Gov. Maura Healey on Monday signed an executive order aimed at boosting women’s employment in the construction industry, and she celebrated the effort with what could be one of her final public collaborations with the Biden administration.
The order ( Executive Order 638) will direct state agencies issuing construction contracts to “do it in a way that we know creates better access to jobs for women and minorities,” Healey said at the event inside Sheet Metal Workers Local 17's Training Center.
That will translate to utilizing apprenticeship programs that boost women and people of color, the governor said, along with safety and anti-harassment training programs and supportive services like child care.
The order created a new body -- the “Diverse and Equitable Construction Workforce Participation Committee” -- which Healey said would coordinate the effort across state agencies and monitor projects over $35 million. Projects over $10 million will have the option to participate, she said.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the former Rhode Island governor who has served in President Joseph Biden’s Cabinet since 2021, spoke alongside Healey at the event in Dorchester’s Lower Mills. She said she was on her way back to the Ocean State for Christmas.
“I am here to tell you I’m proud of you,” Raimondo said, “and to tell all of you, under President Biden’s leadership we are going to continue to fuel a massive amount of manufacturing, construction, infrastructure construction.”
Healey said it was probably her final executive order of the year, and also likely her final public event of 2024.
“Look, I can’t think of a better way to wrap what has been a great year, than to sign this executive order here today, which is all about opportunity, it’s about economic growth, it’s about giving people a fair shot at making sure that everybody has access to that, including women, who disproportionately haven’t had as many seats in the construction and building trades industry,” Healey said.
