Women invited to build future
THERE is plenty of scope for women to build a future in construction, the Otago Chamber of Commerce says.
The chamber is keen to interest young women in the industry as demand in the region increases and the city prepares for the new hospital build.
Chamber chief executive Dougal McGowan said the number of young women choosing to work in construction in Dunedin and the rest of Otago was ‘‘quite low’’.
A lack of female builders was discussed at a workforce meeting last week, when Otago’s construction needs — including upcoming demand in Dunedin, Queenstown and Invercargill— were addressed.
The chamber hoped to work out strategies to attract more women into the trade — and into leadership and management roles.
‘‘There are great opportunities out there for women in the industry,’’ Mr McGowan said.
‘‘The key is they want people who are reliable, who turn up every day, and who are prepared.’’
Across the country RNZ reports there are a record 12,000 apprentices in training, but the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation
(BCITO) says between 8000 and 10,000 more are needed in the next five years to meet demand.
The industry is 30,000 workers short. Only 10% of employers take on apprentices and fewer than 3% of those apprentices are women.
Otago Polytechnic carpentry apprentice coordinator Matt Thompson said three out of the 118 apprentices doing their New Zealand certificate in carpentry level 4 through the polytechnic and five of the 70 students in the fulltime level 3 pretrade carpentry course at the polytechnic were women.
The numbers seem low but when the level 3 course started three years ago there were no female students.
When he started out in the building trade, Mr Thompson said there was a perception it was all about strength, but since then there was more of an emphasis on working in a more intelligent way.
‘‘You don’t have to be enormous. You can get a bigger person to do it, or you can get a smarter person to do it.’’
Apprentice Kirsty Currie said she had ‘‘always loved building things’’.
It had been challenging at times trying to ‘‘fit into a male industry’’ but it had helped to take things with ‘‘a grain of salt’’, Ms Currie said.