Empowering female students to be successful professionals in the construction industry

Abstract

The aim of this research is to empower female students who are studying construction related disciplines to be successful professionals in the Indonesian construction industry. The women’s empowerment is in line with the Indonesian Government’s long-term national development plan year 2005-2025. This research also contributes to improving the skills shortage in the Indonesian construction industry which has the biggest market share in Southeast Asia. This qualitative research employs semi-structured interviews with two groups of informants: female students in construction related disciplines and female leaders in the construction industry. A thematic analysis was then carried out to capture their key insights on factors that can empower female students and career success factors for women in the construction industry. The research findings contribute to advancing women’ empowerment principles, originally proposed by the UN Women Report (2018), by proposing four powerful principles to empower female students to be successful professionals in the Indonesian construction industry.