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The world of trades and construction has long been dominated by men.
Women only make up about 15 per cent of the construction sector, according to a March report from Master Builders Australia and still make up less than 3 per cent of trade professions.
This last figure has remained almost unchanged since the end of the 1980s.
So why is this still the case?
Jo Farrell is Managing Director of Kane Constructions… and founder of ‘Build Like a Girl’ – a non-profit organization that encourages women to enter the trades.
She was also named this year’s ACT Australian of the Year for her work supporting young women in this male-dominated space… inspired by her own experiences and the stories of other women working in construction and trades .
“To be honest, it was born out of rage and frustration. When I joined Kane at the start of 2020, it generated a bit of buzz. You don’t see many women in leadership positions in construction, especially in the size of construction companies that we And so a lot of people reached out to me on social media, so LinkedIn, Instagram and others started telling me about their stories, the obstacles and the problems they faced were confronted. And it was like one. tidal wave And many things, especially for young Tradeswomen who were apprentices or perhaps just called horror stories about behaviors and women were still experiencing the things I had experienced there. almost three decades ago.
There is a 72% dropout rate for first-year female apprentices, according to a 2022 report from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.
Apprenticeships cover trade and non-vocational trades, but trades such as electricians, plumbers and builders make up 60 per cent of Australian apprenticeships.
Farrell says that while part of this retention problem is unmatched expectations of what the job entails, sexism plays a significant role.
“A lot of young women have come forward and said that they don’t have the level of training that they should be receiving. As an example, one young woman called me and said, ‘Look, I’m a first… first year carpenter. There’s another young man who’s a first-year carpenter, but I’m the one who leaves and has to go get lunches every day and clean the toilets and he doesn’t do it. And she said: is this normal? Am I saying something or is it just because apprentice, I have to put up with this? And I said no, it’s not okay if there’s someone else at the exact same level as you who’s not cleaning toilets and taking lunches.
But sexism can also manifest itself in more serious ways, including in the recent case of a woman unable to return to work due to the trauma of a workplace sexual assault.
“And then there are the harder things, which are sexual harassment and sexual assault. And we’ve seen a very negative increase in reporting on that. We’ve had a really bad run over the last few months, from Late last year early last year this year, a number of young women came to me to report incidents and what I discovered was that they didn’t really understand what it was. were their rights and their obligations. They were really afraid of it. They thought they would lose their jobs. There was a culture there of, oh, it’s just a misunderstanding, it’s not taken seriously by the supervisors. and managers.
There are prevailing gendered views that professions are a domain reserved for men.
Dr Fiona Macdonald is director of industrial and social policy at the Australia Institute’s Center for Future Work and says it is very difficult to attract women into the trades.
“In an industry where recruitment is very informal, often, and it’s about who you know, it’s someone women don’t know. They don’t have role models, they don’t see from female family members or other people they know In these professions, women are encouraged to go to university. This is a problem for young men and women, but it is particularly. a problem for young women once people get there. have come in, women really benefit, because it’s still a very male-dominated environment. The facilities can even be very poor for women. so it can be very isolating if you don’t have a buddy or someone in your networks and mentors in the industry.”
Dr Macdonald believes the industry could reform apprenticeships to make them more accessible to women, particularly at a time of national skills shortage.
“A good example is that some of the most successful strategies for recruiting women in the past have been where large organizations could hire a group of women. So you have a critical mass that goes through training together,” she says.
Programs like Habitat Australia’s “Habitat Women” seek to change this.
Queenie Tran is the Australian Programs Manager at Habitat for Humanity Australia, a global not-for-profit organization working to provide stable and secure housing for low-income families and vulnerable people.
She says their program trains women with the skills and confidence they need to enter construction and the trades.
“We really strive to provide some of those initial, foundational skills to get in the door. A lot of times they run into barriers, whether it’s just people not seeing that women are going to be comparable in terms of skills and competencies than some of their male counterparts, or simply not having the flexibility and understanding of what women might need to succeed in this industry.
Queenie says all ten women who graduated from their first program went on to find employment in trades, and five of them entered the building and construction industry.
“Once women have these opportunities, they quickly move up the ranks and are great candidates for supervisory positions and to become sort of leaders within the industry. So I think offering that first step is something that we see as being very critical and providing the clear foundations and support And in many cases it is the confidence of being able to be part of this sector that is the key element.
Ms Farrell has seen positive changes in recent times, particularly through the many diverse programs her organization is involved in to train and recruit young women and non-binary people into the industry.
“I think we have been quite active in breaking down the stereotypes that existed, particularly towards young women. I know in Queensland there has recently been an 8 per cent increase in the number of female electricians in first year working in a profession, which is a It’s a monumental amount. A lot of it is about breaking down the stereotypes around looks and all these general excuses about why women can’t do this job.
But she recognizes that government and business must end sexist cultures in the industry.
“Part of the process of solving a problem is recognizing that there is one in the first place. Our industry doesn’t want to have to make that calculation. It doesn’t want to turn the lens inward and s ‘go away, she can’t continue to behave like If we want to see change, we have to actually change our behavior and we have to start being responsible And I think that law and policy reform comes into play, it’s a zero tolerance policy, one hundred percent transparency, and. You shouldn’t earn work if you don’t have a safe site where women can come and fully participate day in and day out without being harassed or experiencing some form of different treatment.
To learn more about this issue, listen to our weekend one-on-one with Jo Farrell, who shares more about her story and what inspired her to champion women in the construction industry.
