Drive to get more women in industry
A TEENAGER who recently became Ireland’s first female tower crane operator has called for young women to be given more encouragement to help fill the massive shortage of skilled construction workers.
Kate Fahey, 18, of Kilkerrin, Co. Galway, had been accepted on a veterinary course in Budapest before being persuaded to go into construction. She believes the low number of women in construction – fewer than one in 10 according to the Central Statistics Office – is because the career path has not yet been fully normalised for females.
‘I feel like if teachers and career guidance counsellors were all just a bit more supportive of women going into the construction industry, there would be a lot more young girls wanting to go into it. Seeing how girls are contacting me saying they want to get into the industry, and asking how they can, maybe it shows there’s a lack of information or a lack of support to go into the industry.’
Recent figures indicate things are improving – one in four new recruits to the construction industry last year were female. And there were 1,433 female apprentice registrations in 2020, up from 730 in 2020, according to the Construction Industry Federation.
Ms Fahey dismissed preconceptions of construction sites as unwelcoming environments for women.
She said: ‘I think there’s this thing around construction, that it’s a man’s job and it’s a man’s world. When I started, I didn’t realise I was the only female. I just went to work and that was it.
‘The likes of me driving a crane… what’s to stop a female doing it?’