What men say when you ask if they truly think the built environment has a gender balance problem

By Ceri Moyers 2026-06-29T06:00:00

A series of male listening exercises revealed where men see the barriers to gender equality and the disconnect between men and women’s perceptions of the workplace, says Ceri Moyers

Only 15% of people employed in construction are women; that’s according to the latest research by BuildUK. I’d wager many people won’t read past that sentence. “Yeah, we know, another diversity article”, “women just don’t want to work in the industry”, “we’re doing our best to change it”, “our own organisation is way better than that” – any of these go through your mind? They’re all valid reactions – but don’t let that stop you engaging in the topic.

We feel like broken records thinking about it and talking about it too – especially as we’re typically always speaking to the same audience; people who broadly look and sound like us: women.

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