Numbers prove women are the answer to Australia’s construction crisis | Jess Adamson
Half measures will not be enough to pull Australia out of a crisis that can’t be solved with the same old approach, writes Jess Adamson.
Opinion
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Bailee Major had been working as a carpenter for three years when it happened.
It was a moment the now 26-year-old will never forget.
“I was working on a house at Angle Vale, and I saw her across the road, at another house,” she says.
“Being able to see someone else on the journey was really exciting. I walked across and said ‘hello’.”
Bailee was introducing herself to the first female tradie she’d ever seen on a worksite, another young carpenter.
“It’s one of those things, when you work in a male-dominated industry, you work for years and years and years without working alongside another female,” she says.
I met Bailee last year and found her story astounding.
Three years seems a long time to find someone of the same sex at work but as the numbers show, building in Australia is still very much a blokes’ game.
Just 4.7 per cent of tradies in South Australia are females.
Our construction industry employs 82,938 people. Of those, 12.4 per cent are women.
South Australia is facing a critical shortage of electricians, carpenters, joiners, plumbers, painters, plasterers and bricklayers and we have a mountain of work to get done.
The state government’s ambitious project list including a new hospital, affordable housing and “nation building” defence opportunities requires thousands of new workers to enter the construction industry. And fast.
Master Builders Australia estimate we need 477,000 new workers nationally by the end of 2026.
So, why are we still only tapping into half of our potential workforce?
Women are the solution; they just don’t know it yet because they’ve never been told. Most girls in school don’t realise that a trade is a worthy and viable career pathway for them.
Most don’t have the option to study woodwork, tech studies or material solutions as part of the curriculum, just as our boys aren’t routinely offered food tech classes or dance lessons.
Our daughter’s recent Christmas list included “wood and nails for hammering”. Her brothers have made some impressive furniture pieces at school, proudly bringing them home.
But she won’t get the chance because “hammering” and other similar activities aren’t part of the offering in most girls’ schools. And that’s part of the skills shortage problem.
There are some exceptions of course. Mitcham Girls High School has an electrotechnology program for girls and Roma Mitchell Secondary College will soon follow their lead. Secondary schools at Berri, Murray Bridge and Naracoorte are about to introduce hands-on construction workshops for girls in Years 7-9.
The state government knows it needs females. Its Skills Shortage Solutions grants have seen more than $2 million spent on supporting women to get on the tools.
Our industry bodies and boards are working hard to entice female school leavers to be part of the skilled worker pipeline.
Campaigns like Born to Build, BuildHer, Civil Train, BrickStart SA and Trade Up are making meaningful inroads. Female mentors are regularly visiting schools and sporting clubs, spruiking the benefits of working a trade.
Worksites have transformed for the better – Playmate of the Month centrefold posters have been quietly removed from lunch rooms and female bathrooms are now commonplace.
Change is happening, just not quickly enough.
Our girls need to know of the opportunities available from a very young age and it starts at home. Swap the Barbie for a toolbelt. Do whatever it takes to broaden their minds.
Then, we must offer more learning opportunities in our primary and secondary schools to give girls every chance to be part of Australia’s growth, the chance to help build a new cancer centre perhaps, hospitals, highways and homes for those who need them most.
In 2019, 400 South Australian women took up a trade. Last year it was 700. It’s critical that we maintain that growth.
Women are bringing new ideas to the construction industry, strong organisational skills and in many workplaces, where tensions run high, conflict resolution.
It’s an industry grappling with a shocking amount of mental health issues because of long hours, tight deadlines and for many, six to seven-day weeks.
Australia loses a construction worker every other day to suicide, and they’re eight times more likely to die from suicide than from an accident at work.
Encouraging more women into these stressful work zones will benefit everyone.
You only need to look at the change in culture at our AFL clubs to see how.
Seven years ago last Sunday, a Crows AFLW team played its first ever game.
Their arrival at the club was met with some trepidation and plenty still disagree with the concept of girls playing footy.
But they brought passion, gratitude, inclusion and a sense of fun.
Elite sporting clubs can be high-pressure environments, but our AFLW players are constantly reminding those around them of the joy that comes from teamwork.
The way they go about their business, both on and off field, has inspired a whole new generation of fans and earned the respect of many, including the boys at the club.
I see some strong similarities.
Just like Chelsea Randall, Erin Phillips, Ebony Marinoff and Anne Hatchard, young women like Bailee Major are leading the way in the construction industry.
When I caught up with Bailee this week, she had some news for me.
She’s no longer on the tools running her own carpentry business. She’s a trainee site supervisor at Sarah Constructions, with an eye on a long-term managerial position.
It’s a dream job and having “just come off the tools” she’s treated with respect.
Bailee is a beacon of hope for other young women thinking about a construction career. She’s already taken in at least a dozen female high school students for work experience.
She’s also a woman in a man’s world that has, at times, been lonely.
“There’s always a little bit of judgement, not having anybody to relate to. You make work friends and have mates but it’s difficult,” she says.
“You feel a little bit on the outside, forever.”
But she feels the momentum building.
“People have begun to realise that trades are no longer about who’s the burliest, strongest man who can lift the most,” she says.
“It’s about those who take pride in their work. We’re here to do what everyone else does on the site and get the job done.”
An inspiring young woman, laying the foundations for future generations.
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