There's sexism everywhere in the American workforce, but especially in the building trade, as revealed in a forthcoming documentary titled “Hard Hatted Woman.”
Ambra Melendez, a ironworker featured in the film, told HuffPost Live's Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani on Monday that she often feels like men treat women as delicately as a "porcelain doll."
"When it comes to me lifting things, I sometimes have to push [men] out the way and go and do it," Melendez said. "I have to constantly show them that I can do this before they take it away from me."
Lorien Barlow, the director of the film, also appeared on HuffPost Live and said women make up less than 3 percent of the building trades. Melendez attributes that low number to environment often being "very unfriendly" toward women.
“We’re judged from the minute we get out there, and [men] immediately think that we can’t think like them and we can’t work like them, so it’s like we’re a lost cause," Melendez said. "We get pushed to the side and whatever task that’s given, it’s not directed towards us.”
Watch the video above to hear women explain the sexism they’ve experienced and watch the full conversation about women working in construction here.
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