UCATT are highlighting the findings of their recent survey into the problems faced by women in construction, to coincide with International Women's Day.

The survey which was principally conducted online, found that just over half (51%) of the women surveyed believed that they were treated unfairly at work because of their gender.

The top three problems which all scored in excess of 50% among respondents, were: a lack of promotion opportunities, lower pay than male colleagues for the same work and isolation by male colleagues. Forty two per cent of respondents also reported that bullying and harassment by managers was a problem.

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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.

While the problems faced by the respondents were clear, 42% of them 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.

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."

UCATT will be using the results from the survey to develop the materials and information targeted at women working in the construction industry and will be further developing this area of work over the coming months.

(CD/GK)