Women's Build

Habitat for Humanity Toronto is planning it’s own Women’s Build. Of course, there are many different opinions about having a Women’s Build. There are some people at the Habitat office who are behind it with all their hearts. That is truly wonderful. There are also people who have flatly and bluntly refused any participation in the event, either because they feel they have to spend so much time cleaning up after the scrambled eggs that they feel a “Blitz” is in general, or because they look with dread to the disaster that this Women’s Build will be, in their opinion. I believe that, for all its possible flaws, this Women’s Build is worth the effort, and should be extended throughout as much of the duration of the build of these 6 houses as possible.

* To clarify something here, this “Build Blitz” has been altered in name to just Women’s Build.

Those who are against this Women’s Build have cited that they believe that, inevitably, Blitzes are poorly organized, and only lead to repairs and set-backs in the progress of the project. That, I cannot COMPLETELY argue against. That is because I do not know enough of the aftermath of a Blitz to say whether or not it is worth it. But if that is that case, then why doesn’t Habitat Head Office figure out how to better organize themselves, and actually work with their Site Supers and Block Leaders to successfully execute a Build / Blitz, and not just rename it to avoid the negative stigma of a Blitz? Renaming is just a Band-Aid solution. I also know that there are possible setbacks in EVERY build, Habitat or "professional", and even the best intentioned of Block Leaders can sometimes glue and nail down a piece of sub-flooring, and then have it pointed out to them; "shouldn't the side that says THIS SIDE DOWN be placed facing down? ..." Oh well. We all make mistakes. Too late to fix it now.

For people who sit in judgment of this effort, and criticize the Women's Build, remember that Habitat is NOT Mattamy, or Monarch (even though we have finished homes on a Monarch build site!) Yes, I know how Habitat works. Maybe not as well as any of its employees, but I DO have my own perspective. Habitat exists NOT to follow the exact same behaviours as the profession of residential construction, but to provide homes for those who would otherwise live in conditions well below the poverty line, and there are disgusting places to live, even in Toronto.

Another thing the proponents of the failure of the Women’s Build seem to believe is that, at some level or another, women can’t build. Women believe this. More than that, Female volunteers, and Crew Members/Leaders at Habitat believe this, about other women. How sexist and self-depreciating is that? Or are they excusing themselves of this behaviour, and believing that the only women who will participate in this build (all the women involved, over a period of nine days) are Fashionista airheads and featherweights who don’t know one end of a hammer from another?

I have heard from different women, including more than one Biker, and one Bike Instructor with the Ministry of Transportation, that women approach learning and getting things done differently than men do. Some of her stories are quite entertaining! There have been male students, all impatient and ready to go Go GO! Speed, faster, harder! Let’s be manly and ride motorcycles! Bugger theory, who needs that, let’s get on these bikes and ride! And then she is legally responsible for licensing these people, and she cannot license these men, because they cannot handle a Bike properly. And yet, women tend to take riding more seriously. They LISTEN to the lesson, and incorporate strategy into their approach. They think things through. They focus on technique. Yes, there are also Fashionistas even there, who only want to learn how to ride a bike to go down to the States and ride in their bikinis … where a helmet isn’t mandatory and a bikini-ed body splattered all over the road is cool and fashionable, but there are also women out there with brains, who are serious about learning to ride; learning to build.

Women can take building seriously. They can be dedicated to the cause of Habitat and fundraising for it, learning to build, and building for it. I am looking forward to, I will admit, the Oh-Yei with a crowd of Women. I am also prepared for set-backs, conflict, and dealing with conflict, solving problems, thinking creatively, and working as teams. Just as much as anything else, I am looking forward to building on this site, and (I hope) having fun at this Women’s Build. I do not wholly disagree with these women who believe in the inevitable flaws of a Build/Blitz, or women building. But I am in this Women’s Build anyway. I am in it because I believe in the cause of giving women the opportunity to build; and my own story is a case in point. I believe that giving other women that opportunity to participate in building fits in perfectly with how Habitat works, and what it is supposed to be about.