Why Women Build
- By Judy Crabill -

When Habitat for Humanity International was founded some 23 years ago, by and large it was the men who built the houses and the women who helped support the men in their efforts. Both tasks held - and still hold - equal respect and merit. I have long been a Habitat volunteer on co-ed builds and have long been passionate about Habitat. Over the last six years, I have also built with women-only crews, and have found that building with women only isn't the same. HFHI's Women Build department recognizes those differences, and supports the women who lack training and need to learn to build.

Nevertheless, sometimes questions arise concerning the creation of a Women Build department, such as: Do we need a department for women? Isn't that exclusive? Aren't we all just building houses? Are women trying to prove something?

The truth is that one size doesn't fit all. Not every woman needs to work on a house for Habitat for Humanity with women only, but many do. We are not shy about our lack of knowledge, we are not hesitant to admit our mistakes. When there are problems to solve, together we talk over the options, and then we rejoice and celebrate our solutions. And, experience confirms conclusively that most women learn more quickly, and are more comfortable training and building with other women.

Why do women build? Because building a house for children, with families in need, is a tangible expression of our values as women, as mothers and grandmothers. We are convinced that there is nothing more important that we can do to ensure a stable society for the future.

And in the process of learning to build, we discover a profound sisterhood that changes our perception of who we are as we meet the challenge of building a house instead of keeping house, of laying floors instead of scrubbing floors, of hanging doors instead of hanging the wash. Ultimately, we change from being the woman of the house, to being the builder of the house.


Judy Crabill and her husband, Cal, have been Habitat volunteers for the past 11 years. To date, she has worked on 14 women-built houses and currently serves as a member of the Women Build steering council.


Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, August/September, 1999.
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©1999 Habitat for Humanity International