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Showing posts with label Women in construction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women in construction. Show all posts
Thursday, 3 August 2017
Monday, 6 March 2017
Women in Construction Awards 2017
Last Wednesday 1st March was the 2017 Women in Construction awards in Manchester Deansgate Hilton. Now in its 11th year, it was a chance for the construction industry to celebrate the achievements of the women working within it with a number of categories representing the different professions and trades.
With awards covering QS of the year, Rising Star, Engineer of the year, tradeswoman of the year and many more, we were able to meet outstanding women working hard all over the country within the Construction industry. The guest speaker was Debra Searle MBE, an inspiring woman who rowed across the Atlantic solo.
After a delicious dinner, the awards began, NAWIC had finalists in 3 categories - Rebecca Hartshorn and Tanja Smith in Outstanding Woman in Construction, with Tanja winning, Katie Shepherd winning Mentor of the year and I was a finalist for the Rising start over 25 award.
With a range of judges from all over the industry including Bridget Bartlett, deputy chief executive at CIOB, Professor Chris Gorse, director of the Leeds Sustainability Institute, head of the Centre for the Built Environment and professor of construction and project management at Leeds Beckett University, Lucile Kamar, equalities manager, RICS, Jane Nelson, executive director, Mears, Emma Richman, director of assets at Bury Six Town Housing, board member of Procure Plus and chair of the audit committee and Christine Townley, ambassador, Construction Youth Trust there was a wealth of knowledge and experience on the panel. Each judge presented a video praising the strengths of the winners, demonstrating why they had won.
The awards support Construction Youth Trust and raised over £2000 for this worthy cause.
With awards covering QS of the year, Rising Star, Engineer of the year, tradeswoman of the year and many more, we were able to meet outstanding women working hard all over the country within the Construction industry. The guest speaker was Debra Searle MBE, an inspiring woman who rowed across the Atlantic solo.
After a delicious dinner, the awards began, NAWIC had finalists in 3 categories - Rebecca Hartshorn and Tanja Smith in Outstanding Woman in Construction, with Tanja winning, Katie Shepherd winning Mentor of the year and I was a finalist for the Rising start over 25 award.
With a range of judges from all over the industry including Bridget Bartlett, deputy chief executive at CIOB, Professor Chris Gorse, director of the Leeds Sustainability Institute, head of the Centre for the Built Environment and professor of construction and project management at Leeds Beckett University, Lucile Kamar, equalities manager, RICS, Jane Nelson, executive director, Mears, Emma Richman, director of assets at Bury Six Town Housing, board member of Procure Plus and chair of the audit committee and Christine Townley, ambassador, Construction Youth Trust there was a wealth of knowledge and experience on the panel. Each judge presented a video praising the strengths of the winners, demonstrating why they had won.
The awards support Construction Youth Trust and raised over £2000 for this worthy cause.
Monday, 13 February 2017
Attracting girls to the Construction industry
Whilst conducting research for my dissertation, I was surprised to find such a lack of interest in the Construction Industry when surveying a range of female students. What was surprising was not that they did not know anything about the built environment, but that despite not knowing anything about it, they branded it boring. They also declared they did not like it and they were not "good" at it.
The question is, good at what exactly? When we are in a situation where the next generation of workers are not even slightly interested by the industry and the skills gap is ever increasing we need to find ways to break down what the industry can offer and why it could be great for these young women.
According to a recent report by The Construction Skills Network (CSN), the UK’s most comprehensive construction forecast, predicts growth of 1.7% over the next five years, with 179,000 jobs to be created – a better outlook than was predicted immediately after the EU referendum. What this means is we have a lot of jobs being created and no where near the number of skilled workers required. We need to do more to encourage the next generation to consider Construction as a career choice.
Perhaps next time you're in a situation where you can give some advice and you're told, I'm not good at construction, maybe you could ask one whether they are any "good" at any of these...
1. Good at maths? whilst maths lessons at school were often a bore, for some maths is easy and interesting. For them consider engineering.
2. Good at being creative? If this is more up your street then how about architecture, interior design or again engineering. Or perhaps a trade, painting or carpentry/joinery?
3. Good with people? If you are a people person, how about Construction management, Project management or Business Development?
4. Good with details? If you have an eye for detail then Quantity Surveying or planning could be the choice for you.
5. Good with your hands? If you don't like the idea of being stuck behind a desk all day then consider a trade. Electrician, plumber, carpenter and many more trades are available. A way in to this is through an apprenticeship, something that the government is pushing and increasing the number of this year.
