Meet Women Build's pink lady

**Zuberi** · 5th-May-2009

Editor's note: Habitat for Humanity Tucson builds 15 to 20 homes each year across the Tucson area. In the spring, the local organization selects the families who will receive the homes built within the next year and a half. In all, about 15 families will receive new homes this year. This series is a partnership with Habitat to explain the mission of the organization and its impact on the community.

Armida Baron — all coiffed hair, perfect makeup and painted nails — doesn't exactly look the part when she turns up at her latest construction site.
And she's wearing — to the astonishment of her co-workers — all white.
But Baron laughs off the gibes, just as she makes no excuses for her bag of tools, each of them spray-painted bright pink.
Because once she and her colleagues get down to the business of helping build a family home on Tucson's Southeast Side, it soon becomes clear she's not only a go-to for construction advice, but a demon with those pink tools.
When it came to DIY and remodeling, Armida Baron used to be like many women. She held onto the ladders, passed her husband the tools, helped lay some tiles, and that was as far as it went.
And then, four years ago, came her divorce after 30 years of marriage, and Baron's resolve to get a grip, literally. She not only wanted to learn how to wield her own tools, she aimed to go further. She bought three acres of land and decided to build her own house.
But first, she had to find some suitable teachers. Enter Habitat for Humanity, which recruits volunteers to build houses for low-income families. Baron, self-effacing but quietly steely, began volunteering with men.
"I was a gofer. I fetched things for them, cut things, measured. And I watched them doing things, and that's how I learned."
And then she joined Women Build, the organization's female-only building program. This is where we are on a spring day, on a site with nine other female volunteers ranging in age from 19 to their 60s, and in experience from licensed contractors and former engineers to women who have yet to make friends with a power drill.
The latter would be me. And when I confess this to Baron, she wastes no time teaching me how to use hers.
There's a reason her tools are spray-painted pink, and it's not just to demonstrate her girl power. On the many construction sites she's worked on with men, tools tend to stray. This way, at least she doesn't lose hers.
On this day, they're heavy on volunteers and light on work; the house is up, framed and ready to stucco on the outside. We do tweak the chicken wire that holds the foam insulation in place. Inside we go over all the nails that hold up the drywall, making sure they're all flush with the surface before they're painted.
With several of us overlapping our work by hammering nails in the same places, it's clear there's a slight lack of structure. But what is evident is the camaraderie of the women, and the willingness not only for the experienced ones to share their knowledge but for the rookies like me to learn.
"Women Build provides a peer-to-peer learning environment that's comfortable, safe and empowering," says Michael McDonald, executive director of Habitat Tucson. He's witnessed the "gender dynamics" that come into play on construction sites, he says. Where there are women and men, women — even experienced ones — often defer to men and feel inhibited.
At the midmorning coffee break, talk turns to why the women find Women Build sites so different. The consensus is that men take more initiative on a construction site, but if they don't know what they're doing, they're as unlikely to ask for help as they are to ask for directions in a car. Men tend to muddle through without asking, don't always think things through beforehand, and so risk making mistakes, say the assembled volunteers.
In contrast, women work more as a team and enable each other. They also — no surprise here — tidy up better.
Longtime volunteer Penny Pederson says women often don't realize the experience they bring to the site. If they're handy with a sewing machine, they tend to be handy with the likes of Sheetrock, says Pederson. "My gosh, do they Sheetrock like crazy, because it's all patterns and making things fit."
Pederson, who runs her own landscaping and architectural- design business, has suffered enough sexist remarks on building sites to make her cry. All the same, she says that she would never hire anyone just because they are a woman, and that she adores her male colleagues.
"I'm the queen bee. They'll do anything for me. I love working with men when there's a great synergy."
If Pederson is a queen bee, Baron, 58 and a former foster caregiver for the elderly and developmentally disabled, describes herself as very much "the worker bee." She wants to blend into the background and soak up as much knowledge and as many skills as she can for her own house project.
She proudly reels off the tools she owns: "Table saw, chop saw, reciprocating saw, jigsaw, drill press, compressor, nail gun. . . . I probably have more tools than the men do."
In addition to volunteering with the Women Build initiative, she's been attending trade school at the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, learning carpentry, masonry, plumbing and electrical installation.
And while she's been planning her house — due to break ground this fall — she's been practicing on the mobile home she lives in, putting in a new bathroom and laying laminate flooring.
A lot of the Women Build volunteers were "very green" when they joined the program five years ago, says McDonald. Now many of them are crew leaders, as Baron will be on her next project.
"It's empowering," she says of the new identity she's carved out for herself. "I just wish they would have had all of this when I was in high school."

bababob · 5th-May-2009

Build me a house, baby!

