The City hall of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat has started, for the third consecutive year, the project ‘Women Build’, which includes the collaboration of the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción (Construction Labor Foundation).

The municipality of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, in the province of Barcelona, has given 15 women the opportunity to train in the construction sector, with the project 'Women build', subsidized by the Servei Públic d'ocupació de Catalunya (Public Employment Service of Catalonia). The training, which lasts about 100 hours and is given by the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, consists of a theoretical and a practical part.

The city hall is committed to the presence of women in the construction sector in order to reverse the historical disparity between the sexes. They affirm that building processes have improved exponentially in recent years, because techniques have been perfected and digitalized, so that a lot of physical strength is no longer required.

In 2020, only 8.2% of the workers in the construction sector were women and if we refer to women under the age of 25, that number falls to 2%. Not very encouraging data to achieve equality in the sector.

The course was open to unemployed women living in the northern part of the city. Many of the students had no previous experience in the construction sector and at the end of the training they were able to build a wall, finish a piece of furniture or create decorative elements. As a result, they now see work in their future.

The course centers on the instruction in the art of drywall and plasterboard installation, a technique that has recently been on the rise. The participants in the Project, after successful completion of the contents, will obtain the level 1 professional certification in basic operations of light and technical coatings in construction.

With this training, the city hall hopes to give a job opportunity to a group of women in a complicated situation, in this case using positive discrimination and excluding men from the program. Also, it is focusing on reducing the gap in a generally male sector, trying to break the mold in order to achieve an equitable future.