An article from The Hechinger Report explains how the infrastructure bill could change how women have been marginalized in the building trades. Advocates think the bill – along with workforce funding in Democrats’ domestic spending proposal – presents an opportunity to bring down barriers that have long kept women and people of color from construction jobs.
“The only way that our country can leverage the investments made under an infrastructure deal is by making sure women and people of color have access to, and are able to have success in, jobs that are going to be created under that package,” said Katie Spiker, managing director of government affairs with the National Skills Coalition, a nonprofit policy group.
“It’s the only way businesses will be able to meet the demand that this kind of investment creates,” she added, “especially given the challenge businesses were having in finding skilled workers ahead of the crisis, which is also exacerbated. It’s also the only way we are going to reach an actual inclusive economic recovery.”
