Key points
- Hana Kadour Mansour says she chose a career in construction because it was a unique challenge.
- Working in a largely male domain, she says she has learned how to be more assertive, confident.
- She says men communicate differently there.
Lebanese-Australian Hana Kadouh Mansour says she chose construction as a career after finishing high school and wanting to do something different from the jobs many Muslim women had in her family.
"Basically, when I was in year 12 and choosing which degree I wanted to enter, I was asking people around me and I spoke to my then partner and my brother-in-law and they suggested construction," she told SBS Arabic24.
"After many hours of research, I decided construction management suited me and my personality and I definitely wanted to do something different from everyone else and I was up for the challenge."
Ms Mansour with her degree in construction management after her graduation ceremony. Source: Supplied
Occasionally, she still got a "funny look" but she said she believed this was more to do with her being a woman on a male-dominated site rather than her being a Muslim woman.
"Growing up in an area where there are so many Muslim women doing what they want to do, I didn’t think too much about it. If there was an issue, I could get past it. I’m very resilient," she said.
"In fact, there are a lot of Muslim men on sites who greet me enthusiastically, say 'peace be upon you' and call me 'sister'."
Ms Mansour said her co-workers knew not to touch, hug or kiss her, not to gift her alcohol and to be aware that she needed a place to pray five times a day.
"Everyone has made me feel comfortable. Most people are nice and respectful," she said.
However, she said she had had to learn to be more assertive and "not to walk around smiling at everyone".
"I learned to stop smiling at people unless they smiled at me first because this is not a usual practice on work sites and people look at you funny," she said.
"The main struggle is making sure you build your confidence so that you can speak assertively and not take the way they (men) speak to you personally.
"Sometimes men speak to you in an assertive way which can seem aggressive but that’s just the way they speak to everyone."
Most of the time, everyone respects me, treats me as their sister and makes sure I am comfortable at the construction site.
Ms Mansour at work on a construction site. Source: Supplied
"As soon as they saw me, they stopped swearing and arguing out of respect for me. This is what usually happens as they make sure to keep their words in check when I am there," she said.
Source: Supplied
"They always check whether I need a room to pray in and during Ramadan, I can finish work earlier so I can go home and eat," she said.
Everyone wants to be inclusive. A few times they have accidentally gifted me wine because they didn’t know that I don't drink alcohol. More recently, I’ve been getting chocolates.
She said she had the full support of her family and her husband, who also works in construction.
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