My work is taking me into many new sectors and, most recently, I’ve started working with a number of firms in construction.

And I keep hearing a familiar question – one that many other sectors are asking too:
“How do we recruit more women?”

But I wonder if we’re asking the wrong question.

Perhaps it should be:
“What needs to change so women are attracted to construction, choose to join, flourish – and stay?”

The business case is compelling.

Construction For Women highlights that the UK construction workforce has fallen from 2.6m in 2008 to 2.1m in 2024, while the sector needs an estimated 937,000 new recruits over the next decade.

Yet women make up just 13.6% of the construction workforce and only 2% of on-site professions.

We cannot solve a skills shortage simply by trying harder to recruit from the same talent pool.

And attraction without retention isn’t progress.

So instead of focusing only on how we get women through the door, we need to look at what happens when they arrive.

Are they SEEN, HEARD and VALUED?
Do they have appropriate PPE and welfare facilities?
Are opportunities genuinely equal?
Are poor behaviours challenged?
Can women see a long-term career and a route to leadership?

This isn’t a women’s issue. It’s a business and leadership issue.

And I think construction can learn something from its approach to safety.

We don’t expect the person most at risk to be responsible for creating a safe workplace.

Safety is everyone’s responsibility. Inclusion should be too.

Not just HR’s.
Not just the EDI team’s.

And certainly not the responsibility of women to fix the industry they’ve been invited to join.

Everyone has a role.

If construction is going to attract and retain the talent it needs for the future, we need to create a fair, inclusive and respectful sector where everyone is seen, heard and valued.

So let’s stop asking:
“Where do we find more women?”
And start asking:
“What do we need to change?”

Because the future of construction won’t be built simply by finding more people. It will be built by creating an industry where more people want to belong.