With UK employment numbers steadily on the increase, Bebington Glazing is encouraging more women to consider a career in the construction industry.

Recent figures have discovered that while women currently only represent 12.2% of professionals in the construction workforce, this has peaked from 10.7% in 2010. However, only 1% of on-site manual roles are currently occupied by females and the gender pay gap in the industry remains at 23% – wider than the UK average.

Managing Director of Bebington Glazing Kay Finlay said:

“While women are still considered to be a minority in the construction trade, I am delighted that gender related social stigmas are progressively being lifted. A lot of the problems with the lack of female inclusion come from preconceptions. Such stereotypes advocate that the construction industry is entirely male dominated, suggesting that females can’t perform as well in traditional ‘male’ roles.

“At Bebington Glazing we are committed to educating and supporting women who are interested in pursuing a career in construction. We have recently trained and hired a local young woman in an apprenticeship role, and we are thrilled that she has since developed in her role to become a full-time member of administration staff.”

As an industry that continues to thrive, in 2014 the construction trade contributed £92 billion to the economic output. It currently provides over 2.1 million jobs – 6.3% of the UK total.

Kay added:

“Many women are totally unaware of the interesting and diverse career opportunities available to them in the field. The construction sector is moving forward at a rapid and exciting pace, but it cannot hope to continue to advance in such a way if it underachieves in attracting and retaining a whole half of the population in jobs. The sector needs to recruit an estimated 200,000 workers by 2020 to keep up with demand so we hope that it will focus its energy on recruiting a higher percentage of women.

“An increase of women in the industry is also beneficial to the customer. It’s refreshing to offer our clients the option to deal directly with female members of staff who can offer construction solutions.
“With this in mind we aim to nurture and develop the highly skilled women in our industry, in order to look forward to a positive and equal future for both genders.”

For more information visit www.bebingtonglazing.co.uk or call 0151 645 3830