Women fail to break down barriers on the building site

Women are being deterred from working in the construction industry by its long hours, male-dominated environment and unfriendly culture.

A survey of 3,000 companies and female candidates by recruitment firm Hill McGlynn shows that the lack of family-friendly working conditions is the main obstacle to women pursuing a career in construction.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Name

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

Only half the employers surveyed had altered working practices in their organisation to be more flexible for women, despite 58% reporting an increase in women working in the sector.

A recent report by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) found that while women make up 49% of the total UK workforce, they hold just 1% of all construction jobs. Two-thirds of women questioned had also experienced sexism or were aware of colleagues being subjected to it, the report found.