The good news on International Women’s Day comes in a LinkedIn post from FLC. The tunnel consortium reports having 214 women on their payroll. That’s 28 percent more than last year.
Only Three Percent blue collars
But let’s not count our chickens before they hatch. While FLC does exceed the national average for the construction and civil engineering sector, the industry as a whole still only has about ten percent female employees. Among the skilled and unskilled workers at construction sites, the figure is just three percent.
The women are needed
Sund & Bælt now wants to address this issue. In 2024, the state-owned holding company behind, among others, Femern A/S will focus on diversity. This could be part of the solution to a very specific problem:
– Sund & Bælt needs skilled labor now and in the future for our many infrastructure projects and maintenance of existing infrastructure. Part of the solution is to attract more women to the construction and civil engineering sector and ensure that the women who are already there find the conditions and terms appealing and attractive, says Emilie Juel-Helwig, director of sustainability at Sund & Bælt, in a press release.
Collaboration with Boss Ladies
Sund & Bælt has entered into a partnership with Boss Ladies, aimed at getting more women on their construction sites. Boss Ladies is a national change project involving, among others, vocational schools, labor market parties, companies, and municipalities. Boss Ladies was started in 2018 to bring about deep cultural changes and ensure more women are recruited, retained, and thrive in the construction and civil engineering sector, industry, installation trades, and maritime professions.
Waste of talent
– Today, there is a pronounced waste of talent in the construction and civil engineering sector, while colleagues are missing out in the site office. To achieve a strategic turn-around, we need to take targeted action and work on the culture at the construction site, where it can be extremely tough to be the only woman. Here, the clients play a key role in setting requirements for the contractors, says Nina Groes, director at Divérs and initiator of Boss Ladies.
Kickstart this spring
The new partnership between Sund & Bælt and Boss Ladies will kick off in the spring, with visits planned to Lolland and Korsør to see the major construction projects. There, Boss Ladies will provide concrete recommendations on how workplaces, processes, and the physical and psychological working environment can be arranged to create a good and safe environment for all employees – regardless of gender.