These are just a few career options after thinking about what you might be "good" at. There are so many different roles within the industry that require a range of different skills, so suggesting you are not good at construction is crazy. It is an industry worth exploring with a number of routes in. It may be that you know someone who is struggling to choose a career, who may need some guidance. Chances are she hasn't considered construction, so why not give her a nudge!
The question is, good at what exactly? When we are in a situation where the next generation of workers are not even slightly interested by the industry and the skills gap is ever increasing we need to find ways to break down what the industry can offer and why it could be great for these young women.
According to a recent report by The Construction Skills Network (CSN), the UK’s most comprehensive construction forecast, predicts growth of 1.7% over the next five years, with 179,000 jobs to be created – a better outlook than was predicted immediately after the EU referendum. What this means is we have a lot of jobs being created and no where near the number of skilled workers required. We need to do more to encourage the next generation to consider Construction as a career choice.
Perhaps next time you're in a situation where you can give some advice and you're told, I'm not good at construction, maybe you could ask one whether they are any "good" at any of these...
1. Good at maths? whilst maths lessons at school were often a bore, for some maths is easy and interesting. For them consider engineering.
2. Good at being creative? If this is more up your street then how about architecture, interior design or again engineering. Or perhaps a trade, painting or carpentry/joinery?
3. Good with people? If you are a people person, how about Construction management, Project management or Business Development?
4. Good with details? If you have an eye for detail then Quantity Surveying or planning could be the choice for you.
5. Good with your hands? If you don't like the idea of being stuck behind a desk all day then consider a trade. Electrician, plumber, carpenter and many more trades are available. A way in to this is through an apprenticeship, something that the government is pushing and increasing the number of this year.
These are just a few career options after thinking about what you might be "good" at. There are so many different roles within the industry that require a range of different skills, so suggesting you are not good at construction is crazy. It is an industry worth exploring with a number of routes in. It may be that you know someone who is struggling to choose a career, who may need some guidance. Chances are she hasn't considered construction, so why not give her a nudge!
Tuesday, 24 January 2017
The Maternity Trap
It's 2017, men have been given paternity leave and the option to share parental leave but in reality is it ok for them to do it? And by ok, I don't mean legally. Whether implicitly said or not, company culture can pressure employees into making decisions that given a truly free choice, they wouldn't make.
And why is this important? It is important because the culture we create in the workplace for men around parental leave is vital for the culture created around parental leave for women. Something that in its current form, needs to change. Currently in construction, when a women tells her employer she is pregnant, she often gets the support she is looking for, regular meetings to see if she's ok and managing her workload, preparations are made to handover her work to whoever is covering her whilst on leave and then she goes off for her chosen time of parental leave. All of this is great!
The issue comes when she wants to come back. All too often, the construction industry talks the talk but that's where it stops. There seems to be a problem of "knowing what to do with women" when they return from maternity leave and this usually results in them receiving a demotion, too little to do on a day to day basis or they are ignored until they leave their job of their own accord.
The reality is that until we change the culture and encourage men to take leave to care for their children there will be an issue around women returners. The construction environment is such that there are clearly certain roles that can not be done on a part time basis. Something that often means sidelining of women who choose to come back part time. The nature of projects means that female project managers, construction managers, development managers etc struggle to do their job part time because they need to be available full time in order to make decisions and drive projects forward. It is not practical for these roles to be done on a part time basis as meetings, decision making and being on site to oversee project process cant be scheduled around the part time employee. This the nature of the role, rather than anything to do with gender but what isn't just the job is that other roles can be done on a part time basis, such as engineer, QS, trades and yet women are still demoted, given less responsibility and not really given the opportunity to do what they were previously considered capable of.
When only women are able to give birth, the Construction industry needs to assist in making the choice to have children easier to do alongside having a career. At a time where few people have the choice as to whether they return to work employers need to allow women to step back into their roles and take on what they did previously if that is what they want. To sideline a women returning from maternity leave does nothing other than undermine her confidence and ability and deprives companies of talent. In 2017, we should be giving women the support they deserve, the support that the men have had all along.
