Research shows more young women are eager to join the construction sector
To celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, John Insherwood, broadcaster on Fix Radio, was joined by four tradeswomen to discuss how to encourage more females into the sector.
Today, 8th March 2024, marks International Women’s Day – a global event that celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. To mark the occasion, John Isherwood, broadcaster on Fix Radio, the UK’s only national radio station dedicated to tradespeople, handed the spotlight over to four tradeswomen to discuss the challenges of working in construction and how to get more women on the tools.
Kimmy the Sparks, a self-employed electrician primarily based in London, who regards herself as ‘#1 electrician in the UK’, said: ‘Construction was never really offered to girls as an option in school. It was always as a stigma, or as more of a ‘you’ll end up like that (a tradesperson) if you are stupid.’ Even girls who were failing academically still weren’t given construction as an option.’
Against this backdrop, a recent Morgan Siddall report titled ‘Are we Gen Z ready?’ found that 57% of women and girls are deterred from pursuing careers in construction due to their perception of it as a male dominated.
Backing this notion, is data published by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) which indicates that only 12.37% of engineers in the UK are female. As a result of this, the construction sector still falls far behind other industries in terms of gender balance, with only 14.7% of those employed in the industry being women, nearly 33% lower than the UK average.
However, Maria Kinsella, claimed that spreading more awareness of women in construction would provoke more to pursue a career in the sector. She said: ‘More exposure across social media, more normalizing women in construction are key to get more women on the tools. It should not come as a shock when a woman turns up when you’ve called for a plumber or an electrician.’
In addition, Kornelia Dziewicka, said: ‘People are not really surprised when they walk into a flower shop and see a male florist or walk into a hospital and see a male nurse. The same should apply when you see a female tradesperson.’
Pixie Perez-Garcia, directs our attention to the lack of opportunities given to women wanting a career in construction following university degrees. She said: ‘There are too few apprenticeships coming in regardless of gender, coupled with a huge skills deficit, and there is such a massive recruitment pool of women; but it’s always university driven, and never vocational skill set driven.’
As well as these four women grouping together in an attempt to encourage more women into construction, various homebuilder organisations are also working to promote gender equality.
One example of this is Barratt Developments Yorkshire West who have launched a new outreach initiative that aims to work with one million young people over the next two years. The company will be visiting schools and setting up a donation fund to assist in breaking the stigma that only men can work in construction.
Lindsey Sills, commercial director of Barratt Developments, has worked within commercial teams in the housebuilding industry for more than twenty years, and throughout her career, she has been determined to support diversity in the industry. In March 2023 she joined Barratt Developments Yorkshire West, where she became one of seven board members. Most recently, she was also shortlisted in the STEM Leader of the Year category in the Forward Ladies Leadership Summit & Awards 2023.
Lindsey said: ‘I’ve worked hard to break the stereotypes and the stigma surrounding housebuilding over the lifetime of my career and have used my own experiences to positively encourage my teams to become more diverse, and I’m proud to say more women than ever are coming through into this part of the business.’
Images: Gayatri Malhotra and Fusionstudio
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