Is construction dawdling on gender progress?

Construction remains one of the most male-dominated industries in the world. Credit: Pexels - A new study has called for construction management leadership to address organisational complacency and systemic equality challenges by exploring the opportunity for special measures to ensure a substantive change in equality and diversity outcomes. Many sectors are sprinting towards gender equality, implementing initiatives and programs to boost diversity in senior management, but one of the industries still lagging behind in Australia is construction. Construction remains one of the most male-dominated industries in the world, with female participation remaining stubbornly sluggish since the 1990s, at around 12 percent in  Australia. A collaborative study between the University of Sydney and Queensland University of Technology published in the  American Society of Civil Engineers  looked into the effectiveness of the design, selection, and implementation of human resources (HR) practices in engineering and construction industries. The researchers found that the majority of organisational leaders appear to be unaware of the systems and practices within their organisations that lead to unfair discrimination based on gender. Instead, the researchers found construction organisations select gender-based equality and diversity HR initiatives based on legal requirements, rather than on an understanding of structural and cultural inequalities and injustice within their organisations.