And why is this important? It is important because the culture we create in the workplace for men around parental leave is vital for the culture created around parental leave for women. Something that in its current form, needs to change. Currently in construction, when a women tells her employer she is pregnant, she often gets the support she is looking for, regular meetings to see if she's ok and managing her workload, preparations are made to handover her work to whoever is covering her whilst on leave and then she goes off for her chosen time of parental leave. All of this is great!
The issue comes when she wants to come back. All too often, the construction industry talks the talk but that's where it stops. There seems to be a problem of "knowing what to do with women" when they return from maternity leave and this usually results in them receiving a demotion, too little to do on a day to day basis or they are ignored until they leave their job of their own accord.
The reality is that until we change the culture and encourage men to take leave to care for their children there will be an issue around women returners. The construction environment is such that there are clearly certain roles that can not be done on a part time basis. Something that often means sidelining of women who choose to come back part time. The nature of projects means that female project managers, construction managers, development managers etc struggle to do their job part time because they need to be available full time in order to make decisions and drive projects forward. It is not practical for these roles to be done on a part time basis as meetings, decision making and being on site to oversee project process cant be scheduled around the part time employee. This the nature of the role, rather than anything to do with gender but what isn't just the job is that other roles can be done on a part time basis, such as engineer, QS, trades and yet women are still demoted, given less responsibility and not really given the opportunity to do what they were previously considered capable of.
When only women are able to give birth, the Construction industry needs to assist in making the choice to have children easier to do alongside having a career. At a time where few people have the choice as to whether they return to work employers need to allow women to step back into their roles and take on what they did previously if that is what they want. To sideline a women returning from maternity leave does nothing other than undermine her confidence and ability and deprives companies of talent. In 2017, we should be giving women the support they deserve, the support that the men have had all along.
Tuesday, 3 January 2017
The Construction Gender Pay Gap
So, now that its 2017 are you thinking new year, new you? Planning out all the things you'd like to achieve over the next 12 months? Good for you! It may be a new job, it may be that promotion you've been working towards, it may even be a new qualification but regardless of this, have you thought about pay?
Late last year, there were reports that the UK construction industry had the lowest gender pay gap on record at 16.3% which according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) was down 1.8%. Whilst some were out there celebrating "hooray for us, we are the lowest", I was thinking that 16.3% is still a pretty large gap. More and more articles have popped up over the last couple of months suggesting a gender pay gap as large as 23.3% and whilst this is based on a tool from the government and the ONS it is still useful to see.
Looking at the data it is easy to see we have a major problem here. How are we supposed to attract women to the industry when the 1% of women working in trades are being paid 15% less than the men? It is a hard enough environment for women to enter and work in without the added information - which is freely available online - that they are also being paid less to do the same job. With technology what it is, strength plays a minimal part in trades and can no longer be used as an excuse.
Looking to the professional roles its a much less gloomy picture. Civil Engineers earn 2.8% more than male counterparts whilst project managers earn 3.2% less with female Chartered Surveyors earning 0.9%. The big gaps are evident in architecture where female architects earn 9% less then male architects which further compounds the data that architecture is primarily made up of older, white males from privileged backgrounds - an old boys club of sorts that looks after its own.
The skills gap, the gender imbalance and the pay gap in the construction industry are all inter-linked and as a result, more needs to be done to address all three issues if we are ever to eliminate even one of them. To address the skills gap, we should look to attract women to the industry (as part of the solution), to attract women, we need to ensure that they are not on the back foot from the get go, feeling under valued knowing they earn less for the same role. Once something is done to address this, perhaps more women would join the industry reducing the imbalance even slightly.
To me, it seems obvious that a gender pay gap is lose lose for everyone. For the women doing the jobs, they feel resentment knowing that the guy sitting next to them doing exactly the same job is most likely getting paid around 20% more than them. What is the incentive to work as hard? This demonstrates why companies lose out - all companies presumably want their employees to produce results. Why wouldn't you pay all your employees based on merit rather than gender. Then they gain an incentive to be as productive as possible. Then there are the men in this situation.
Whilst majority of people would not care if their colleagues were being paid less than them regardless of the reason, it should matter on a general level. Being paid more based on gender de-values your work. The reality is that they aren't only being paid more because they are good at what they do, they are being paid that much because they are male.
Why wouldn't you want your partner to earn the same regardless of gender? Together, you would then have more income. And do you think your mum or your sister or your mate should be paid less despite being great at their jobs just because they happen to be female? It just doesn't make sense. Women earning the same as men doesn't change what men earn, it shouldn't change anything other than it makes women feel that they are valued despite their gender and it is right that they should.
