Four in 10 women in construction feel bullied by bosses

The survey, carried out for International Women’s Day, which is tomorrow (8 March), also found that 51% of women in the industrybelieved that they were treated unfairly at work because of their gender.

More than half of respondents also reported a lack of promotion opportunities, lower pay than male colleagues for the same work and isolation by male colleagues.

On a positive note 71% of respondents reported that sufficient attention is given to health safety and welfare facilities. These respondents said that there was access to women-only toilets and the correct fitting personal protective equipment (PPE) was being supplied. However respondents did highlight a lack of access to changing facilities.

Despite the problems that women feel they face, 42% said that they had noticed an improvement in the workplace as attitudes to gender had changed. It was felt that this was due to more women working on construction sites breaking down initial scepticism and a growing awareness of diversity issues by employers and managers.

Union boss Steve Murphy, general secretary of Ucatt, said: “It is encouraging that there does appear to have been some improvements in the workplace for women construction workers but this progress is moving too slowly. Women working in construction have an absolute right to be treated equally to their male colleagues and both unions and employers need to work far harder to ensure that occurs.”

As only 22% of respondents were trade union members, Ucatt plans to use the results of the survey for a recruitment campaign aimed at women, to be led by midlands regional secretary Cheryl Pidgeon.

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