Pilot program for women in construction

The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), with assistance from the NSW government’s Women in Construction Industry Innovation Program (IIP) grant, has launched the ASBEC Women in Construction Future Leaders Pilot.

The pilot seeks to promote gender diversity within the construction sector to create lasting transformative change.

“Increasing leadership and participation of women in Australia’s construction sector is fundamental to our clean energy economy transition,” says ASBEC Executive Director Alison Scotland.

“We want to leverage the power of ASBEC’s collective knowledge and expertise on diversity and inclusion programs, so we can accelerate efforts to improve female retention and increase leadership participation for women in all parts of the built environment sector.”

Led by Global IQ Group CEO Liza Taylor, M.AIRAH, the project aims to learn from existing women in construction initiatives and address the key barriers to retaining them. It will incorporate:

• A scoping study to understand the current rate of female participation in ASBEC member organisations, the key challenges facing retention, and barriers to females reaching leadership positions
• The development of a pilot program using the key findings, insights and recommendations from the scoping study
• The delivery of the ASBEC Women in Construction Pilot program, with a final report highlighting the key project outcomes.

The pilot aligns with ASBEC’s commitment to Equal by 30 – an initiative driving change for equal pay, equal opportunities and equal leadership for women in the clean energy sector by 2030.

ASBEC is seeking the input and participation of women who currently work or who have previously worked in residential, commercial, or industrial building and construction, or civil and infrastructure construction. This includes building designers, engineers, professionals, project managers, builders, developers, trades, certifiers, associations, and product suppliers to the building industry.

Respondents are asked to complete a short 10–15-minute survey by September 29, 2023.

To complete the survey or for more information about how to get involved, visit the ASBEC website.