**ingrate** · 5th-May-2009

Yep, she's the go to person for advise, that's why she's taking classes in basic construction. Why do I smell the pungent odor of bullshit?

**Zuberi** · 5th-May-2009

Quote from bababob

Build me a house, baby!

EXACTLY!!!!!!

bababob · 5th-May-2009

Quote from ingrate

Yep, she's the go to person for advise, that's why she's taking classes in basic construction. Why do I smell the pungent odor of bullshit?

_____________________________________________

BS-MS-PhD. Bullshit - More of the Same - Piled High and Deep!
Men don't ask for directions. Women are tidier and neater. For lunch they have finger sandwiches, tea and crumpets. Broken record. Ya-da, Ya-da ...

**MikeT** · 6th-May-2009

Quote from Zuberi

Armida Baron — all coiffed hair, perfect makeup and painted nails — doesn't exactly look the part when she turns up at her latest construction site.
And she's wearing — to the astonishment of her co-workers — all white.
But Baron laughs off the gibes, just as she makes no excuses for her bag of tools, each of them spray-painted bright pink.

Mere window-dressing, my tools are covered with grease, cow-shit and probably a bit of blood too

There's a reason her tools are spray-painted pink, and it's not just to demonstrate her girl power. On the many construction sites she's worked on with men, tools tend to stray.

Nice bit of mis-andry there, empower women with pink tools, bash men for women not being able to keep track of their own tools

The consensus is that men take more initiative on a construction site, but if they don't know what they're doing, they're as unlikely to ask for help as they are to ask for directions in a car. Men tend to muddle through without asking, don't always think things through beforehand, and so risk making mistakes, say the assembled volunteers.

Absolute tripe, these clowns masquerading as builders and what-not during the weekends, seem to think that they know it all, where are their trade qualifications?, if you are going to build, wire or plumb something you have to have done the time.
The only reason these people are volunteers is because they wouldn't make it as a professional tradesman.
Yeah right, we muddle through things, what a slap in the bloody face that is to those that have trained you to get where you are today, you silly cow!.

In contrast, women work more as a team and enable each other. They also — no surprise here — tidy up better.

You have more time as a volunteer, there is no bottom line saying when the job should be finished.
I'm not sure which sites she has been on, but one thing that is instilled into any tradesman is doing the WHOLE job, that includes sweeping up, rubbish on a work-site is not only a safety hazard, but a fire hazard as well.

She proudly reels off the tools she owns: "Table saw, chop saw, reciprocating saw, jigsaw, drill press, compressor, nail gun. . . . I probably have more tools than the men do."

Why is it that everyone seems to think that the more power tools you own, the better builder or whatever it makes you?
It is absolute crap, I own a damn-sight more hand-tools than I own power tools and a lot of people wouldn't even know what they are, let alone what they are used for.
BTW, a table saw is a Chop Saw.
The fact of the matter is, men buy better tools, not just what the guy at Home Depot or whatever sells them

In addition to volunteering with the Women Build initiative, she's been attending trade school at the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, learning carpentry, masonry, plumbing and electrical installation.

As I said above, you don't learn skills like this in 5 minutes, I've been an electrician/Line Mechanic for close on 20 years and I'm still learning.
But I guess it will keep the local Fire Dept busy with all that under-trained electrical work in there

"It's empowering," she says of the new identity she's carved out for herself.

Of course it is lady, you go Gurrl, just don't bash us men in the process, especially after it is more than likely a man taught you all you know!

One thing I do know, is that a lot of the people wiring these Habitat houses are un-qualified to do that work, I'm a moderator over at a US based Electricians Forum/Chat room and we get these clowns coming in there all the bloody time asking us how to wire this and that, we just tell them to get a licenced electrician and ban them.

**themanonthestreet** · 6th-May-2009

Isn't it amazing how every fucking article of "girl power" ALWAYS..FUCKING ALWAYS HAS TO HAVE male bashing in it?

