Glass ceiling remains for women in construction

The glass ceiling remains an obstacle for women in the construction industry according to a new report published this week by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).

With women making up just 10% of those employed within construction and built environment industries, the Equal Opportunities Commission has criticised the sector as a 'no-go' area for women.

Michael Brown, deputy chief executive of the CIOB said: "Attracting and retaining more women in the construction sector is a key pirority for the UK. In countries such as ours where skill and labour shortages exist increasing the number of women in the workforce would go some way to solving the problem."

Written by Sonia Gurjao from the University of Reading, the full report is available online from the CIOB website, but the executive summary is reproduced here for your convenience.

Women in construction

The UK’s construction industry is facing a skills shortage that is a threat to the long-term health of the industry. It is suffering recruitment problems with its traditional source of labour - young men aged 16-19. Efforts are being made to recruit women into the workforce, but with limited success. In the short term, the industry is filling the skills gap using workers from low wage economies. What is needed is a skilled workforce that sees its long term future in the UK construction industry. To meet the challenge of the skills gap the recruitment of women is no longer simply a nice thing to do; it has become a necessity.

Women in the UK construction industry currently account for under ten per cent of the workforce, reflecting their under-representation in an industry that fails to attract and retain women.

Career sexism is an important issue for government, industry, employers and individuals. Occupational segregation is damaging the UK’s competitiveness by contributing to the gender pay gap and preventing it from benefiting from the talents of a balanced workforce. The under-utilisation of human resources dependent on gender patterns is of economic and social concern especially for an economy with an ageing workforce.

Whilst recruitment remains important, there is a knowledge gap in translating qualifications into employment, and employment into retention. This is described by the ‘leaky pipeline’ concept. Attraction by itself is not the key to increasing women in the construction workforce. Recruitment must be followed by induction of the new employee in order to improve retention levels. Job satisfaction as a result of opportunities and promotion is more likely to retain staff. For women in older age groups/mature women, part-time and flexible working women, the real barrier is the balancing of work and family life, just like other industries.

Women occupy junior and supporting positions within high status professions (Dainty 1998). The “glass ceiling”, the situation where women can see, but not reach higher level jobs and are prevented from progressing in their careers, still exists in many occupations and industries, including design and construction. There are very few female chairpersons, CEOs, or COOs of architectural, design engineering, or major construction companies in the UK.

This research is important because it raises the debate about the advancement in the subject of inclusivity, assessing the real barriers faced by women today and discussing means of redressing the balance to improve the inclusivity of the industry. Expanding inclusivity, which includes attracting and retaining more women in the construction sector, is a key priority for the UK and many overseas construction sectors. In countries facing skill and labour shortages, increasing the number of women in the workforce would go some way to solving the problem. In summary, the important issues are:

• Attracting more women to the industry by not only focusing on young entrants but also returnees to work following a career break, and those who seek a career change
• Retention of women in the workforce
• Understanding the extent of women employed in the whole industry, including the supply chain.

The full report, Inclusivity: The Changing Role of Women in the Construction Workforce, is available to download in PDF format online from the CIOB website.