NEW YORK CITY-After chief engineer John Augustus Roeblingdeveloped decompression sickness in 1872, it was his wife Emily whostepped in to oversee day-to-day construction on the BrooklynBridge until its completion in 1883. Notwithstanding that example,when Lenore Janis entered the construction business nearly acentury later she found that women were not even allowed on the jobsite.

“When my father said to me, ‘this business is not for girls,’ heknew what he was talking about at that time,” Janis tellsGlobeSt.com. Janis got into the construction industry only becauseher mother, who had inherited the family business from her latehusband, insisted that Janis’ two brothers bring their sister in,threatening to sell the business if they refused.

Janis would go on to found her own firm, Era Steel Constructionand, in 1980, an industry association known as Professional Womenin Construction. Thirty years later, it has branched out from itsNew York metro base into six regional chapters with a totalmembership of 1,100. Aside from New York, they also includeConnecticut; New Jersey; Washington, DC; South Florida; andnortheastern Pennsylvania.