This International Women’s Day we celebrate the 1% with the aim to #BreakTheBias
All Done Group is proud to back International Women’s Day 2022. We want to help break the bias and ensure that our sector is one that women feel welcome in, and one in which they can thrive. We truly believe the construction industry will be so much richer for it.
According to Women into Construction, “women represent around 11 percent of the workforce in the construction sector, and as little as one percent of the manual trades. There appears to be little concern in large parts of the industry about this low level of female employment, and only modest attempts to remedy it.” [1] It’s a stark representation of a sector we are passionate about, which is why this piece is a celebration of that one percent. We believe the women working ‘on the tools’ are phenomenal, inspirational, and some of the best assets our industry has. These women are trailblazers and boundary-pushers, and that kind of diversity is not just a social good – for construction, it has the power to help tackle one of the sector’s most pressing issues: the skills shortage.
The skills shortage is a crisis that has dogged the sector for years, and with an ageing workforce, resolving it is becoming more and more crucial. One clear way to tackle this issue is to bring more women into the sector; after all, what benefit can be derived from excluding half of the UK workforce? Attracting women into skilled manual roles isn’t just about resolving the skills shortage, though. It’s about getting more women into roles throughout the sector as a whole. These trailblazing individuals are building a wealth of knowledge that could see them become the next leaders of our industry.
The joy of construction as a sector is the range of roles it offers; the possibility for career development is endless. If girls can see women thriving as plumbers, carpenters and electricians, they might also consider other stereotypically male roles such as project and contract management or engineering, with a view to progressing into senior leadership roles. All Done Group encourages women and girls not to discount construction when choosing a career.
And finally, to the one percent: thank you. Thank you for helping to break down barriers, and thank you for helping our sector overcome its challenges. We can break the bias if everyone in construction works together to help our industry thrive.
[1] https://www.women-into-construction.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/building-the-future-women-in-construction.pdf
