Women are key to building construction workforce

Women
are the answer to solving the skills crisis in the construction industry, a new
report has concluded.

The Equal
Opportunities Review (EOR) not only looks at what employers can do to encourage
women to become tradespeople, but also challenges the industry to take a fresh
look at solving its skills shortage.

Construction
is the UK’s biggest industry, currently employing two million people, with
around 380,000 vacancies.

At
present only 1 per cent of the industry’s modern apprentices are women and an
even smaller percentage of women are employed as tradespeople.

EOR
researcher and report author Carol Foster said: "The tiny majority of female
workers within the construction industry have already proved they are good at
their job.

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"The
challenge for employers and other employees is to overcome the stereotypes that
women don’t belong on a building site," she said.

By
Mike Berry