October 2005
Put Women Plumbers On TV, Says Construction Forum
A group of senior politicians and training and construction industry specialists has called on TV scriptwriters to dump stereotypes and start writing women into non-traditional jobs such as plumbing. They also agreed that it was time to stop portraying construction workers as uneducated, beer-swilling, leering men who wouldn’t be able to get another job.
The influential group was brought together for a round table debate at the House of Commons by the Wolseley UK-sponsored Women in Plumbing Group which was established by the Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering. It wants construction to be portrayed as a leading UK industry so that more young women would consider it as a credible career. At present 99 per cent of construction workers are men.
The debate which centred on how to attract more women into the construction industry, included Minister for Women and Equality, Meg Munn, Labour Women’s Network representative, Claire Curtis Thomas MP and Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission (OEC), Caroline Slocock. The group, which also included senior representatives from the Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC), the Learning and Skills Council and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) also called on influencers of young people to see and promote the construction industry as providing a career path.
Opening the meeting, Meg Munn, said; ”Women must want to join the industry. The career guidance that young women receive, and the impressions they get from family, the media and industry itself are all highly influential.
“We know that the proportion of women in construction and plumbing is lamentably low. According to the latest data, less that one per cent of the entire manual workforce in construction are women. The same low proportion applies to plumbing. These figures are a sad reflection on the prevailing state of the construction industry,” she said.
The Minister added that the raft of major new building projects in the pipeline for new hospitals, schools, social housing and accommodation and sporting facilities for the Olympics would create a major challenge for the industry to recruit and retain skilled people. “ Without them, our offices, schools and hospitals, simply do not function,” she said.
Caroline Slocock of OEC agreed revealing that of the 3,000 plumbing apprentices last year, only 22 were women despite research undertaken in schools which showed that 80 per cent of girls were interested in non-traditional jobs.
Blane Judd, operations director for SummitSkills said that role models are critical to encourage more girls into plumbing and other construction industry jobs. He added that more and more customers are keen to have women working in their homes, and by not meeting this demand, schools and industry are missing an opportunity.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that careers teachers in schools are still pointing girls towards hairdressing and childcare and are not encouraging them to apply for more traditionally male orientated jobs in which they could not only flourish but also earn more money.
Gill Wilson, acting chief executive of CRAC, said: “Not enough information is available for teachers, parents and other influencers. A career in construction is not a job for people who can’t do anything else. I’m sure that teachers and parents are not aware of current salaries in construction of around £1,000 a week. It’s these benefits that young people need to be told.”
It seems that whilst news of the financial rewards of a job in construction may not be reaching younger people, they are hitting home with older women. Karen Proctor, director of Women in Manual Trades told the group about adults returning to work and former nurses who are taking up a career in construction. “They would rather high pay than low pay for heavy, dirty work,” she said.
Alan Stevenson, brand director of Wolseley’s Plumb Center which hosted the event, said: “It was a very good meeting of like-minded people whether politicians, those responsible for skills and training or those actually working in the industry. All agreed that there needs to be a greater push on encouraging women into the construction workforce both to meet the extensive building projects being planned and growing customer expectation. It is also vital to give trained women the opportunity to play a full and practical role in what is the UK’s biggest sector and one which contributes enormously to the economic life of the nation.”
Other actions that were discussed as a way to improve recruitment and retention of women in the construction industry included:
- More support, mentors and networking for girls in construction training to avoid isolation
- Gender specific training courses
- Hands on taster days for schoolchildren
- Reaching parents as influencers in their children’s career decisions
- Encouraging the Government to insist in equality of diversity in its procurement contracts
Over 100 women plumbers are due to attend the annual Women in Plumbing Group one-day conference sponsored by Wolseley. The event which takes place in central London on Wednesday, November 2 will provide a networking forum for female plumbers and the opportunity to discuss some of the issues raised in the round table debate.
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OCTOBER 2005
22nd Annual Lecture 2006
On Tuesday 7th February, the Royal College of Physicians will play host to the Worshipful Company of Plumbers 22nd Annual Lecture. The event is being held as a joint presentation with the Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering, to celebrate the Institute’s centenary year. The lecture entitled, ‘Plumbing – The Public Health Service’ is being given by Geoffrey JW Marsh MBE, FCGI, FRSH, IEng, FIPHE, RP.
The lecture will focus on the importance of maintaining an effective plumbing industry as one of the essential services protecting the public health. It will cover an appraisal of past times, the present situation and future prospects for the industry. The impact of rapidly advancing technology on standards of education and training will be assessed along with the emergence of a new era where environmental concerns are high on the global agenda.
The role of the IPHE as a licensed professional engineering institution of the Engineering Council UK will be reviewed together with the significant contribution made by the industry to public health. Along side the Institute’s centenary celebrations, the Register of Plumbers also reaches a significant milestone of 120 years of continuous operation. Inaugurated by the Worshipful Company of Plumbers in 1886, the register changed hands in 1970 to become the responsibility of the IPHE. The 22nd Annual Lecture is a celebration of times past, present and future and of the importance of plumbing to the public health.
Tickets are available at the cost of £55.00 for the Lecture followed by a reception and dinner or £10.00 for the lecture only. Doors open at 5.15pm. For further information or a booking form please visit www.plumberscompany.org or www.iphe.org.uk. Alternatively you can contact the Worshipful Company of Plumbers on 020 7796 2468.
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OCTOBER 2005