A study of working experiences, outstanding characteristics and suitable roles of female engineers in Thailand construction industry : a case study of female civil engineers

Abstract

Civil engineers occupy a key position in construction in developing countries such as Thailand. Even though the number of female civil engineers in Thailand has increased considerably, there has been a lack of research regarding them. This study aimed at investigating the working experiences of women in engineering field so as to identify problems in the occupation, outstanding characteristics, and suitable roles of female civil engineers working in an occupation which women have not traditionally held. It was anticipated that the study findings could be used to more effectively manage differences in manpower in construction companies in Thailand. In this study, data were collected from 104 female engineers and 47 male engineers using questionnaires and interviews. Qualitative data were also gathered by means of in-depth interviews using 24 interview questions asked of superiors, colleagues, and subordinates of female engineers. Ten female engineers and ten male engineers who were company owners and superiors of female engineers were also interviewed. Content analysis was utilized to analyze qualitative data, while statistical measures were used to analyze quantitative data. The findings were validated by experts who were successful women engineers. According to the study findings, when considering working experiences of women engineers, it was found that there are limitations in the roles they were able to perform compared to men. Thus, they experience some difficulties in doing their jobs. Work-related problems, career advancement, and career paths of female engineers working in contractor companies are different from those of female engineers in non-contractor firms. In addition, it was found that male and female engineers working for contractors and female engineers in non-contractor firms have different opinions regarding what it takes for women to be successful in the construction industry. As regards the resignation of female engineers in construction companies, their rate of turnover is higher than that of men. On average, women work for 1.0-1.9 years per company, while men work for 2.0-2.9 years per company. The findings also revealed that discrimination, conflicts between work and family, sexual harassment, and satisfaction with career advancement are major reasons for female engineers’ resignation. Besides this, the analysis of regression model of a problem which can predict attitudes toward the resignation of female engineers is the satisfaction with career advancement (adjusted R2 = 0.620), which are explain 62 per cent of the variance in the prediction. With regard to the outstanding roles of female engineers which benefit their career in a different way compare to men engineers, the findings indicated that female engineers have better communication and negotiation skills. They are more careful in paper work and have better English skills for work coordination. Case studies of different perspectives of the superiors, colleagues, and subordinates of female engineers were also conducted. The roles and responsibilities frequently assigned to female engineers as well as responsibilities and career path in contractor firms were analyzed with outstanding characteristics of female engineers to identify the role of female engineers where can yield the most advancement for their career. This was done so as to determine the roles and responsibilities appropriate for women working in this field, which were found to be as follow: work coordinating, estimation and cost engineering, and project planning and progress monitoring. Civil engineers occupy a key position in construction in developing countries such as Thailand. Even though the number of female civil engineers in Thailand has increased considerably, there has been a lack of research regarding them. This study aimed at investigating the working experiences of women in engineering field so as to identify problems in the occupation, outstanding characteristics, and suitable roles of female civil engineers working in an occupation which women have not traditionally held. It was anticipated that the study findings could be used to more effectively manage differences in manpower in construction companies in Thailand. In this study, data were collected from 104 female engineers and 47 male engineers using questionnaires and interviews. Qualitative data were also gathered by means of in-depth interviews using 24 interview questions asked of superiors, colleagues, and subordinates of female engineers. Ten female engineers and ten male engineers who were company owners and superiors of female engineers were also interviewed. Content analysis was utilized to analyze qualitative data, while statistical measures were used to analyze quantitative data. The findings were validated by experts who were successful women engineers. According to the study findings, when considering working experiences of women engineers, it was found that there are limitations in the roles they were able to perform compared to men. Thus, they experience some difficulties in doing their jobs. Work-related problems, career advancement, and career paths of female engineers working in contractor companies are different from those of female engineers in non-contractor firms. In addition, it was found that male and female engineers working for contractors and female engineers in non-contractor firms have different opinions regarding what it takes for women to be successful in the construction industry. As regards the resignation of female engineers in construction companies, their rate of turnover is higher than that of men. On average, women work for 1.0-1.9 years per company, while men work for 2.0-2.9 years per company. The findings also revealed that discrimination, conflicts between work and family, sexual harassment, and satisfaction with career advancement are major reasons for female engineers’ resignation. Besides this, the analysis of regression model of a problem which can predict attitudes toward the resignation of female engineers is the satisfaction with career advancement (adjusted R² = 0.620), which are explain 62 per cent of the variance in the prediction. With regard to the outstanding roles of female engineers which benefit their career in a different way compare to men engineers, the findings indicated that female engineers have better communication and negotiation skills. They are more careful in paper work and have better English skills for work coordination. Case studies of different perspectives of the superiors, colleagues, and subordinates of female engineers were also conducted. The roles and responsibilities frequently assigned to female engineers as well as responsibilities and career path in contractor firms were analyzed with outstanding characteristics of female engineers to identify the role of female engineers where can yield the most advancement for their career. This was done so as to determine the roles and responsibilities appropriate for women working in this field, which were found to be as follow: work coordinating, estimation and cost engineering, and project planning and progress monitoring. Thus, the findings on outstanding characteristics and suitable roles of female civil engineers can be used for strategic planning in construction companies to maximize these women’s potential and capabilities as well as to realize the benefits of having female engineers in their organization. When female engineers are positioned in their most appropriate roles for in construction companies, they are more likely to be successful in their career.