Alexa Toler admits sometimes feeling like she’s on an island, being the only woman on the operations side in the construction of a large office building that just got underway at the Redstone Arsenal.

Sara Beth Wilcox – division manager with Brasfield & Gorrie – can relate. Early in her career, she remembers being the only woman on a jobsite in Knoxville, Tennessee, and feeling a bit unsure of herself.

“One thing I remember is that people really commented on my youth, and saying ‘Gosh, you’re so young,’” Wilcox said. “I thought that was really interesting.”

But Wilcox and Toler both say that being the only woman on a construction site in a trailer is now becoming rare. Although men still greatly outnumber women in the construction field, the number of women with construction jobs, including leading projects, is increasing.

“It’s actually getting more common to see women in construction than when I first started,” said Brasfield & Gorrie project manager Suzanne Chapman.