I work in a construction adjacent field. A lot of similar practices. A lot of similar gear. A lot of similar schedules. A lot of similar personnel. You get the picture.

For every 50-100 guys, there might be 3-5 women. And let me tell you how that works out;

Half of those women, at best, are competent. They do the work. They put hands on the gear coming off the trick. They hump materials up and down stairs as best as their body will allow them. Mind you, there is no piece count. It isn't like they'll get fired if they do than 50 sheets an hour or whatever. What matters is that they don't stop working. They keep going.

Just like the vast majority of the guys.

Problem is, more than half of them usually don't do that. They flit from group to group, doing something to look busy for 5-15 minutes, then spending 45 minutes socializing. Few of them could even tell you the name of the tool in their hand, let alone use it.

It isn't entirely their fault. See. The reason the wastes of space get work is that the former group of competant women seem to think that those wastes of space don't exist. So they bitch and moan up a feminist shitstorm until bodies are stuck in roles just to meet a quota. The skilled hard working women, are more often than not lost in identity politics because they're pissed off that they have to work as hard as guys to stay afloat, let alone get ahead (which they don't actually have to do).

And there are still bosses who will hire a woman just to have a pretty face around. WHich pisses me right the fuck off, since I'd rather have someone who knows how to use the gear that just came off the truck so that I don't lose a fucking hand.