Women Build

Women make up 50 percent of Habitat for Humanity International’s volunteer force; yet often because of lack of training, they account for less than 15 percent of workers on the construction site. The Women Build program was established to encourage the involvement of women in the construction of Habitat homes.

In the U.S., 1 in 6 households pay half or more of their income on their home. Women are disproportionately affected by this severe cost-burden and make up a larger share of U.S. households living in poverty and as well as receiving government-subsidized housing. At Habitat for Humanity we know that safe, affordable housing means that individuals and families have the opportunity to thrive. However, women face challenges that make it more difficult to access this basic need.

These challenges include:

• Higher Rates of Poverty for Female Heads of Households: Fifteen percent of adult women lived in poverty in 2017 and make up 66% of the low-wage workforce. More than 3 out of 4 single parent families are headed by a female. 30.6 percent of female-headed households with children are below the poverty level. Sixty percent of children in poverty lived in households headed by women.
• Housing Discrimination: Minorities, women, and low- and moderate-income borrowers across the United States of America continue to receive a disproportionate amount of high cost loans.
• The Wage Gap: Women still earn, on average, 80 percent of what the average male earns. This challenge is even greater for black and Hispanic women.

Women Build brings women together to confront these challenges by building homes for other women, alongside the future homeowners. This action can change the life of a family forever through homeownership.