Sexism and Project Studies: The Case of Construction and Engineering Organizations

Sexism involves antipathy toward, and negative stereotypes about women. This phenomenon which has the effect of handicapping selected groups in terms of salary and access to jobs, promotions, and power, is particularly relevant to male-dominated professions such as construction and engineering. Despite the importance of this topic and the potential negative impact it can have, in a project context, project management literature vastly neglected the role of Sexism. For instance, project studies lack from an inclusive framework which defines the most common forms of Sexism in projects, their consequences at organization and individual levels and, hopefully, measure to deal with them. This research will focus particularly on engineering and construction sector, which are an exemplar sector for project studies and among the most male-dominated industries in every developed society. This paper intends to pave the way to the research of Sexism in project studies. To this end, the paper presents a systematic review on business management and engineering literature to examine the perception of Sexism and how other researchers have pointed out this phenomenon. Through a thematic analysis the paper shows that the literature on Sexism and gender bias within construction and engineering organizations is focused on four main areas 1) nature and source of Sexism, 2) current situation of the construction and engineering sector with regards to inequality and underrepresentation of women and barriers and challenges for women in these environments, 3) the consequences of Sexism and 4) strategies for dealing with and reducing Sexism in construction and engineering organizations. Considering the paucity of theories and frameworks to support gender equality in a project context, this research suggests that researchers in the field of project studies should adopt a broader view in identifying the existing challenges in order to include the overarching effects of Sexism on projects and their stakeholders.