WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION
March 7th 2022, is the start of “Women in Construction” week.
How do we encourage more women to become part of the construction industry?
(Taken from ccscheme.org.uk)
In 2016, the number of women directly employed in construction hit a 20 year high. But despite comprising over 50% of the UK population, women still make up only 11% of the construction workforce; this number drops to just 1% of operatives on site. At less than 10% of engineering professionals, the UK has the lowest proportion of female engineers in Europe.
In order to understand how these issues affect the industry, the Scheme issued an anonymous survey to all registered sites, companies and suppliers. Over 1000 men and women responded, and the following results were gathered:
• 94% said the industry would benefit from employing more women
• 79% said the industry has improved its approach to encouraging women into construction
• 76% said there are no construction jobs which only men can do
• 74% said there should not be quotas for hiring women into construction
• 52% have witnessed or experienced sexism within the construction industry
• When asked the most important reason women do not choose to work in construction, 22% said working conditions, 22% said lack of female role models and 20% said negative image of the industry
https://www.ccscheme.org.uk/publications/spotlighton/womeninconstruction/8/
(Taken from blog.bluebeam.com)
Women in Construction Statistics:
According to website Go Construct, more than one-third (37%) of new entrants into the U.K. construction industry from higher education are women, and 14% of construction industry professionals are female.
This is encouraging. But there is still work to be done in turning attitudes around.
A report published by Randstad in 2020 showed that, of 4,200 women working in construction surveyed, nearly three-quarters (72%) had experienced some form of gender discrimination in the workplace in 2019.
That figure compared with 80% in 2018. While clearly a move in the right direction, that such a large proportion of women in construction still experience any discrimination is unacceptable.
https://blog.bluebeam.com/uk/women-in-construction-week-2021-more-women-are-working-in-constructionbut-further-progress-is-needed/