Toolkit to help overcome harassment
A toolkit to help with overcoming sexual harassment and bullying in the trades has been launched, with a call for employers and employees to make the sector more welcoming for women.
Keep It Decent, launched by the Workforce Development Council with industry collaboration, sets out rules of conduct and examples of obstacles for women, such as sexual harassment. Women make up 15% of the trades but 2.6% are actually on the tools. They bear the brunt of most of the sexual harassment and bullying, most of which comes from men in more senior positions. The Workforce Development Council is trying to curb the problem by making the rules clear for employees and employers. The toolkit includes a checklist for someone to determine if they have sexually harassed someone at work and examples of harassment with explanations. Council construction arm Waihanga Ara Rau chief executive Phillip Aldridge said the sector needed to call out bad behaviour, be open to diversity and celebrate any positives. ‘‘These guidelines are the first of many steps towards addressing this change.’’
Builder Aroha Savage said that in her first few years in the industry, inappropriate behaviour was commonplace. ‘‘I can just be walking to my car and you can hear guys from up on the scaffolds just whistling out,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s just the way guys talk about females, I don’t know if they know I’m listening – but I was definitely around and it made me feel uncomfortable.’’
National Association of Women in Construction president-elect Colleen Upton said it was about time the sector had clear guidelines on constituted good behaviour.
She encountered many young women wanting a career in a trade and also met their worried parents. ‘‘The question they ask me is ‘will my daughter be safe?’ what
Now, they don’t mean ‘do I have to worry about hammers falling on her head?’, they mean ‘will she be respected, will she be safe to get on and do the job’?’’
Upton, who is also a business owner in the industry, said her female staff have had to put up with a lot of ‘‘rubbish’’ over the years while on other sites. Toilets without sanitary bins, topless calendars and comments about their appearance were common. As well as the more serious harassment and bullying, there was a lack of understanding and an unwillingness to have women on board, Upton said. - RNZ
There was . . . an unwillingness to have women on board. Colleen Upton
National Association of Women in Construction