It's Women in Construction Week throughout the country — a time meant to highlight and empower women who work in the construction industry, as well as encourage others to pursue a career in the field historically dominated by men.

While numbers of women in the construction field are still critically low, efforts are being made to increase employment opportunities in Central Florida.

"I've had to overcome some folks kind of wondering why I'm in the industry," said Loreen Bobo, program manager for the I-4 Ultimate Improvement Project. "I've had to prove myself along the way."

More women are taking a role in the construction field, according to the National Association of Women in Construction.

"It's probably less than 10 percent," said Debbie Rodriguez, president of the Women in Construction of Greater Orlando. "(It) is kind of sad. But it is getting better, and it used to be less than that."

The difference is you may not always see women working in construction sporting a hard hat.

"The trend has started to change (to where) you are seeing superintendents that are women and, of course, we do have a lot of project managers that are women," Rodriguez said. "But for the most part, trying to get them into the trades has been difficult."

One way to get more women hired is through Orlando's BLUEPRINT program, which is an employment office catered to women and minorities. Orlando's community venues project hired 315 women to work on downtown construction projects, like the Amway Center, the Citrus Bowl and the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

That number surpassed the city's goal, but it only represented 10 percent of the workforce.

The I-4 Ultimate Improvement Project will take more than six years to complete, and officials are looking to train and hire more workers.

"We have a goal of 250 on-the-job trainees that we're going to put  through the project," Bobo said.

That's just one way women can learn more about the industry through the Florida Department of Transportation's training program.

"If you're interested in solving problems and working with people, it's a really great industry to be a part of," Bobo said.