When Priscila de Oliveira drags 14,000 kilos of rubble out of a client’s apartment, she challenges old ideas about who belongs on a building site. She is one of the few women running a construction company in Asturias, having built her name through hard work and skill while refusing to let others set her limits.
Only one out of every ten construction workers in Spain is a woman, the Observatorio Industrial de la Fundación Laboral de la Construcción reports. Construction remains one of the country’s most male-dominated fields, and seeing a woman on a building site is rare. Priscila is part of a small but growing group: in 2025, the number of female bricklayers rose by 16.3%. Still, many clients and coworkers doubt what women can do. DBK/Informa reports that the value of construction production in Spain reached 181.9 billion euros in 2025, up 7.5% from the previous year.
Priscila answers doubts by showing results. "A client trusted me with an entire apartment to clear out, and I removed 14,000 kilos of debris, bag by bag, breaking it up and loading it into a van," she says. Her company, A la brasileña, stands out for its hands-on style and strong social media presence. People often call her "la brasileña" online.
For Priscila, working for herself is the only way. "I love being self-employed. I wouldn’t go to work for a company for less than 2,000 euros a month," she says. More women in construction work as freelancers than in other fields: about one in four female builders in Spain is self-employed, twice the rate in the rest of the labor market. Priscila says the freedom is worth it. "Last year I took a whole month off to visit Brazil. What company would let me do that?" She wants control over her own time and workload.
Even as more women enter construction, the industry’s culture changes slowly. Priscila says she once wondered whether clients would trust a woman with a big job. "I questioned if anyone would believe a woman could do the job well, since it’s such a male-dominated field," she says. She learned that trust comes from what you do, not what people expect.
The number of women in Spanish construction reached a 20-year high in 2025, but they still make up only about 11-11.5% of the workforce, with nearly 9 out of 10 workers being men, Eye on Housing reports, citing recent sector analysis.
There are now 166,833 women working in Spanish construction. More are showing up on job sites and in leadership, but men still make up most of the workforce. For women, the path remains steeper and lonelier than it is for men.
Priscila’s story shows both the opportunities and the roadblocks for women in construction. She fights for fair pay and the freedom to run her own business. Many women choose self-employment, a sign that many companies have yet to adapt to what women want or need.
The industry is changing slowly. Stories like Priscila’s show women stepping in and making their own way. More are joining, but real change will come when seeing a woman on a building site is ordinary, not a surprise.
