Construction helmet screwed on the head, smile on the lips, Amélie Thomas is like a fish in the water on this construction site of public works of Nordhouse, in Alsace. Between the dust kicked up by the mixer trucks and the heat, she is at home…surrounded by male colleagues. Master’s student in construction project management at the ESCT near Strasbourg, a school specializing in training in the construction trades for baccalaureates +2 to +5, the young woman aspires to become a works foreman. In a professional sector which remains however, with 88% of men according to the figures of the Observatory of professions, largely masculine. “If we make an inventory, in ten or fifteen years, the situation will be very different, assures Amélie Thomas. The question [du genre] no longer arises. It is a sector which evolves with the new generations and there are less and lessa priori in this profession, I am confident. »
“For me, there is no male or female profession”
Confident of course, and also very determined, the young 21-year-old woman traces her path when she can only see the few women on the benches of her class: three out of 20 students. “I never had any apprehension, I never considered that my place was there or not, assures the future works supervisor. I go where it interests me. I have never really asked myself the question of whether or not a woman has her place on a construction site. For me, there is no male or female job”. “What interests us is her work, her motivation and it’s a very good element, she learns quickly. I train her and she becomes better than me”, abounds Ibrahim Seyfe, site manager at Pontiggia where Amélie is doing her work-study program.
And Amélie to concede, however, that the job of works foreman, “it’s generally male”. “But there are more and more women on construction sites. The world is changing, the job too. There was a time when construction was much more manual. Now, there are a lot of machines, it may make the job more accessible for someone who is a little less physical, “says cautiously the one who admits to never having seen women” working in the big work “.
“In thirty years, there has undeniably been a phenomenon of feminization of the construction industry”, notes the director of the ESCT in Strasbourg, Virgile Curtit before asking himself: “is the speed the right one? “If women represent around 20% of the workforce on the benches of the ESCT, “which is not nothing”, if companies find “only positive points” in employing them, in particular for their “qualities and knowledge do in team management”, “Do women like to come and work in the construction industry? “.
“It’s a living profession, very versatile”
In the construction industry, Amélie likes it. She already has a DUT in civil engineering and a construction project manager license and explains that she prefers the field and action to office life, which she has already experienced as project manager. She is passionate about civil engineering, construction, carrying out work with “her team”, programming works or even relations with customers, architects and suppliers: “It’s a living profession, which changes everything. time, very versatile. »
What few may know. So should we not communicate more about these construction trades? “In college, we have not yet chosen our orientation, so we risk reaching more people, girls or boys, advances Amélie Thomas. It is also at this age, perhaps, that we have the most prejudices about professions and that it is possibly still possible to change our vision. After that it’s already more complicated because young people have already made their choices in high school, they have already more or less made their orientation, even if there is still the possibility of raising their awareness. In the end, there is still so much to build in the building.