Abstract
Gender equality at work in male-dominated industries is conditioned by intrinsic systemic issues which established policies have, to a significant extent, failed to address, as women’s participation remains under-represented. This study argues for the reappraisal of the issue through a different lens and carries out a systematic and thematic review of the literature on women in construction in Australia through a women’s empowerment framework. Despite its usual application in gender inequality at work in development studies, the concept of empowerment lacks attention in the context of developed countries, particularly regarding the construction industry. Empowerment has been proved a useful overarching framework to analyse personal, relational, and environmental factors affecting women’s ability to be or do. In the examined studies, there is significant focus on external barriers to women in construction, such ‘organisational practices’ (environmental), ‘support’ and ‘others’ attitudes and behaviour’ (relational). There is, however, limited attention to more active stances of power, such as one’s attitude (personal), control and capacity, in shifting power dynamics. The paper draws seven major findings, covering personal, relational and environmental dimensions, supported and supplemented by some international studies, and suggests the way forward for empowering women in construction.
Highlights
According to the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC), construction is the third largest industry nationally, with a projected annual growth rate of 2.4%, being the second sector of greater expected employment growth (10%) for 2023 [1]
This paper presents detailed findings based on a systematic literature review in the Australian construction industry
Our study shows how many of these factors, together with other more active relational factors under ‘power over’, have been understudied and deserve greater attention in order to define strategies to better guide women in the construction industry, in addition to the known defined strategies for the industry
Summary
According to the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC), construction is the third largest industry nationally, with a projected annual growth rate of 2.4%, being the second sector of greater expected employment growth (10%) for 2023 [1]. The Victorian state government took the lead nationally by proposing a comprehensive strategic plan to attract, recruit and retain women in construction, in trades occupations [2], approaching what is recognised as a long “leaking pipeway” [3]. The proposed strategies respond to identified barriers to the inclusion of women in construction in general, mirroring discussions in national and overseas literature [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. Strategies to improve women’s attraction to the industry aims at changing the general negative perception of the work environment, its inappropriate culture for women and rigid work practice, coupled with a lack of encouragement from educational institutions [4,12]. Retention is strategised through defining better actions to report on harassment, create more flexible work practices and improve occupational health and safety [17]
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