THE $2.3 MILLION BOOST FOR WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION

In a groundbreaking endeavour last September, a team of researchers from UNSW Sydney secured an impressive $2.3 million grant funding through the federal government’s Women’s Leadership and Development Program. Their focus: to make a resounding impact on the male-dominated construction industry and empower women within its ranks.

Led by Dr Cynthia Wang and Associate Professor Riza Yosia Sunindijo, both from the School of Built Environment at the UNSW Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, this project has set its sights on creating a more inclusive and diverse construction industry. These researchers were uniquely placed to understand the challenges that women face in the sector, where they currently represent a mere 13% of the workforce – a concerning decline from 17% in 2006, despite previous efforts to effect change.

Dr Wang told Florence, “It’s a large project with two important and distinct aspects; making an immediate impact on the community and forwardlooking research.”

With an industry traditionally associated with a rugged “male toughness”, it’s no surprise that the prospect of women working in construction has been vastly overlooked. However, this project seeks to change that perception, starting by engaging female high school students, women studying construction at universities, and women already working in the field. The goal is to equip them with a comprehensive understanding of the industry’s myriad job opportunities, thereby fostering long-term career goals and supporting their progression into leadership positions.

“We’re now five months into the project. Our first step is to attract students into the construction management degree and change people’s perception about the construction industry generally. Talking to high school students, most of them know all about going into business, engineering, tech, medicine, law but they don’t even know that a construction management degree is even possible unless they have relatives working in the industry,” Dr Wang explained.

“It’s a professional degree and a professional career path, its white collar work, not necessarily labour-intensive construction. We’re partnering with other universities around the country to show these girls different pathways into the construction industry.”

The Women in Construction Project organises workshops for female high school students, school career advisers, parents and also the wider community. Through these workshops, the participants get to interact with UNSW staff and students, and construction practitioners, and be equipped with all the information related to the construction study and roles.

Dr Wang went on, “In collaboration with the Australian Institute of Building we’re going to have a “Girls in

Construction” workshop in late November this year, which will give high school girls some general ideas about construction planning and execution, and real hands-on experience. Ten to twelve high school girls will plan, design and construct a portable shed on UNSW campus, which then will be donated to a charity organisation. So that will be very exciting.”

Past the tertiary stage the project also seeks to keep women in the industry and encourage them into positions of leadership.

“We see that once women enter the period when they want to have children, they start leaving the industry. So the retention rate isn’t good. So we want to work in collaboration with companies to have ongoing support for women to develop their careers in the construction industry,” said Dr Wang.

This transformative initiative goes beyond superficial fixes; it aims to target the root causes behind the underrepresentation of women in construction. Unlike some previous efforts that focused solely on corporate policies, this project adopts a life-cycle approach. It begins by educating and inspiring highschool students, parents, career advisors, and even the community at large about the exceptional prospects offered by the construction industry for women. Scholarships and career development support await female students studying construction in universities, providing tangible backing for those eager to enter the field.

“For this aspect we established a collaboration with Taylor Construction and their project, Women Breaking Ground, which aims to get as many women in nontraditional roles as possible.”

The Women in Construction project has connected

38 women with leadership training organised by The Leadership Institute between May and June 2023. A PhD scholarship for a female student has been awarded to carry out research on how the emerging “Construction 4.0” brings new opportunities and challenges for women and provides strategies and practical recommendations to empower women in this era. They are also offering Women in Construction scholarships for female students studying Undergraduate and Master degrees of construction management and property.

“We also provided one woman with a $5,000 upskill training fund to go to Cambridge in the UK and attend sustainability in construction training. Her goal is to come back to be a leader in sustainability at her company and help them become carbon neutral by 2050. It’s a really good example that women can really reach higher leadership or management positions and can specialise in a particular area.”

A major component of this project also involves the creation of online gender diversity training modules, ensuring an equitable and transparent recruitment and promotion process. By arming women with upskilling opportunities and tackling unconscious gender bias through the training modules, the researchers seek to increase female participation in leadership roles within the construction industry, thus fostering a thriving and diverse workforce.

“Women play such an important role in improving the culture of the industry. Gender diversity has been proven to be beneficial for both men and women, and can improve mental health and wellbeing in the construction industry. This is significant as the industry is notoriously known for the poor mental health of their workforce.”