International Women’s Day (IWD) falls on Wednesday 8th March, with this year’s theme being #EmbraceEquity or in other words giving everyone the resources and opportunities they need to be successful no matter their starting point. IWD also happens to take place within Women in Construction week which serves as the perfect reminder to encourage the next generation of women to be able to enter the construction industry with confidence. In celebration of this, we place a spotlight on our Finance Director, Penny Dew who is celebrating 20 years with Pexhurst later this year. Here Penny discusses her industry journey, and her views on this year’s IWD theme…
Penny’s entry into the construction industry was completely by chance as she wanted to try something different, and with the construction industry having such a diverse range of roles on offer, she decided to give it a go. This is similar to many women who may not have considered the industry before or who may not have felt encouraged to work in the built environment. However, attitudes are changing, and in the right direction; when Penny joined the industry in the early 2000s, only 10% of the workforce was made up of women, and today the number has increased to 15%. Whilst this is certainly a step in the right direction, it also proves there is still much more work to be done in increasing the number of women entering the industry.
Penny’s experience in the construction industry and at Pexhurst has been positive from the very start and as a result, she wants to champion the younger generation in joining the industry and increase the diversity further. “My main piece of advice would be to not rule out joining the industry and to have a look at what the industry can offer. It’s not as daunting as it once was, we have seen real changes and more women are in the workforce now, and it has become an incredibly inclusive industry with a huge amount of specialist areas.” She continued, “I would love to see more women working on-site however, as at the moment only 1% of women in the sector work on-site, as compared with 14% working in office roles.”
For Penny, it’s incredibly important to encourage the younger generation as a whole to enter the built environment. She said: “We shouldn’t be focusing entirely on women, we should encourage equality on all grounds, and encourage more young men to also bring their talents to the industry.”
Remaining acknowledgeable to this year’s International Women’s Day theme #EmbraceEquity, we must recognise that each individual has different needs and circumstances, and we as an industry need to ensure that we allocate the correct resources, support and opportunities to empower women in particular to bring that skillset to the industry for everyone’s benefit.
Penny explains “for women in construction, this can come in the form of better fitting personal protective equipment and using more inclusive language to ensure women in the industry feel a sense of belonging.” With small changes such as these – through the process of equity, we can reach equality.
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