MAJORITY FEMALE BUILDHERS PROJECT PROVIDES SOLID FOUNDATION FOR MORE WOMEN IN INDUSTRY
There is something very magical happening on a Fletcher Living residential building site in Whenuapai, Auckland. A taste of a new type of building industry is being seen – a building site as part of a wider industry that not only incorporates women but is dominated by women. And frankly speaking, that future building industry is much better off for it.
This is much bigger than one house.
The ambition for the BuildHers project was indeed grand. An all-female crew of 48 planning, designing, engineering and building an entire four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom house to challenge the stereotypes; from go to woah.
BuildHers was to be a tangible platform to showcase the diverse range of skills already on offer by women in New Zealand – despite under-representation within industry – while also inspiring a younger-generation to pursue a career in what is a heavily male-dominated sector.
And according to Aurelie Le Gall, Fletcher Living branch manager Auckland North and the protagonist behind the project, it’s achieved that and more, with the build due to finish in December.
But an entirely all-female build it won’t be, despite best intentions. The very problem the project was, and is, designed to help – a shortage of females in key trades, such as scaffolders – meant the reality came early for Le Gall and the team. Shooting for the moon though often finds good operators hitting a few stars along the way, and she says the project is absolutely on track to achieve its purpose and, in fact, it was a reality that Le Gall was expecting from the start.
“We could have pushed out the build to ensure we kept to all-female, ‘every nail driven in by a woman’ so to speak… but this project had to also be a real build and meet timeframes and budgets otherwise there was no point,” she says.
The BuildHers project was always about the bigger picture. Her passion, in person, for the project is undeniable. And she’s excited at what they have learnt, despite not reaching the ceiling goal of ‘100% all-female’. Le Gall is immensely proud of reaching what will be about a 70-75% female build – and given the extreme shortages that the industry faces it will be somewhat of a remarkable achievement.
The intention, says Le Gall, from the beginning was to disrupt the standard within a male dominated industry, and to “recruit specifically females to normalise females on site”. She says they knew there were females on tools on sites around the country, but it is rare, and the BuildHers project was materialised to bring them together and put their true abilities on display in a single-build project. Equally, it was to provide a platform for women to experience a real building site and get a taste of what being in the industry would be like.
Those on site have had just that.
It’s people like apprentice carpenter Sylvia Campbell that this project is all about. Campbell was studying medicine but yearned for a change. So – exhibiting maturity and drive well beyond years – that’s exactly what she did, and she hasn’t looked back. She fitted right in.
She had some early reservations about the build site but adapted easily, and loves it, explaining that when she first started, she sure “felt the day’s work physically” but she soon conditioned and now can match it with the blokes on the tools and on the site.
“Okay, so sometimes it takes two people on a lift but often it does anyway. Women can match it,” she says, raising her hand to speak quietly behind it, “and at some things, we’re even better,” she smiles.
Campbells infectious enthusiasm for her involvement in BuildHers and the building industry isn’t isolated on this build site. Pooja, who has her sights fixed on a career in plumbing and an ambition to own her own company in the trade, feels the same way. The 23-year-old was in the navy in the electrical field when she also showed an admirable strength to change direction completely. Now, she is excited for her future and says the positives in her new career can be summed up by how she feels at the end of each day after being in the industry, on this job and learning all the time: “Pride. I am… I’m so proud of myself because I’m doing it. Women belong here. I belong here.”
“Just one,” says Le Gall, “If BuildHers makes a difference to just one woman. That’s what this build was about, and all this will have been worth it.” Results are clearly far exceeding initial expectations.
A future building site dominated by women isn’t what Le Gall wants or envisions; but the last few months have solidified her beliefs that a successful and vibrant building industry has a much better balance and that BuildHers has a strong future.
“This is not about building one house, this is about building a future,” says Le Gall, describing a construction or building site where the presence of women isn’t just normalised, but eventually a site with a 50:50 gender balance.
“The idea was that this is just the first house. It was a symbolic project to get started and grow a team of females that could carry on working with us.” It’s a model that had to be sustainable, on-time, and to-budget.
BuildHers project manager Jasmin Lawrence says that it’s actually been great having some males on the site at times and for everyone to also get to experience a site that had a gender split much closer to even.
“You can’t beat it,” says Lawrence, talking about often having the best of both worlds. “The build itself is awesome when all the women are working as a team… but when working with the men there’s just a great working atmosphere among us all that’s very different to when it’s male dominated. Here, women are accepted not as women but as people who can do the job just as well.”
Le Gall says that the difference in the site goes even beyond that and is much deeper and more beneficial to the industry than surface-realised. Peel back a few layers and you’ll find some surprising outcomes unearthed at BuildHers.
“Mental health is massive in industry and we work closely with organisations like Mates In Construction… men and women are different, and in an industry that faces real issues with mental health and suicide… add in a woman’s voice and nature on site – well, you’d be surprised just how much of a difference that can make when someone asks, ‘How are you?’ and really means it and is actually ready and waiting to listen.”
Le Gall says that she hopes that what this build has done is set the foundation for the future, because she is a realist: “One house does not change an industry”.
“I hope that through this project and the media exposure that it motivates people for change. We know there are roadblocks to the building and construction industries, and we know how hard it is to attract young women when – whether it’s by their school or their parents – they are being discouraged because of how the industry is perceived,” she says. “That it’s not for them.
“But, I can tell you that it is for them. This industry has something for everyone. We know we have inspired quite a few young women, and some of them we have connected with contractors to further develop their skills.”
Le Gall says that discouraging women from getting into the trades is the wrong approach because women do belong and will thrive, and it’s an industry that can also provide a great pathway to financial independence.
Because of Le Gall, BuildHers and the great team she has around her, many women have started that journey to independence and opportunity… and perhaps, just perhaps, it’s a path that will also lead to a unique and inspirational future building industry.
“We’ve made a start. We’ve learnt a lot. I could not be prouder of the team and can’t thank them enough – all of those that have contributed. It’s been truly amazing.”
In an industry that is desperate for changed – in need of improvement – and often short of workers, what began as a project with 48 women on one build may end up helping mould the entire industry as we know it.
And that future industry will know exactly who deserves the thanks because it’s not a house these women are building – they are breaking ground on new industry. There’s 48 of them… and each one, a pioneer.