Happy International Women’s Day from our team at Ashview Consultants; where we are embracing the power and progress of women in the construction industry! We would like to praise and celebrate all those ladies working in construction, including our own Sinead Gorman, Jemma McCourt and Justyna Kluska!
We found that a female perspective can make all the difference with some of the design and construction challenges that we face in some of our projects. It can very often be the difference between a generic risk assessment and one that is fully inclusive for all groups in society.
There are numerous opportunities for women in construction – however, the reality is that our industry is not at the forefront for women choosing a career and the problem extends to young girls in general – we just need to show them it really is a great industry to work in, and the opportunities are endless!
In our experience, young people have a negative perception of the construction industry and can often think that there are limited opportunities – the immediate perception is boots, a hard hat, a hi-vis jacket, and the cold weather! However, the construction industry has such a large and varied field for young women to explore and presents great opportunities to provide new perspectives to a historically male world.
The industry has faced skill shortages and gaps in its work force for decades now, with more young people entering typically academic roles such as law, medical professions, IT and finance. Now with consistent education statistics showing that girls are now outperforming boys in school from a young age, and women’s employment rates continuing to rise, perhaps women could help solve the industry’s skills shortage crisis. There have been more females graduating from construction related degrees in the past number of years than ever before, showing an increase in interest and acceptance of women in the industry.
We are fortunate in Ashview to have the opportunity to work along side some of the construction industry’s female role models in a range of key roles for the industry – between site managers and project managers, architects and designers, health and safety managers and operations/facilities managers. We consider these women leaders in the industry and hope that we can help show more awareness of the presence of women in the construction industry.
We urge any young woman to research the variety of careers available in the construction industry, work hard, and be part of building the future!