Supporting women in the industry
7th Mar 2018
In a recent issue of Tool Business + Hire, the Considerate Constructors Scheme shared their ‘Spotlight on…women in construction’ campaign, launched to boost efforts to attract more women into the construction industry. While it’s clear from the campaign’s findings, there is still a way to go, it was great to see that progress is being made and hear from some successful women in the industry. For the full details take a look at the article in Tool Business + Hire. For now, here are some of the interesting headline stats from the Considerate Constructors Scheme survey of 1000 people:
- Currently women only represent 11% of the construction industry workforce.
- 79% of the survey respondents said the construction industry had improved its approach in encouraging women into construction.
- While the above improvement is pleasing, there is a way to go with 52% of those surveyed saying they had witnessed or experienced sexism within the industry.
- Reasons cited for women not going into construction as a career included the working conditions, the lack of female role models and the negative image of the industry.
- There’s overwhelming support for more women in the industry though, with 94% agreeing that the industry would benefit from employing more women.
It’s really great to see that the ‘Spotlight on…women in construction’ campaign also includes some inspiring and insightful interviews with women in the industry, sharing their challenges and successes. Identifying positive role models in this way seems like a fantastic step in the right direction and makes for interesting reading too.
We’re keen to support, celebrate and encourage women in trades that traditionally tend to be male dominated, whether that’s construction, automotive or engineering. We try to lend support where we can and recently supported the first female workshop apprentice at The National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, with the provision of a full set of mechanics tools (see the full story here).
We’d love to hear from other women in the trade about their experiences and successes of working construction, automotive or other industries. Get in touch with us via social media to share your story.