What is a different matter is pay based on merit... something I think will be more important once the headlines read "Gender pay gap % in Construction". Hopefully we will see this headline soon!
Late last year, there were reports that the UK construction industry had the lowest gender pay gap on record at 16.3% which according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) was down 1.8%. Whilst some were out there celebrating "hooray for us, we are the lowest", I was thinking that 16.3% is still a pretty large gap. More and more articles have popped up over the last couple of months suggesting a gender pay gap as large as 23.3% and whilst this is based on a tool from the government and the ONS it is still useful to see.
Looking at the data it is easy to see we have a major problem here. How are we supposed to attract women to the industry when the 1% of women working in trades are being paid 15% less than the men? It is a hard enough environment for women to enter and work in without the added information - which is freely available online - that they are also being paid less to do the same job. With technology what it is, strength plays a minimal part in trades and can no longer be used as an excuse.
Looking to the professional roles its a much less gloomy picture. Civil Engineers earn 2.8% more than male counterparts whilst project managers earn 3.2% less with female Chartered Surveyors earning 0.9%. The big gaps are evident in architecture where female architects earn 9% less then male architects which further compounds the data that architecture is primarily made up of older, white males from privileged backgrounds - an old boys club of sorts that looks after its own.
The skills gap, the gender imbalance and the pay gap in the construction industry are all inter-linked and as a result, more needs to be done to address all three issues if we are ever to eliminate even one of them. To address the skills gap, we should look to attract women to the industry (as part of the solution), to attract women, we need to ensure that they are not on the back foot from the get go, feeling under valued knowing they earn less for the same role. Once something is done to address this, perhaps more women would join the industry reducing the imbalance even slightly.
To me, it seems obvious that a gender pay gap is lose lose for everyone. For the women doing the jobs, they feel resentment knowing that the guy sitting next to them doing exactly the same job is most likely getting paid around 20% more than them. What is the incentive to work as hard? This demonstrates why companies lose out - all companies presumably want their employees to produce results. Why wouldn't you pay all your employees based on merit rather than gender. Then they gain an incentive to be as productive as possible. Then there are the men in this situation.
Whilst majority of people would not care if their colleagues were being paid less than them regardless of the reason, it should matter on a general level. Being paid more based on gender de-values your work. The reality is that they aren't only being paid more because they are good at what they do, they are being paid that much because they are male.
Why wouldn't you want your partner to earn the same regardless of gender? Together, you would then have more income. And do you think your mum or your sister or your mate should be paid less despite being great at their jobs just because they happen to be female? It just doesn't make sense. Women earning the same as men doesn't change what men earn, it shouldn't change anything other than it makes women feel that they are valued despite their gender and it is right that they should.
What is a different matter is pay based on merit... something I think will be more important once the headlines read "Gender pay gap % in Construction". Hopefully we will see this headline soon!
Monday, 7 November 2016
To the women in Construction: Do you need to behave like a man to succeed?
I had an interesting conversation with an architect recently who I reached out to, to get a different perspective of what a career in the construction industry was like for a woman. When I asked her if she felt like there was a glass ceiling, she thoughtfully remarked "yes, but not in the way you would think". The woman in question explained to me how it worked at her firm, "it's a case of he who shouts loudest". The glass ceiling was not gender based as such but those who pushed hardest, noisily proclaiming how great they were and how much they wanted the job were the ones who got it. Although it was generally men, there were women who got ahead in this way and it was down to them adopting the behaviour that is typically associated with how men operate in the work place. If you don't play the game, you don't get the job.
The crux of the conversation was that she didn't believe the best talent was being nurtured and promoted by using this strategy. How can you capture those who were quietly brilliant at their job but either do not have the confidence to put themselves forward or it is not their style? By overlooking them and failing push them forward in favour of those people who are loud (and competent) and have an unfailing confidence to put themselves forward for jobs, firms run the risk of missing out on the best talent.
So is there anything wrong with this? You could say that if you want a job, you should go for it and if you aren't willing to sell yourself to an employer who will?
The reality is that men are a lot more likely to go for the job they want, regardless of whether they are qualified, than women. A study by LeanIn.org and Mckinsey & co. found that fewer women than men are aiming for the very top. Among senior managers, 60% of women said they want to be a top executive, compared to 72% of men. Women were also more likely to cite stress and pressure as one of the biggest reasons for not wanting to hold top positions.
