The Restoration Industry Association's first comprehensive diversity report found meaningful progress in women's representation at the technician and project manager levels, but persistent gaps in business ownership, executive leadership, and industry association governance.
Women now represent 14 percent of restoration technicians, up from 9 percent in 2019. At the project manager level, women's representation has grown from 12 percent to 19 percent over the same period. However, women-owned businesses represent only 12 percent of RIA member companies, and women hold only 18 percent of board and committee positions across the major restoration industry associations.
"The pipeline is improving, but the leadership representation hasn't caught up yet," said RIA Diversity Committee Chair Denise Driscoll. "That's the next frontier — ensuring that the women who are building careers in this industry have pathways to ownership and leadership, not just employment."
The report identified three structural barriers to women's advancement in the industry: limited access to capital for business formation, the concentration of industry networking in male-dominated venues (golf tournaments, hunting trips), and the absence of formal succession planning at family-owned restoration companies that might otherwise represent acquisition opportunities for women entrepreneurs.
The RIA committed to publishing an updated diversity report annually and establishing specific representation targets for its own board and committee structure.