They can't just take the woman that decided to do her own thing to better themselves and go with it... Just HAVE TO put the women are way more better-er than men...

ESPECIALLY when she is being (has been) taught BY MEN. So men teach her, and her thanks? I am way better-er than you cause I am a super-womanzzzz I roxor!

GESH! This shit really is getting tiresome.

BTW, ever walk through a HFH house? Fucking joke! If it weren't for the liberal inspections (as in practically none), these shitholes wouldn't get their CO (Certificate of Occupancy)...

TMOTS

**Douglas** · 3rd-August-2011

I was going to post a topic on this but see that it's already been covered.

While searching for something else, I came across this video about all-women building crews. Can you just imagine what the reaction would be to news such as:

This work site is all about only men taking part. (Women are used on some of the more feminine touches, of course (giggle).)

Yet this new item is happily talking about only women building a home (with men being used for the heavy lifting (giggle)).

What the hell has happened to society when women feel a need to "build houses by women, for women." What are they trying to prove when the building industry cries out for more labour yet less than 5% of job applicants are female? Why is the division along gender lines necessary? Why is it considered good? Why not talk instead about how great it is that women are entering the building trade and that there is no notable difference in pay between men and women in that industry?

Should men, in response, start building homes only for men? Is that the kind of society we really want?

**Penelope** · 3rd-August-2011

So interesting that you post this and I have a remark (actually it is my Dad's), Dad tells me that on construction sites there is a bit of a joke:

Did you hear about the house they are building down the street? It is for the lesbian group. They have it all framed in: there isn't a stud in it though

According to my Dad, he knows of some competent female electricians: and from time to time females are on job sites: Dad says his problem with that whole program is when a female interupts his work when there is something heavy or awkward to lift. Apparently this is not as simple as Dad saying "Equal is equal, get your own work done, please" that is used as evidence of harrasment. Construction sites have monthly safety meetings, and, every month there is a presentation on sexual harrassment whether it is co-workers, the public or clients, very, very dicey...

**christianj** · 3rd-August-2011

SO much for the feminist mantra of "a woman can do anything a man can", except lift stuff, stronger, faster, quicker or putting in the hours..

Amazing how males have to pay just to have females onsite just so it panders to the female ego..

**PokemonMasterTrainer** · 3rd-August-2011

There's a reason her tools are spray-painted pink, and it's not just to demonstrate her girl power. On the many construction sites she's worked on with men, tools tend to stray. This way, at least she doesn't lose hers.

Has she ever heard of a tool belt?! I have one because other employees kept jacking my tools without asking (Just like how someone dug into my Reece's Pieces ice cream at work. If it isn't yours, don't you fucking eat it). I went through 2 pliers, and two knives before asking for one! I don't trust the store to have tools on hand for convenience.

**NowHearThis** · 3rd-August-2011

Quote from Penelope

So interesting that you post this and I have a remark (actually it is my Dad's), Dad tells me that on construction sites there is a bit of a joke:
According to my Dad, he knows of some competent female electricians: and from time to time females are on job sites: Dad says his problem with that whole program is when a female interupts his work when there is something heavy or awkward to lift. Apparently this is not as simple as Dad saying "Equal is equal, get your own work done, please" that is used as evidence of harrasment. Construction sites have monthly safety meetings, and, every month there is a presentation on sexual harrassment whether it is co-workers, the public or clients, very, very dicey...

That joke your dad told is a good one, Penelope.

As for the tools, why do they have to be pink? If this woman wants to be treated and respected like "one of the guys" on the construction site, why won't she use the same tools that the guys use? And I echo your question: why won't she use a tool belt?

It also plays into that old trope of: "Men are General; Women are Special".

If I'm having a house built for myself, I really don't care if there are competent women helping to build it. But they should be working with the men as a team; not trying to show the men up.

**christianj** · 4th-August-2011

I actually designed, drafted and built my own house with the help of a builder ofcourse as you run into major problems if you are a home/owner builder. Councils are not too impressed with that scenario. Unfortunately, I started in late October, so I challenged the builder to get it built before Christmas. Moved in within 6 weeks, put in some major hours but it got done..

So whenever I hear or read about any females being involved in the building game I have a little snigger..