The HVAC industry has always championed diversity within its ranks, welcoming all types of professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds. In recent years, we’ve seen an uptick in the number of female applicants and we couldn’t be happier. So, we thought it’d be a good idea to give everyone a quick glimpse into women in HVAC history and how things are changing.
Women in the HVAC Workforce
As it stands right now, the HVAC workforce is made up of approximately 6,200 women in the United States, which comes out to 1.7% overall. While this number is low by any standards, companies are upping their efforts to bring more women into the heating, cooling, and plumbing trades, all of which have what has traditionally been male-dominated. And with 7% of construction-based businesses owned by women, this is a natural progression that will serve both the industry and its customers – residential and commercial – very well as we head into a future full of innovation.
Extraordinary Women in the Industry
In addition to the many women who have worked tirelessly within the industry, two important names come up when considering women in HVAC history. The first is Margaret Ingels, who was the first woman to have a professional degree as a Mechanical Engineer. She worked primarily with air conditioning, developed the “effective temperature” scale, and made in excess of 200 speeches from 1932-1952. The second was Alice Parker, a woman who was especially notable because she closed the gender and ethnicity gap, as she was a black woman working in the industry. Her contribution was the invention of the residential natural gas furnace at a time when most homes were using wood or coal as their sole fuel source.
Women have already made a huge impact on the HVAC industry, and there are thousands more who enhance our services every single day. To learn more about women in HVAC history, or if you have any questions related to home comfort, reach out to the friendly professionals at Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company. We’ve been serving the HVAC needs of Yuma and the surrounding area since 1952.
