Pub. 2 2019-2020 Issue 1

23 What isn’t on the list? Low pay. Women in the industry are much closer to reaching parity with men than they are in the general workforce. Instead of earning 80 cents on the dollar when compared to men, they can make 95.7 cents on the dollar. Hiring women is one thing. Hiring women with the requisite technical skills is another. That leads to another question: Howmany women and men are earning STEM degrees? According to an online article written by Carly Stockwell for the College Factual website, dated Oct. 27, 2017, there’s room for improvement for both men and women. The percentage of STEM degrees awarded to men was 15%, and the number of STEM degrees awarded to women was 7%. According to Carly Stockwell’s article, that translates in 2016 to men receiving 63% of the STEM degrees and women receiving 37%. Women are more likely to pursue lower- paid STEM professions, while men tend to opt for careers that pay more, especially in engineering, math and computers. There’s room for improvement in training people of both genders. But in a world where companies have good jobs and can’t find qualified candidates, finding candidates and training them if necessary is an entirely workable solution to the problem. Looking at the situation demographically may be helpful as well. The younger working generations in the U.S. expect a different place to work than earlier generations. Their opinions about gender, sexuality and ethnicity are liberal ones. They talk about authenticity and truth. They want to work for companies that provide a positive, pleasant work environment. They don’t want to work in a male-centric environment, even if they are men. In other words, hiring more women also makes it easier to hire more men. A more diverse work culture is also good for business. According to Helm Construction Solutions, companies with inclusive cultures (such as hiring and retaining more women) experience measurable benefits: • Customer satisfaction increases by 39% • Productivity increases by 22% • Profitability increases by 27% • Turnover decreases by 22% That’s bad news for any male-centric company trying to compete for qualified candidates in a highly competitive job market, and the competition is likely to get worse, not better. Fortunately, however, there are signs that the asphalt industry is headed toward greater diversity, especially with respect to hiring women and placing them in leadership positions. It used to be a woman could walk into a room of asphalt professionals and be the only woman there. Those days are coming to an end. Change is already happening. The Women of Asphalt (WofA) is a national coalition that made its debut at World of Asphalt 2018. Its purpose is to encourage and support women by providing mentoring, advocacy and education. Women need to learn that they are capable of working in a field that has been traditionally dominated by men. After all, even if companies are willing to hire women, they can’t hire those women if the women don’t apply. Who are some of the emerging leaders? (Founding members of WofA are identified with an asterisk.) continued on page 25