One of the last UK bastions of gender inequality, females currently make up less than 1% of the workforce on building sites.
YES, LESS THAN 1%
We’re not the first to notice. Individual schemes and limited placement schemes are starting to appear.
Businesses perform better with a strongly gender equal workforce and with half a million construction workers retiring in the next 15 years, now is the time to act.
Inspiring 50:50 tackles the issue at root
We’re planning a continuous pipeline of female candidates to help sites reflect society’s male:female balance and we’ve set ourselves some ambitious goals:
- Working with educational and housebuilding partners we will create a flagship operational site employing a 50:50 male:female ratio of trades by 2025.
- Using the success of the flagship site as a fulcrum, develop five further sites by 2029 for regional impact.
Ruffling feathers
Traditional industries don’t always take well to change so this is feather ruffling. It will also mark those involved as visionaries unafraid to tackle challenges. Here’s how we plan to start:
Leadership & Empowerment
A strong leadership platform which will help empower and encourage women of all ages to recognise their strengths and consider the challenge of a housebuilding career.
Education
Tackling low numbers of females choosing construction qualifications, apprenticeships and careers starts in education – from subconscious stereotyping common in Early Years onwards to maintain awareness and enthusiasm.
Mentoring
Creating networks of existing female tradespeople to share experience as role models. Mentoring structures will shape careers and reverse mentoring will up-share to help housebuilders understand and adapt to the challenges.
Financial Support
Recognising the challenges of working parents, returners and career changers, subsidised childcare and flexible working options will be developed.
Business Accreditation
Inspiring 50:50 will offer an accreditation programme for industry, measuring commitment to and support of gender equality at all levels of UK Housebuilding.