Changing the perception of a 'man's world'

With 'International Women's Day' having taken place on the 8^th March, we found the research conducted by Construction News very interesting this week. Construction News looked into the amount of women who work in the construction industry and found some interesting results.

According to Construction News' research, just 12% of construction employees are women meaning a massive 88% are men. It is very much considered to be a man's world. In the 21^st century it was expected that this would be more equal however this hasn't been the case.

There has been a lot of literature in construction magazines and trade press stating reasons as to why women allegedly can't find work on construction sites. The most obvious question being 'do women want to work in construction at all?'.

A recent study stated that if you asked 50 women whether they would want to work in construction, the majority would say no. An Equal Opportunities Commission report recently celebrated the fact that 80% of school-aged girls said they would be interested in learning a non-traditional job, however, only a very small percentage of these were interested in construction.

Some experts believe that the public image of construction is the reason so many women don't want to work in the industry. There is a perception of the construction industry that builders are prejudice towards women, with lots of women 'twit twooed' when walking past construction sites. There's also a perception of 'cowboy' builders which puts people off.

It's interesting that peoples views of construction are still so cemented in the past. In an attempt to change this, the CITB launched a 'Positive Image' campaign which will be placed within the changing rooms of certain clothes shops to try and advertise to their target audience. The campaign was also advertised on lifestyle websites and on television.

Encouraging women to join the industry is the first step, there is also the challenge of retaining them once they have been employed. It's believed there's often presumptions made about the challenges women face within the industry such as ill-fitting workwear or lack of toilet facilities. In actual fact, the problem appears to be a lack of support for career progression which is why so many women appear to leave the industry.

Do you think there is a discrimination in the industry towards women? How do you think this can be resolved?