Challenges and barriers to women in the UK construction industry

Abstract

This paper raises various challenges and barriers faced by women in UK construction industry. Women working in construction industry are observed to be very low when compared to men. It was observed that currently women work force in construction sector is less than 15%, of which most of them are observed to be working in planning and office based jobs. This paper discusses about various barriers and challenges faced by current women in construction sector focusing on UK. Various issues and barriers faced by women have been debated. Lack of awareness to join construction industry is also being one of the major barrier. From the research study, it was observed that women working are mostly into non-technical skills but it is because of difficulty to balance work life balance due to lack of flexible work hours. Lack of these will not let women balance between family needs and fruitful career. This study helped to focus and work towards various recommendations which help to improve work atmosphere. These suggestions help for better women retention and contribution in construction sector which is known to be male dominated sector. Few of them being creating better training towards equality, creating awareness at young age and encouraging to enter construction industry. Recruiting more women also encourages towards a better women employment rate.