workers are paid better than women construction workers in the Indian construction industry.

1. H₀: Women are employed in equal proportions with men in the Indian construction company.

H₁: More men than women are employed in the Indian construction company.

• H₀: Women are equally empowered as men in the Indian construction industry.

H₂: Women are less empowered than men in the Indian construction industry.

Research Methodology

A descriptive study was carried out as the challenges and discrimination against women in the Indian construction industry are determined with an aim of empowering women. Descriptive studies involve describing the characteristics of a particular phenomenon, event or situation. This study aims at describing the distribution of certain variables concerning women workers in the Indian construction industry.

Data analysis

Both descriptive and inferential tools were used for analyzing the data. Descriptive statistics, regression and correlation analyses were performed in order to draw meaningful inferences from the responses of the women construction workers.

The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23) was used for analysis of the data.

Descriptive statistics

Results obtained show that 12 of the 30 respondents representing 40% sampled were satisfied with the wages they received while majority who represented 60% were unsatisfied.

Majority of the respondents representing 46.7% strongly agreed that they felt that men workers in the construction industry were being paid better than them. 26.7% agreed that they felt they were discriminated, 16.7% disagreed while 10% strongly disagreed.

These results suggest that women workers in the construction industry are poorly remunerated compared to their male counterparts.

Motivation

40 % of respondents strongly agreed that they felt women were discriminated against when it comes to motivation issues such as job promotions compared to men construction workers. 40% agreed, 16.7% disagreed while 3.3% strongly disagreed. These results therefore depict that women are discriminated motivation-wise

Cross tabulation

The comparison between position occupied by the interviewed employees and their thoughts on whether or not they are satisfied with their wages, their thoughts on wage discrimination and motivation alienation are as shown in the tables below;

Comparison between position held and wage

Post * Wage Crosstabulation
Count
		Wage		Total
		satisfied	unsatisfied
Post	Administrative	2	7	9
	Laborer	5	5	10
	Technical	5	6	11
Total		12	18	30

Majority of the interviewed administrative, laborer and technical women workers were unsatisfied with the wages they received.

Figure 1.2: Comparison between position held and thoughts on whether they felt they were discriminated wage-wise in terms of gender

Post * wageopinion Crosstabulation
Count
		wageopinion					Total
		agree	disagree	stongly disagree	strongly agree	strongly disagree
Post	Administrative	2	1	0	6	0	9
	Laborer	5	2	0	2	1	10
	Technical	1	2	1	6	1	11
Total		8	5	1	14	2	30

Majority of the surveyed women workers felt that they were poorly remunerated compared to their male counterparts.

Comparison between position held and thoughts on whether they felt they were discriminated motivation-wise in terms of gender

Post * Motivation_opinion Crosstabulation
Count
		Motivation_opinion				Total
		agree	disagree	strongly agree	strongly disagree
Post	Administrative	2	2	3	2	9
	Laborer	2	6	1	1	10
	Technical	6	2	3	0	11
Total		10	10	7	3	30

Majority of the women construction workers interviewed agreed that they were poorly motivated compared to their male counterparts.

Inferential statistics

Correlation analysis

Correlations
		post	wage	wageopinion	motivation_opinion
post	Pearson Correlation	1	-.184	.094	-.343
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.331	.622	.063
	N	30	30	30	30
wage	Pearson Correlation	-.184	1	.331	.153
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.331		.074	.419
	N	30	30	30	30
wageopinion	Pearson Correlation	.094	.331	1	-.017
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.622	.074		.929
	N	30	30	30	30
motivation_opinion	Pearson Correlation	-.343	.153	-.017	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.063	.419	.929
	N	30	30	30	30

Position held by the one was found to be negatively correlated motivation opinion and wage satisfaction. Position was positively correlated with wage opinion.

Wage satisfaction was found to be positively correlated with wage and motivation opinions.

Wage opinion was negatively correlated with motivation opinion.

However, correlation analysis shows that the test is not statistically significant for analyzing the data

Regression analysis

Predicting wage opinion using position held by a woman construction worker and wage satisfaction of the worker.

Linear regression was performed to assess the impact of position and wage satisfaction on the opinion on whether women construction workers were paid poorly compared to male construction workers.

Coefficientsa
Model		Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.
		B	Std. Error	Beta
1	(Constant)	.686	1.172		.586	.563
	post	.275	.313	.160	.878	.388
	wage	1.028	.520	.360	1.977	.058
a. Dependent Variable: wageopinion

The regression model shall be given by;

This implies that an increase by 1 unit in position leads to wage opinion increase by 0.275 units and an increase by 1 unit in wage satisfaction results to an increase by 1.028 units of wage opinion.

Also, linear regression was performed to assess the impact of position and wage satisfaction on the opinion on whether women construction workers were motivated poorly compared to male construction workers.

Coefficientsa
Model		Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.
		B	Std. Error	Beta
1	(Constant)	2.613	.823		3.176	.004
	post	.392	.220	-.326	-1.783	.086
	wage	.186	.365	.093	.508	.615
a. Dependent Variable: motivation_opinion

This implies that an increase by 1 unit in wage satisfaction leads to motivation opinion increase by 0.186 units and an increase by 1 unit in wage satisfaction results to an increase by 0.392 units of wage opinion.

Discussion

The findings depict that there is gender discrimination in the Indian construction company. Women, in particular, are discriminated against in terms of wages and motivation compared to male construction workers.

Results also show that motivation and wage opinions are explained by wage satisfaction and position held. Workers who are satisfied by their wages and who hold decent positions will disagree on the fact that women are discriminated against in the Indian construction company. On the other hand, women construction workers who are unsatisfied with their wages will agree on the fact that there is gender discrimination in the Indian construction industry.

Conclusion

Findings from the research have depicted inherent gender biases in the Indian construction industry. This could be attributed to several factors such as the perceived notion that the construction industry should be reserved to men and the perceived nature of work in the industry.

The wide gender gap in the Indian construction industry was evidenced from the results obtained in this study. The current working conditions in the Indian construction industry do not favor women. They do not receive equal acknowledgement with men construction workers, however hard they work. Women were found to be discriminated against in the construction industry. They were treated to poor services including low wages and low motivation in the workplace compared to male construction workers.

Though several laws have been enacted to ensure gender equality in all sectors of the economy in India, unfortunately reality does not always comply with the law. Gender equality in the Indian construction industry is still far from being achieved as the industry is still extremely male dominant with women contributing to only less than 10% of the total workforce in the industry.

However, it is inevitable that women representation in the construction industry will increase. Though, the industry will never be female dominant and will always remain strongly male dominant due to the industry’s nature of work.

Limitations

Sampling of one company for responses might not be a representative of all construction companies in India.

Only female construction workers were sampled. Therefore, responses could be biased on the basis of their gender.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are made;

The government should enact laws separately specific to private and public companies in order to manage gender discrimination in both sectors of the Indian construction industry.

Women ought to be trained, capacity built and trained more in their specific positions in the construction industry in order to be competent, and gain respect from men.

Men ought to acknowledge that women too can perform given roles in the construction industry. Women are as capable as men, and where they fall short, they can always make up in other areas.

Female scholars ought to be educated on the different careers in the construction industry in order to ensure that more women join the construction industry. The perception that all construction workers are builders will only be eliminated through educating scholars on the diverse construction industry careers.

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