The role of Women in Construction - Written by Managing Director Belinda Wright
Today is International Women’s Day which falls bang, slap in the middle of Women In Construction Week (6th – 12th March). Despite a lifetime in the Construction Industry I only found out that we have our “own week” when researching this article and whilst I laud the efforts to involve women in the construction industry I still find that we are very much in the minority. Statistics show that women make up 14% of construction industry professionals and I assume that this is mostly in managerial rather than “hands on” roles.
Having started my career in the late 70’s working for the family racking and shelving business I was destined to be surrounded by men. The sales team were men, the fitters were men, the support staff were men and my role was very much in admin (or secretarial as we called it back then).
The company diversified into office refurbishment and fit out (which to be honest was more interesting than racking!) and I was hooked and destined for a life in construction.
Challenges faced
At the start it was challenging to be taken seriously being a blonde, 20 something girl in a man’s world but fortunately my father had instilled a love of football in me from an early age so I had something in common with the other sex…..unless they were into cricket in which case I was completely thrown.
By my late twenties I was visiting prospective clients, measuring up, space planning and designing their workspaces. It wasn’t too tricky as the walls were always magnolia and the carpet tiles were generally brown so I didn’t need the design skills that my CAD/Design Team have today.
Generally, the clients I dealt with (99% male) were pleased to see a female face but I did encounter my fair share of scepticism. One particular visit to an empty warehouse in Sutton to meet a prospective client stays in my mind. He and his colleague were discussing golf whilst I stood outside the door waiting to see him. After 20 minutes I politely coughed to remind him that I was still there. He looked up and said “oh I forgot about you but why don’t you make yourself useful and put the kettle on”. I don’t want tea, I retorted, a bit flummoxed by his rudeness. “Well go and wash my socks or something useful” he said. I was on the verge of bursting into tears at this point but kept my cool and said “I am here to measure up your building”. He reluctantly tore himself away from his golf chat to show me around and couldn’t help saying “you’re a girl, what do you know about building?”. “Nothing” I replied “but I know a lot about refurbishment”. Long story short, I measured up, did the quote & was awarded the project!
With hindsight it was probably foolhardy for a lone female to visit an empty building, bearing in mind we had no mobile ‘phones in those days, but this was before Suzy Lamplugh disappeared in 1986 so I didn’t give it a second thought.
Roll forward to 2023 and CID Workspaces is very much a female enterprise. My two daughters have joined the business and our team are largely female. This is our USP and we feel that the experience we have juggling motherhood and careers makes us doubly efficient in running projects and that we provide the empathy and multi-tasking skills that some of our male counter parts have yet to master. (Sorry boys but I think it’s a known fact that only females can multi-task!!)
Having said that all of our on-site workforce are male and at the last 15 strong site meeting I attended I was the only female. There’s still a way to go it seems.
More information on Women in Construction on International Women's Day
