Martin Duffy, industry expert and Chair of NYHighways, speaks to women in the industry for International Women’s Day and Women in Construction Week.
Today is International Women’s Day, a global event celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
The long-running event’s aim is to help forge a gender-equal world, while celebrating the achievements and increasing the visibility of females while calling out inequality.
The date incidentally falls in the middle of Women in Construction Week, which celebrates and promotes the role of women in the construction industry.
Women account for 47% of the workforce but sadly this percentage is not the case in the highways industry. With the low percentage of women working in the construction industry (reported as around 14% by website Go Construct) and in transport (20% according to Women In Transport), there’s a long way to go towards achieving an equal gender balance in highways.
So what are the barriers that women face when working in the highways industry?
NYHighways, a council-owned highways maintenance business based in North Yorkshire, employs around 34 women across the business in a range of roles.
I have been listening to their stories of working in highways and it’s clear that it’s not all negative – it is clear things are improving and that while the industry remains male-dominated, attitudes do appear to be changing for the better.
Donna Crame is an area agent at NYHighways and she says she does not feel being a woman in highways has negatively impacted her.
She explains: 'I don’t feel I’ve faced any challenges because I am a woman, I get the same challenges and frustrations as any of my colleagues do on a daily basis. Probably the biggest challenge has been getting PPE small enough to fit me!'
She continues: 'I’m certainly not treated any differently by my colleagues. It’s more members of the public - when you are on-site in full PPE that assume you must be a male. However, being in the construction industry previously, I’m quite used to the double takes and comments when they realise you are actually a woman.'
Elisabete Moreira, NYHighways’ performance analyst, agrees with Donna: 'Personally, when I compare highways to other more highly competitive, driven industries I have worked for, I find it to be very down to earth. Which is very refreshing.'
The positive steps come at a time when the construction industry has a requirement for women employees to join up to fill the skills shortage.
Women bring a wide range of skills that benefit employers and will help to enrich the highways, construction and transport industries going forward.
While there’s still work to be done, the future will be bright for women in highways careers as those barriers start to be broken down and a more-diverse workforce becomes commonplace.
