Sonia Valiente, 45, now teaches future construction worker trainees in a vocational training center, and her class has 26 girls and 6 boys. She says she always wanted to be an albañil, but 20 years ago no women were seen on worksites.
Sonia Valiente in Cáceres
Valiente studied arquitectura técnica and later became a jefa de obra before moving into teaching. She told Mediodía COPE: "Me encantaba estar con las cuadrillas a pie de obra, no en el despacho".
She also said the trade has changed. "La obra ya no es lo que era, con herramientas pesadas y dificultades de peso y fuerza. Ahora está cambiando, hay herramientas para todo tipo de situaciones y mejoras en la ejecución de los trabajos," she said, adding that "las mujeres podemos hacerlo igual o mejor incluso".
700.000 workers in España
The construction sector in España says it will need about 700.000 workers in the coming years, and Valiente sees women as part of that answer. She said, "El albañil va a seguir siendo un oficio superdemandado. En cambio, un presupuesto te lo va a hacer la inteligencia artificial en dos minutos, pero en la ejecución tiene que haber una mano de obra que lo haga".
Her training path also includes a recent course in Cáceres with 15 other women to recover the ancient technique of the bóveda de ladrillo. Valiente described the method as "superligeras, ágiles y bonitas" and said, "La teoría es muy bonita, pero la práctica es la que te da el oficio".
That leaves the sector with a clear task: turn interest into trained workers fast enough to close a shortage that still runs into hundreds of thousands.
