Woman's work

At least that's the experience of London social housing contractor Durkan, who leads the pack in getting women into construction.

Durkan employs seven tradeswomen in a direct labour force of around 50. It helped two further tradeswomen become self-employed. It also makes its subcontractors take women trainees, so at any one time there are likely to be 10 women trainees around London. Durkan pushes subcontractors to give them jobs, too. This happened twice.

So the female headcount on Durkan sites is way above the industry average. And it's no big deal. Typically laid-back is John Mansfield, a Durkan site agent on a new-build social housing job in Lambeth Walk. He points out that site culture is changing anyway.

"There used to be porn but you don't see that anymore," he says. The 2003 calendar in his office is scenic.

If you’re a woman it’s hard to get an even chance. You have to be better

Siobhan Lennon

The durkan difference
How did Durkan achieve this? Paul McCrea, community liaison officer, was responsible for upping the number of tradeswomen. When he was first charged with the task two years ago, he found some subcontractors nervous about women because they didn't know how the men would behave. But Durkan stood its ground, changing its order forms to make it clear that specialists would be expected to take on trainees and, furthermore, that some of them would be women.

Durkan sources women trainees from an organization called Building Works for Women (BWW), set up to get jobs for women with an NVQ2 or higher. BWW finds 13-week placements for its candidates, called 'improvers'. Caroline Tomiczek, BWW project manager, approves of Durkan's approach: "The more a contractor enforces things with the subcontractors, the better the support for women and the better the learning for the subcontractor."

Having women on the tools doesn't revolutionize the industry, but there are unmistakable benefits. On Durkan sites the standard of discourse has crept up a notch or two. Women can swear as much as men of course but site agents notice a difference.

"The men watch their Ps and Qs a lot more," says Martin Walsh, site agent on a refurbishment in Rotherhithe. He thinks that's great. "When you have occupied properties you don't want swearing and shouting."

There used to be porn on site. You don’t see that anymore

John Mansfield

Women trainees have encouraged a more supportive atmosphere as well. In some trades women can't do everything, but the men don't seem resentful. On the Rotherhithe job, for example, fire doors are too heavy for female joiners to hang without help. Carpenter foreman Daniel Gilbert, who insists it makes no difference to him if the chippies are men or women, admits that female trainees did struggle with a job that required a lot of overhead drilling. But he's quick to add: "Obviously it's more difficult if you're not used to it. It would be the same with any apprentice."

Another benefit is the simple, pleasant frisson that comes from the mixing of the sexes. For the first time in his career industry veteran Peter Mannion took two trainees under his wing recently. He was surprised by their willingness and enjoyed the experience. "I had good fun with them. I used to call them my angels." He shyly admits that the trainees surprised him with thank you presents when they left.

Site suffragettes
Soft benefits aside, for Durkan, employing women brings basic competitive advantage. For one thing, it wins brownie points with social housing and public sector clients, says Durkan business development director Julian Harajda.

More profoundly, it makes for a better customer interface. "Most of our business is residential refurbishment with the residents still in their homes," says Harajda. "They seem to be far more comfortable with women in there."

I had good fun with them. I used to call them my angels

John Mannion

Durkan tradeswomen are not extraordinary pioneers for their sex. Talk to them and any mystique vanishes. For instance, they got into construction for the same reasons men do.

Take painters Siobhan Lennon and Jacinta Scully. Lennon has family in the building trade and studied painting and decorating at college. Scully got bored with her job in a hospital and wanted to do something with a bit more variety.

The main problem for them was just getting a job. "If you are a fella, it's a lot easier to walk on site, say you are a carpenter and they'll give you a chance," says Lennon, who's working with Scully on the refurbishment of the World's End Estate in Chelsea. "If you're a woman it's hard to get an even chance. You have to be better."

Male Chauvinist pigs?
Scully's pre-Durkan experience shows how tough it is for women to get a foot in the door. She got a job only after badgering the foreman. After a few weeks he told her to go. Was her work below standard, then? "Some of the lads don't feel comfortable with you here," he said.

The men watch their Ps and Qs a lot more but that’s not a bad thing

Martin Walsh

They haven't encountered this on Durkan sites. Lennon says trouble can be caused by either sex: "A lot of women expect a red carpet. If you're good at the job, you get on with people and if you aren't , you have problems."

Scully says it's a culture thing. "I used to work on a site where the lads looked at pictures of naked women. They were very immature and you couldn't have a conversation with them. Here the lads don't do that. They're like mates."

Durkan has had to make some effort, though. Of course there are sexist people on Durkan sites. And they are dealt with firmly. McCrea recently threw a painter off the Southwark site after an ongoing stream of sexual comments to one of Durkan's female painters.

"If it's one of our directly employed then we go through our grievance procedure but if it's a subcontractor we can exercise our right to send them off site," says McCrea. "It's then up to the subcontractor what they do about it."