International Women's Day - Are we there yet?

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a well-known phrase in today’s world. Ten years ago, not so much. Twenty years ago, about 65-70% of females aged 25-40 years old worked, compared to over 90% of males the same age. Go back another 20 years and the participation of females in the workforce was only 45%.

So, are we there yet? Short answer is no. Are we moving in the right direction? Absolutely.

In today’s world, there is more awareness of gender bias. There is more acceptance of females across a wide variety of roles in the workplace. There are programs and laws in place to protect women’s rights to work and protect them while at work.

However, we still see statistics that indicate the Public Works sector is lagging in gender equality. The industry that some of our workforce falls into has the largest gender pay gap of 25%. The construction industry has a gender pay gap of 18% but sadly rose by over 2% in the last year.

Can we do better? Of course, there’s always room for improvement!

IPWEA NSW & ACT has recently launched a Women in Public Works Panel to tackle equality for women in the Public Works sector. As a collective, we share a common vision and intend to:

• Entice women into the industry, and support to retain them.
• Boost the number of skilled women in the industry through targeted training programs.
• Ensure women are supported, safe and secure in the industry and learn through shared experiences when faced with adversity.
• Create formal and informal networks within the industry to promote, support and develop our women workforce.

 

Over the next year, we as the panel hope to bring targeted content to our members, such as digital series, online events and relaunching IPWEA’s resident engineer Pocket Sally, along with advocating across all levels of government around gender equality. We will apply for grant funding for further education to help our members support our female workforce.

UN’s 2023 theme for IWD “Cracking the Code: Innovation for a gender equal future” illustrates the role that transformative ideas, inclusive technologies and accessible education can play in tackling the inequality and discrimination of women globally. Technological advancement has given rise to a growing demand for digital delivery capabilities in the Public Works sector, which continues to create new forms of work, transforming the employment landscape. These are the spaces we need to be targeting to continue on the road to gender equality and improve the workforce for future generations of women.

IWD is a day for reflection – a day to reflect just how far we have come but also a day to reflect how far we still have to go. Together, we aim to break down the systemic barriers and behaviours prevalent in our industry to support our female workforce. And this year, on IWD, we along with our colleagues across the Public Works sector, will celebrate the female cohort in our workplaces and #EmbraceEquity.
 

Megan Finnie
IPWEA Board Director & Chair, Women in Public Works Panel

Sources of data: Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) 2022, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2022 statistics