Construction is one of those tricky industries where it still hasn't caught up and has a poor record of recruiting and retaining women, let alone promoting them to senior positions. However, as I have spoken about in previous posts, this is becoming more of a focus for firms as they realise they need to fill roles and women are the obvious source as they currently only represent 11% of the industry. The issue is there is still a perception that women aren't somehow suited to senior roles and as a result fewer women put themselves forward, or worse they are still overlooked.
So what is the solution? Do we as women need to change the way we behave in a male dominated work environment? The architect I mentioned earlier made me consider my opinion on this when she said, "behaving like a man doesn't mean we are equal to him, the reality is we're having to adapt ourselves to fit within a male industry and so we are not really any better off, we've just learned to play the game." And this I think is true. What we need is for the companies within the Built Environment to adapt and recognise that whilst the industry has been predominantly male, if this is to change the culture must also change to be more gender neutral. We need gender neutral competencies and behaviours, in order to attract the best talent to companies and into more senior roles.
In order to ensure we promote, develop and nurture the best talent within the construction industry it is important to recognise that different people need different things. Not everyone will shout about how great they are - you know it's just not very British!
Monday, 31 October 2016
Millennials: spoiled brats or key to the success of the construction industry?
Everyone knows there is a skills shortage in the construction industry. There are reportedly 182,000 construction jobs that need to be filled by 2018 and currently no real plan to achieve this. I touched upon it in my last post because given the male to female ratio in the industry it would seem crazy not to try and fill it with bright, capable, hardworking women. However there is another labour source currently not being fully engaged; Millennials. So this post will look into why millennials are shunning construction in favour of pretty much any other industry.
Millennials get a pretty bad rap. Defined as those born between 1982 and 2004, they are branded lazy, entitled, narcissistic with no work ethic and who can't commit - to a job, to a relationship, not even to a diet fad! But is this really fair? In the U.K. (and a lot of the developed world) we are facing the issues of an ageing population. In the construction industry specifically this means that more people are retiring but there are not enough people to replace them. And here arises the current issue of The Skills Gap.
The skills gap is an issue in the construction industry because whilst the economy is in good shape and the construction projects are plentiful, more and more people train in the trades and in the construction professions. In an economic downturn the construction industry is one of the first to go with funding disappearing and projects being put on hold. Therefore people leave because there is not enough work and move to other industries, rarely coming back. Just look at the shortage of Bricklayers and Quantity Surveyors as an example.
The issue is this, Millennials, the next generation of the UK workforce are simply not interested in the construction industry. They perceive it as slow, outdated and traditional which when compared to industries such as Tech, which are are fast paced, agile and innovative it is easy to understand why construction is rarely first choice.
So what can we do to attract millennials to the industry?
1. Embrace new technology. There are so many technological advances that can bring construction into the present day and make working much more efficient allowing contractors to cut costs on projects. BIM and Drones are good examples. Millennials are technologically savvy and find it easy to adapt to new ways of working.
2. Show the potential a career in the industry has. Millennials are looking for opportunities to be successful in whatever they do. They are looking for career advancement and leadership opportunities. It is important to move away from the "time served" approach of so many older members of the industry and look at ability and track record when it comes to promotions and rewards.
3. Flexibility. A recent article by the FT reported that the culture of long hours fails to deliver. The outcome is that rigid working cultures that measure performance by the hour lead to fatigue. Flexibility in working and a move away from a culture of "face time" in the office is attractive. People recognise they have deliverables and that they are responsible for them. Flexibility in working hours doesn't mean people work less, but it leads to happier, more productive workers because they can work around other commitments like children or so that they can travel in less busy periods of the day.
4. Make the earning potential obvious. Construction can pay well. Particularly with a shortage in skills and a larger demand for project personnel is pushing wages up. This is especially the case in rail where there is an even larger labour shortage, there is the potential for wages to increase. According to Thisismoney.co.uk pay for massively in-demand rail workers and engineers building new lines and tunnels has soared by a staggering 74 per cent between 2012-2015.
2. Show the potential a career in the industry has. Millennials are looking for opportunities to be successful in whatever they do. They are looking for career advancement and leadership opportunities. It is important to move away from the "time served" approach of so many older members of the industry and look at ability and track record when it comes to promotions and rewards.
