In 1953, 16 working women organized Women in Construction (WIC) of Fort Worth, Texas. These women wanted to create a support organization for women employed in the construction industry, a traditionally male-dominated work field. In 1955, WIC gained its national charter and became the National Association of Women in Construction.
Since its founding, NAWIC has grown to a membership of 6,500 with more than 200 chapters in 47 U.S. states and in three Canadian provinces. In its over 50 years of service to its members, NAWIC has advanced the causes of all women in construction whose careers range from the skilled trades to architecture to business ownership.
In 1963, the NAWIC Founders’ Scholarship Foundation was established and, in the past five years alone, has awarded more than $250,000 in scholarships to male and female students pursuing construction-related studies.
NAWIC’s commitment to education can be seen in a variety of different functions. In 1972, the NAWIC Education Foundation was created and now serves as an integral part of the Association as it strives to educate the general society about the importance of the construction industry. The Foundation sponsors the award-winning Block Kids contest, as well as the CAD/Design/Drafting competitions that are created to foster and promote construction as a viable career choice among young adults from the grade school to the high school level.