Few women work in construction. Some in New Mexico want to see that change

Jasmine Muñoz remembers changing door locks with a drill at 8 years old, a job she did with her father, who would remodel apartments for rent.

By the time Muñoz was in high school, she realized she was good at math and science, and the question of what she could do as a career consumed her.

Now 28, Muñoz works in Albuquerque as a project manager for Spear D Construction, the construction arm of TLC Plumbing. She manages a collection of projects across the state, from reading plans to ordering needed materials to interfacing with the foremen and superintendents on the job sites.

“I love what I do,” said Muñoz, who has also worked as a construction project manager for the University of New Mexico and before that as an assistant road-master for BNSF Railway. “I think it’s really rewarding.”

Muñoz is among a small group of women working in the construction sector in New Mexico .

Studies show more women are beginning to enter the construction workforce across the nation over the past few years. But in this state, women in the trades are few and far between.

According to data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 14% of workers in the state’s construction workforce in 2023 were women.

Other data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey, provided by a New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions spokeswoman, shows 8.1% of construction workers were women.

The percentages seem to reflect the trend nationally — a federal Current Population Survey shows that about 10.8% of the construction workforce in the U.S. were women.

Myra Villalobos, a commercial contractor, consultant and owner of Albuquerque-based Villalobos Builders, said while there may be slight increases in women joining the construction trades, it hasn’t kept up with more significant increases of women workers in other industries, such as architecture, engineering and law enforcement — “anything that was traditionally considered male-dominated.”

That may be true. Women working in construction represented just 2.4% of all sectors cited in BLS’ 2023 data — the most significant percentage being education and health services at 36.2%, followed by wholesale and retail trade at 13.2%.

Villalobos, who has worked in construction for more than a decade, also said the percentage of women workers in construction is even slimmer when you account for those who work specifically in the C-suite — the highest-ranking executives in a company, whose job titles typically start with the letter “C” — or out in the field.

“When you become a trade, or you’re actually in the field — HVAC trades, plumbing trades — it drops down to like 4%,” she said. “When you get to C-suite levels — to chief executive officer, chief financial officer — it drops back down to single digits.”

She said a lot of that has to do with barriers to entry and retention, calling construction a “low-support industry.”

“When it comes (to) family planning, it’s really hard to travel and be pregnant or to have a kid … because usually that responsibility falls on women,” she said. “There’s a lot going on in construction, and it can be really hard for women to find their place because you’re not seen as the norm. It’s harder to move up … it’s hard to find support to stay in.”

Lynn Armijo, owner of Four Winds Mechanical, can relate.

Armijo said she had trouble finding work in the construction field before eventually taking a job with her father several years ago — in the company she now owns — despite having journeyman certifications in sheet metal, refrigeration, gas and plumbing.

“I could not get a job outside my father’s company,” she said. “I worked for him because he was the only guy who would hire me.”

About a dozen of Armijo’s 34 workers are women, some of whom say they also have experienced sexism when searching for jobs in the field. In one instance, a worker of Armijo’s — who she calls “one of my best employees” — said she tried a dozen companies before landing with Four Winds.

“I go, ‘What made you decide to go with Four Winds? What made us appealing to you?’” Armijo recalled asking the employee. “She goes, ‘You were the only one who would do the interview with me.’ So, the discrimination is still there, and it’s sad. I sometimes want to be petty and put on my LinkedIn, ‘Thank you for being sexist because some of my best employees are women.’”

Carla Kugler, president and CEO of the Associated Builders and Contractors New Mexico Chapter, said she has seen some companies try to be more inclusive of women, including shortening workdays from five days to four as a way to have more time with family.

But finding ways to attract more women to the construction workforce hasn’t come easy.

The chapter, part of the larger ABC organization, represents close to 200 construction businesses in the state, mainly those in commercial construction.

The chapter runs apprenticeship programs, including for HVAC, electrical, carpentry, sheet metal plumbing, and telecommunications technicians. But of the more than 340 currently in the programs, she said only about six are women — three of whom are with Armijo’s Four Winds.

“We do a lot of outreach in general, but we’ve been trying to (put) a greater focus on women,” Kugler said. “Just being inclusive in general, bringing new ideas to the table can create innovation and competitiveness.”

Villalobos said she hopes more women join the construction field, noting that there is good money in the trades. She also said that with retention and labor rates being issues, women can help fill that gap.

“When we make accommodations for women, we make accommodations for everyone,” Villalobos said. “That’s the massive opportunity we have in construction.”

For Muñoz, staying in construction is the long-term plan. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in construction management at UNM.

“I still have a lot to learn as a project manager,” she said. “I’d like to see how my career progresses as I get more experience — tackling some of the more challenging projects. Each project is so different from the last. … That’s what’s interesting to me.”