As an organisation dedicated to promoting the equal participation of women in the construction industry, NAWIC has spent years and supported research to examine what lies behind the stubborn statistics: 13% female participation in construction, 2% in trade or entry level positions.
The industry is the third largest employer in the country with government spending on infrastructure projects at an all-time high. Yet attraction and retention of women in these industries has barely changed in decades. With the skills shortage at hand, government has been at pains to promote policies and subsidised training schemes with the aim of attracting more women into the industry. None of that is going to move the needle past its current position until the industry makes the construction workplace attractive to women.
Workplace attractiveness includes feeling valued, respected and safe at work. For most women that means ensuring that they are promoted and remunerated at the same rate as their male colleagues. For others it’s as simple asx making sure there are sufficient or any, amenities (yes, toilets) available for female employees. A workplace free of sexual harassment is a most basic right. In this time of Respect@Work and creation of gender equality policies for procurement, it is astounding to come across “media” who would deliberately choose to underpin and elevate every single outdated sexist trope about a woman having or wanting a career in a male dominated industry. A recent article in news.com mined a young woman’s social media profile and turned her story and her job, in what is predominantly a male dominated industry, into sensationalist click bait; the article headline - “Australia’s hottest lollypop lady”. Media attention such as this is harmful.
This young woman’s message about how much she enjoyed her job, especially working outdoors, the good grounding for a future career in mining and her wanting to see more women enter the industry was overshadowed by sensationalism. It was undermined by the media, using photos from her social media account and objectifying her physical attributes which bore no relationship to her day-job.
The article made light of what was sexual harassment by members of the public. It perpetuated that if you’re a woman who wants a career in construction, you need tough skin and have to tolerate inappropriate behaviour. What they didn’t say is this is the most prevalent reason for women leaving construction and why women don’t consider it as a safe or viable career option.
We also need to turn our attention to the wider society who think it’s ok to objectify and harass a young woman whilst she is doing her job. She is not a “lollypop lady”, hot or otherwise. She is a trained traffic controller with an important role which is keeping other workers and members of the public safe. Traffic Control is a job that can lead to career growth and provides an excellent foundation for roles in construction.
The general public’s disregard for the importance of her role and her personal safety is harmful.
This acceptance of sexism and harassment in the workplace is what women are pushing up against. This kind of objectification, overt sexism and pre-existing societal attitudes will continue when they are perpetuated by reckless media outlets.
The young woman at the centre of this article wants to pursue a career in an industry already dominated by males. The ridiculous cultural stereotypes perpetuated by this click.bait make it harder for her to do that and only contribute to setting these industries back even further.
NAWIC calls upon the media to do better.
Author
Kristine Scheul - Advocacy Chair, National Association of Women in Construction
Connect with Kristine on LinkedIN
Date
15 July 2022
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