‘How about a striptease?’: Women in construction say gender diversity is needed to stamp out sexism

When project manager Ashleigh Kopac joined the male-dominated construction industry six years ago, it didn’t take long to experience sexism on the job.

“I was trying to tell one of the guys on site to do something,” she recalls.

“And he said, ‘I don’t know why I should listen to you. Why don’t we go to the bathroom and have a striptease?'”

Her current boss, Dominique Gill — the owner of construction company Urban Core — has copped similar treatment from men while at work.

“I think it’s one thing not to win a tender,” Ms Gill said. “But it’s another to then hear that your competition has said that you should ‘go back to making lunch boxes’.”

“And it’s something that I’m still facing now as a managing director.”

Construction is the most male-dominated workforce in Australia, but to address chronic labour shortages there is a push for the industry’s future to be female.

The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) has a goal for women to make up 25 per cent of the industry by 2025.

Women currently only make up 13 per cent of the building and construction industry’s workforce and, of those, only 2 per cent are in trades. The other 11 per cent of women work in administration and support roles.

“It’s a very ambitious goal, but we have to set ambitious goals to make change,” NAWIC Chairwoman Christina Yiakkoupis said.

Not feeling welcome or equal has been a big barrier for women entering the industry.

A 2018 study commissioned by the Construction Industry Culture Taskforce (CICT) found cultural issues in the industry cost the Australian economy nearly $8 billion annually due to workplace injuries, mental illness, suicide, long work hours and a lack of diversity.

More recently, 73 per cent of women in the industry said they had experienced “gender adversity” while on the job, according to a NAWIC survey.

“Some of the challenges are just arriving at a job site and [finding[ there’s no female toilets,” Ms Yiakkoupis said.

She said being excluded from the “guy’s groups” is also a regular occurrence.

Changing culture

Increasing female representation would decrease aggressive behaviour and bullying, as well as improving attention to detail and communication on jobs, according to the Construction Industry Culture Taskforce, which was set up to address cultural issues in the sector.

The taskforce also found that, if the industry doesn’t change its current practices — long working hours, poor mental health and lack of diversity — it might not be able to deliver projects on time and on budget.

“The industry itself needs to look at its own culture and its own practices to see if we are actually maximising our attraction to potential employees,” Master Builders of Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said.

Ms Wawn acknowledged that — while some in the industry were struggling as labour shortages and inflation bit — there was still plenty of work and huge labour shortages.

Progress to increase gender diversity is happening.

For example, this year the Victorian government introduced gender mandates for publicly funded construction projects valued at $20 million or more.

The New South Wales government has announced funding to help increase the number of women in construction, or “smash the gyprock ceiling”.

There’s also Women Building Australia — which is a joint project by Master Builders Australia and the federal government — that provides mentoring and other training and support.

However, Ms Yiakkoupis said, there are other things the new federal government could do to help women get into the industry.

“Making it easier for women to be a part of the industry and feel wanted in the industry is opening up your labour recruitment to another 50 per cent of the population … It just seems common sense, really,” Ms Yiakkoupis said.

NAWIC is calling for cheaper, flexible childcare, allowing for portability of workplace parental and carer’s leave, as well as mandated culture standards and gender requirements on all Commonwealth-funded construction projects.

Natalie Lowe — a first-year apprentice in joinery and cabinet making — is one of the 2 per cent of women in construction who work on the tools.

“It’s really satisfying, you know, seeing something come from nothing to something that, you know, really impacts the community,” she said.

Ms Lowe said she would not look back.

“It’s really exciting. And it’s always something new,” she said.

“Learning how to plumb a wall, learning all these different trades, not just in joinery, but tiling, and all these extra things that I never thought I’d learn.”

Construction jobs to close the gender pay gap?

Construction pays more than female-dominated industries such as retail, hospitality and caring roles.

“If we get more women involved in the industry, then we will make a significant dent in that gender pay gap,” Ms Wawn said.

RMIT University senior lecturer in economics Leonora Risse said the percentage of women in the construction workforce has not budged for decades.

“So even though there’s a lot of effort to try to attract more women into the construction workforce, we know that they’re not progressing through into senior roles,” Dr Risse said.

Dr Risse said that, while governments had spent a lot of money on inspiring women to get into the industry and training, without changes — to workplace culture and practices such as long working hours — it would remain difficult.

“There’s a very low level of part-time work in construction. And there is an expectation of working full time.”

Ms Risse agrees that getting more women into construction would reduce the gender pay gap. 

“But, at the same time, we need to think about why are these low-status caring professions paid so much less in the first place?”

‘Good pay’ and change underway

Ms Kopic said there was a lot for women to like about the construction industry: “Pay is definitely good. I’m definitely not going to complain about that.”

Her boss, Ms Gill, spends time visiting schools, spreading the word about a career in construction.

She said it was important for young women to know a career in construction was not just about being on the tools.

“There is, of course, the trade work that’s really important. But there’s everything around trade work, which is what I do, being a head contractor,” she said.

“You could also be a project manager, a contract administrator, an estimator, a consultant, an engineer … There’s just so many different careers that are in construction, that can be very rewarding.”

As for the industry’s sometimes sexist and gendered attitudes, Ms Kopic said change was happening.

“Unfortunately, it’s an old-school attitude that we do deal with every day, but it is changing. And we’ve got some fantastic men out there supporting us,” Ms Kopic said.

“Having that diversity, and having females on site, will change the culture for the better and make construction sites a much nicer place to work.”

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