3. Flexibility. A recent article by the FT reported that the culture of long hours fails to deliver. The outcome is that rigid working cultures that measure performance by the hour lead to fatigue. Flexibility in working and a move away from a culture of "face time" in the office is attractive. People recognise they have deliverables and that they are responsible for them. Flexibility in working hours doesn't mean people work less, but it leads to happier, more productive workers because they can work around other commitments like children or so that they can travel in less busy periods of the day.
4. Make the earning potential obvious. Construction can pay well. Particularly with a shortage in skills and a larger demand for project personnel is pushing wages up. This is especially the case in rail where there is an even larger labour shortage, there is the potential for wages to increase. According to Thisismoney.co.uk pay for massively in-demand rail workers and engineers building new lines and tunnels has soared by a staggering 74 per cent between 2012-2015.
This group of young, bright and talented people could be the answer to filling the labour shortages and reducing the number of available construction jobs from 182,000. With unemployment amongst 18-24 year olds in the UK at a level where it is one of the highest in the developed world this could solve two major issues the UK is facing. Attracting Millennials could also be a way of bringing the construction industry into a new era, focusing on using the latest technology and efficient working moving the industry away from the old rhetoric of "this is how we've always done it".
By attracting the brightest and smartest young minds to replace those leaving the industry, it could become the norm for construction projects meet the targets of being completed to time, quality and budget.
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Wonder Woman: Does she help the female cause or is it down to those already in the Construction Industry?
A friend of mine recently asked me what I thought about Wonder Woman being appointed as the honorary ambassador for gender equality by the United Nations. I paused and asked, "as in the comic book FICTIONAL character?" To which she confirmed it was. My answer was, " I think it's stupid, why would you choose a made up character when there are so many more real women who are alive". My answer was reactive, and knowing she had more than likely given the question some real consideration, I asked her what she thought. She said, "to me it implies that gender equality is fictional if they appoint a fictional character". She continued to acknowledge that Winnie-the-Pooh had been appointed honorary ambassador for friendship and Tinkerbell the honorary ambassador of green but went on to say "this is different because its about gender equality, and by that I mean it's too important to be given to a character who cant speak, who HAS NO VOICE."
And there it is, a theme that can be applied to so many things these days. Gender equality or lack thereof. Something that in 2016 seems so backwards, yet something that the UN is contributing to whether unintentionally or not.
A hot topic generally at the moment, gender inequality is all over the news and social media and is certainly a cause worth speaking out about. In our day to day lives we live it, and some more so than others. With this in mind, I've been looking at the UK construction industry - of which I am a part - and the enormous gender imbalance within the industry.
Looking specifically at the UK construction industry, which according to the Office of National Statistics is made up of 11% women - 1% of which are "on the tools" in jobs such as carpentry and plumbing and the other 10% include support and professional roles. It doesn't seem to be progressing towards gender equality at a speed that should be expected in 2016. Organisations such as Women into Construction and the Construction Youth Trust are working towards getting more women and girls into the industry by working with Contractors, Consultants and other bodies in the industry but there seems to be a long way to go and an uphill struggle to persuade firms that women are equal to men when it comes to hiring for construction roles.
It seems strange to me that when there is such a large skills shortage in the industry we are not tapping 50% of the population to fill this gap. Especially when it is proven that a mix of men and women make businesses more productive because of the different approaches and skills they bring to the table.
As a female in the construction industry I understand it is not always the most appealing industry to work for from the outside. With research suggesting direct and indirect discrimination, and harassment are the norm along with the presence of a glass ceiling that male counterparts do not encounter, there is still a lot of work to do to level the playing field. As younger generations enter the construction industry and older generations leave, I certainly notice that attitudes are changing. My personal experience has been positive in the main but perhaps that's down to experience, my expectations and very importantly a thick skin and a sense of humour.
The industry is beginning to do more, and it appears to see the value in making the work environment a more hospitable place for female workers but this is a slow process. So whilst it is clear the industry needs more time to tackle the gender imbalance, it also needs to hurry up because for each day, month or year it delays, it is losing out on the brightest and best of female engineers and project managers to name a few, to other industries such as Tech and Finance. It's time now for construction employers and professional bodies to get into gear and make construction a more modern, fast paced and innovative industry that is open and attractive to women. Its time to demonstrate what a fantastic industry construction is to work in.
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