On 12 December, Dr Coralie Guedes presented the latest report from the University of Westminster’s Centre for the Study of the Production of the Built Environment (ProBE) titled, Women in Construction, Wood and Forestry - a Resource Toolkit for Gender Equality at Work, at the Congress of the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) in Helsinki.
The report investigates women’s experience in the construction, wood and forestry industry based on a survey sent out by the EFBWW, the research partner on this project, to 77 Unions representing the industry across Europe. The survey focuses on the obstacles women in the field face and what solutions are needed to increase recruitment and retention. It is authored by Dr Guedes, a Research Associate at Westminster, and co-authored by ProBE’s co-directors Dr Rosa Schiano-Phan, Dr Maria Christina Georgiadou, Professor Linda Clarke and Dr Fernando Duran Palma.
The project began earlier in 2023 when the ProBE team successfully answered the call put out by the EFBWW and funded by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), to analyse the survey data and produce a report.
The presentation in Helsinki was split into three sections, first introducing the report, secondly offering practical recommendations based on the survey results and finally highlighting what stood out the most from what they found.
Dr Guedes explained that the report reveals that there is currently not much focus on supporting the recruitment, retention and career progression of women in the industry. It also highlights that there is a narrow understanding of what kind of solutions can be put in place, with many actors often focussing on improving rules on maternity and parental leave, without looking at the bigger picture.
She suggested that a much broader approach is needed, including through stakeholder engagement, establishing women’s networks, better data and a growth in female role models to increase the industry’s understanding of what can be done to help women and for women to help the industry. Actors should be looking at how new challenges facing the industry, such as labour and skill shortages and climate change, should be addressed with gender equity in mind. For example, with climate change shaking up the field, increasing reliance on formal qualifications would help both women and the climate, as the research reveals that women tend to be more present in sustainability-oriented courses and do better at formal qualifications.
The presentation was followed by a panel discussion where trade unionists from an array of different countries and representatives from employer organisations debated about what is happening in their countries with the hope to learn from each other.
Dr Guedes said: “The conference was very successful, with the opportunity for me to disseminate the findings of our research to a large audience and to introduce what seemed to be a new subject for many attendees. It was encouraging to see that the attendance was high and gender diverse.”
The ProBE team recently expanded and relaunched its research programme during a symposium organised in July 2023.
Read the full report and find out more about the Centre for the Study of the Production of the Built Environment at the University of Westminster.
