To conclude this year’s Women in Construction Week, on 8th March, we celebrate International Women’s Day; a date set aside each year to champion women’s achievements and advocate for gender equality.
Some may question why, in the 21st century, when we live in a world with female politicians, CEOs, and professors, we need to continue to mark a day dedicated to recognising women’s contributions and campaigning for gender equity. But the reality is that it’s still often tough for women to make it to the top of their profession, particularly in traditionally male-dominated industries such as the highways sector. Not only is the language used in the workplace reinforcing stereotypes, with phrases such as manpower, man hours, and manual labour so endemic that we almost don’t notice the gender bias, but, statistically, women have to work harder to earn the same amount of money. But UK women are far from being the worst off, with women globally earning on average 20% less than men.
That’s why the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘accelerate action’, which is a call to arms to do what we can to fight for gender equity. According to data from the World Economic Forum, it will take until 2158 – another five generations! – to reach full gender parity. And here at Highway Care, we don’t think that should be a battle that women should have to fight on their own. The call to accelerate action is for everyone to do what they can to be part of the change we need to see.
How are we accelerating action at Highway Care?
Those statistics got us thinking – what are we doing at Highway Care to make a positive difference in our company and our sector, and what examples are our colleagues and peers setting too?
First up, is our recruitment process. We are not setting targets for hiring women or implementing positive discrimination policies, but we are working hard to attract more women to the company and to remove gender bias from the recruitment process. A more diverse team means a wider mix of perspectives and experience, which is not only good for the work environment, but also reflects our customer and supply chain relationships too.
Next, let’s talk about the language we use. Our Marketing and Communications team are working hard to ensure that the language we use is as gender neutral as possible, and have issued guidance around this in our style guide for internal and external comms. But it’s not just how we speak in our marketing and customer communications that’s important; how we speak to each other and about each other matters too. Using respectful language and speaking to all colleagues in the same way, regardless of their gender, is one of the ways in which men can help to accelerate action. If you wouldn’t call a male colleague ‘love’, why would you say it to a female colleague? If you wouldn’t introduce a male colleague as ‘the lovely John’, why would you introduce a female colleague as ‘the lovely Jane’? These are common examples of how even well-meant gender bias detracts from the value that women deliver in the workplace, unconsciously contributing to gender inequality.
In our sector – and across construction, civil engineering and all industries where personal protective equipment (PPE) is required, another common issue is a lack of PPE designed to fit women. It’s not unusual for a woman to struggle to find work boots in a size small enough, or to be given high vis trousers to fit a man’s shape. “At Highway Care, providing the women on the team with correct PPE that fits well is important to us,” explains our HSEQ Co-ordinator, Leah Murray. “PPE is there to serve a health and safety purpose, so it needs to be good quality and the correct fit. But it’s also a matter of inclusion – if a woman is handed well-fitting PPE it gives the right message, it says that we have considered your needs as an individual, and not based your needs on your role or our industry. There is a wide range of inclusive PPE on the market, and providing appropriately fitting PPE is one simple step we can take to accelerate equality and something I will continue to advocate for.’”
There is some positive work being done around equality for women in traditionally male-dominated industries, such as the award-winning ‘Ending the Stigma’ period dignity campaign from Colas, which aims to normalise conversations around periods and other gender-based health disparities in the workplace, striving to make the work environment more inclusive. It’s fantastic work, but the very fact that these campaigns have to exist in the modern workplace reminds us that there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equity.
A job for all of us
The fact is that International Women’s Day, and all the work that goes into working towards gender equality for the other 364 days a year, is not just women campaigning to be seen and heard; it’s an issue that affects all of us. When we create opportunities – for people of any gender – to thrive, we all benefit from different perspectives, a wider talent pool, and a more diverse workplace community.
Our Engineering and Manufacturing Director, Adrian Bullock shares his sentiments, summing up the relevance of International Women’s Day to everyone: “I am proud to be working with strong female influencers who provide me with the opportunity to better understand the role I can play in shaping the future of both the highways and engineering sectors to take a more gender neutral outlook.
I hope that one day the sector becomes more attractive to female talent, both professionally and as a father of a young daughter. My hope is that she can grow up in a world that is free from stereotypes and gender discrimination”
