More firms sign up to CN’s Inspiring Women pledge

On International Women in Engineering Day, Construction News is reiterating its call for all firms in construction and engineering to step forward and become more welcoming to women throughout their workforce.

Earlier this month, CN launched its Inspiring Women in Construction Pledge, a voluntary code that companies can adopt to demonstrate their determination to promote gender equality.

As well as a public statement of intent, the pledge provides a broad set of goals applicable to any firm, no matter where it currently stands with respect to diversity and inclusion across its workforce or leadership.

Signatories to the Inspiring Women in Construction Pledge agree to:

• Recognise the diverse perspectives and skills that women bring to the workforce;
• Ensure HR policies actively promote gender equality;
• Make unconscious-bias training mandatory for anyone in charge of selecting other people;
• Use inclusive language in recruitment adverts and job descriptions;
• Establish programmes for female employees to support career progression;
• Take steps to close their gender pay gap.

The pledge aims to build on the Inspiring Women in Construction programme of seminars and events run by CN over the past four years, which aims to support women in the sector and encourage their career progression.

Our aim is to encourage as many firms in the sector as possible to assess the aims of the pledge and consider signing up to its core goals and principles.

Since the launch, CN has received many enquiries and a number of organisations have now signed the pledge. They include:

• Aggregate Industries
• Constructionarium
• FM Conway
• Dornan Group
• RLB (Rider Levett Bucknall)
• Skills 4

Dawn Moore, group people director at founding signatory J Murphy & Sons, said she hoped signing the pledge would help to highlight that the firm welcomes women. She added: “We recruit and develop our own people through our direct delivery model, so being an attractive employer to everyone from all parts of society is vital to our success. We have already put significant effort into creating a better gender balance within the business and this work is starting to show tangible results, but we recognise this is a long-term commitment.”

Francois Pogu, managing director for the British Isles at Vinci Construction Grands Projets, said: “Gender diversity is a key element to the development and success of our company. We have signed this Inspiring Women in Construction Pledge because we firmly believe in its convictions.”

Skanska UK president and CEO Gregor Craig said he had signed the pledge as part of his firm’s “ongoing commitment” to bringing more women into the industry. “The fact that over 40 per cent of our executive management team is female sends a strong message that construction welcomes women and is stronger by their presence,” he said. “We know that diverse teams create the innovative thinking that delivers the best outcomes for our customers and we’re taking practical steps to encourage this inclusive culture, including our flexible-working framework, Flex-it.”

CN editor Lem Bingley said: “We urge every manager in construction to read the simple goals of the Inspiring Women in Construction Pledge and consider what a difference their adoption might make to their own business as well as the industry as a whole.”

Find out more about the Inspiring Women in Construction Pledge