TRANSCRIPT
The world of trades and construction has long been dominated by men.
Women only make up around 15 per cent of the construction industry, according to a March report from Master Builders Australia and still make up less than 3 per cent of trade occupations.
This last figure has remained virtually unchanged since the late 1980s.
So, why is this still the case?
Jo Farrell is General Manager of Kane Constructions... and founder of 'Build Like a Girl' - a not-for-profit organisation encouraging women to pursue trade occupations.
She was also this year's ACT Australian of the Year for her work championing young women in this male-dominated space... inspired by her own experiences and stories from other women working in construction and trades.
"It came about from rage and frustration to be honest. When I joined Kane in early 2020, generated a bit of buzz. You don't see a lot of women in leadership roles in construction, particularly in the size of construction companies that we have. And so there was a lot of people reaching out to me over social media, so LinkedIn and Instagram and others starting to tell me about their stories and their barriers and issues that they've faced. And it was like a tidal wave. And a lot of the things, particularly for young trades women who were apprentices or maybe just qualified just horror stories about behaviours and women were still experiencing the things that I'd experienced almost three decades ago."
There's a 72 per cent drop-off rate for first year female apprentices, according to a 2022 report from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.
Apprenticeships cover trade and non-trade occupations - but trades such as electricians, plumbers, and builders make up 60 per cent of Australian apprenticeships.
Ms Farrell says while part of this retention issue is unmatched expectations of what the job entails, sexism plays a significant role.
"We have had a lot of younger women come forward and say that they don't get the level of training that they should be getting. As an example, I had a young lady ring me saying, look, I'm a first-year carpenter. There's another young man who's a first-year carpenter, but I'm the one who goes off and has to get the lunches every day and clean the toilets and he doesn't. And she said, is that normal? Should I say something or is that just because an apprentice, I have to put up with it? And I said, no, that's not normal if there's someone else exactly the same level as you who's not cleaning the toilets and getting the lunches."
But sexism can also manifest itself in more serious ways, including one recent case of a woman unable to return to work due to the trauma of a sexual assault at work.
"And then you've got the harder stuff, which is the sexual harassment and sexual assault. And we've seen a really negative uptick in reporting on that. Had a really bad run over the past few months from late last year to early this year with a number of younger women coming forward to me reporting incidences. And what I found was they didn't really understand what their rights and obligations were. They were really scared about talking about it. They thought they'd lose their job. There was a culture on site of, oh, it's just a misunderstanding, it's a miscommunication. It wasn't being taken seriously by supervisors and managers."
There are prevailing gendered views around trades as a male field.
Dr Fiona Macdonald is policy Director of Industrial and Social at the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute and says attracting women into the trades is very difficult.
"In an industry where recruitment is really informal, often, and it's who you know, it's somebody women don't know. They don't have role models, they don't see female family members or other people that they know. Going into those trades in schools, women are encouraged to go to university. That's an issue for young men and women, but that's particularly an issue for young women. Once people are in, women find it really, it is still a very male dominated environment. Facilities can even be really poor for women. Still. There's not that critical mass of women, so it can be very isolating if you don't have a buddy or somebody in your networks and mentors in the industry."
Dr Macdonald says the industry could reform apprenticeships to become more accessible to women, particularly during a national skills shortage.
"A good example is some of the most successful strategies for recruiting women in the past have been where there've been large organisations that can take on a group of women. So, you've got a critical mass going through training together, supporting each other on the site. Together, you can see that those are the kinds of strategies being adopted. There's a Victorian government program that's supporting women in construction, and it's doing that, bringing in groups of women."
Programs like Habitat Australia's 'Habitat Women' are seeking to change that.
Queenie Tran is the head of Australian programs at Habitat for Humanity Australia - a global not-for-profit organisation working to provide stable and secure housing for low-income families and vulnerable people.
She says their program trains women with the skills and confidence they need to enter construction and trades.
"We're really focused on providing really some of those early and basic skills as a step in through the door. Oftentimes they find barriers, whether it's just people not seeing that women are going to be able to be comparable in terms of aptitude and skill as some of their male counterparts, or just not having the right flexibility and understanding as to what women might need to be able to be successful in this sector."
Queenie says all of the 10 women who graduated from their first program went on to gain employment in trade occupations, and five of those women entered the building and construction sector.
"Once women do get those opportunities, they rapidly advance through the ranks and are great candidates for supervisory roles and being sort of leaders within the sector. So, I think providing that first step is something that we see as being so critical and providing the clear foundations and support. And in many times, it's that confidence to be able to be part of this sector is the key elements."
Ms Farrell has seen positive changes in recent times, especially through the many diverse programs her organisation is involved in to train and recruit young women and non-binary people into the industry.
"I think we've been pretty active in breaking down the stereotypes that have existed, particularly for younger women. I know in Queensland recently they've had an 8 per cent increase in first year female electricians taking up a trade, which is a monumental amount. A lot of the breaking down the stereotypes around the physicality and sort of all those generalist excuses about why women can't do this work."
But she acknowledges government and business must stamp down on sexist cultures in the industry.
"Part of the whole process of dealing with a problem is acknowledging there's one in the first place. Our industry doesn't want to have that reckoning. They don't want to turn the lens inward and go, can't keep behaving like this. If we want to see the change, we actually have to change the behaviour and we have to start being accountable. And I think where the legislation and policy reform comes in is a hundred percent a zero tolerance policy. It's about open reporting about transparency, and you shouldn't be winning work if you haven't got a safe site where women can come and fully participate day in, day out without being harassed or without having some form of different treatment."
To hear more about this issue, listen to our Weekend One on One with Jo Farrell, who shares more of her story and what inspired her to advocate for women in the construction industry.
