Women in Construction, Wood and Forestry: a Resource Toolkit for Gender Equality at Work

About the project

This project takes stock of the presence of women in the construction, wood and forestry industry and provides guidance on how to improve recruitment, retention and career progression of women.

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) project, from July 2023 till December 2023, 15,000€, with the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) as a research partner.

The ProBE team included: Coralie Guedes, Rosa Schiano-Phan, Maria Christina Georgiadou, Linda Clarke and Fernando Duran-Palma.

The overarching aim of this project, carried out on behalf of the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers, is to strengthen, reinforce and promote gender equality and women representation in the construction, wood and forestry industry, enhancing gender-based diversity in the context of severe labour shortages and climate change.

The project resulted in the publication of a report, which serves as a practical and sector specific manual for practitioners that includes tools and resources for increasing the participation of women in the construction, wood and forestry industry.

The making of the report involved a large-scale literature review on the transforming nature of the construction, wood and forestry industry and the collection of statistical data on the presence of women in the industry. Following a survey administered in 2020-21 by the project partner, the EFBWW, the report also identifies good practices and experiences related to gender matters in collective bargaining and collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in the industry, based on the analysis of the survey results. It concludes by identifying priorities for the EFBWW gender policies at EU level, with a particular focus on the European Sectoral Social Dialogue.

The report concludes that there is currently not much focus on supporting the recruitment, retention and career progression of women in the industry. It also highlights that there is a narrow understanding of what kind of solutions can be put in place, with many actors often focussing on improving rules on maternity and parental leave, without looking at the bigger picture. A much-needed broader approach would also include stakeholder engagement, establishing women’s networks, better data and a growth in female role models.

Contact

For further information, email Dr Coralie Guedes at [email protected]