The varied life of a female tradie
Newly certified builder Charlie Camp says 18 months of being the only woman on a construction site has just about been enough.
The glass ceiling is nowhere more apparent than to those in the business of building them, even when women have been drawn to the industry where demand for staff is high.
Camp feels like she doesn’t fit the expected mould of the ’’jokey and blokey’’ tradie.
She said she felt some of her previous superiors had made an example of her, and that she had been made to work harder than her male co-workers in order to prove herself.
‘‘I think gender has quite a big role in how women in trades are treated.
‘‘Sometimes you’re seen as lesser.’’
She says her current boss is respectful and makes communication a lot easier.
Gaining a qualification had given her confidence, as being the only woman on site had taken a toll.
She said that in her experience, she believed not everyone had been as supportive as they could have been at times.
Camp has plans to go to Scotland in September to learn woodworking, joinery, and furniture-making, so she can move into a more creative and detailoriented part of the field.
Working in construction with so many people from different cultures and backgrounds has taught her a lot about compassion.
But she wished it was an attitude more people in the industry would show towards women who wanted to work in the field, instead of seemingly ‘‘actively making it so much more hard work for them emotionally.’’
National Association of Women in Construction president Donna Howell said: ’’We’re seeing increasing numbers of women working in the construction industry, particularly in the Christchurch rebuild and in Auckland, but I don’t think this is yet reflected either in the participation of women at the decision-making level or in the physical built environment.’’
More women would mean a more efficient, productive and possibly less adversarial sector, she said.
The number of women working in the industry has doubled over the past 15 years. Women make up 17 per cent of the industry, and 12 per cent of trades apprentices.
Head of construction of WelTec and Whitireia Neil McDonald said that 4 per cent of the 1680 students currently involved in construction trades at schools are female. Another 40 women were studying construction management through the School of Engineering in fields such as architectural technology, construction management and quantity surveying.
‘‘Women can and do undertake these roles very successfully,’’ McDonald says.
WelTec School of Construction professor Mandy Regan was the only tiler in Wellington for 20 years before she turned to teaching.
She said getting into the industry was very hard and isolating and most females in her trade ‘‘didn’t last very long at it’’.
But Regan said she always found men very easy to work with, and her attention to detail gave her a competitive advantage.
‘‘As long as you recognise that it’s you going into their area and domain and you’re not precious about anything ... then you just get on with it. There’s a lot of money to be made, you can go places and there’s such scope out there for what you can do.’’ The Women of Influence programme is committed to increasing leadership in New Zealand.
I think gender has quite a big role in how women in trades are treated. You're seen as lesser. Charlie Camp, above