Scaffolding Association welcomes week of events celebrating International Women’s Day and National Careers Week

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Press Release

Published: March 8, 2022

International Women’s Day (IWD) (March 8) celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.

The official theme for IWD 2022 is #BreakTheBias – which promotes the imagining of a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.

The construction sector has a significant gender imbalance with women making up just 14% of its workforce. This is due in part to misconceptions about gender specific roles.

Each year, International Women’s Day events are held worldwide. They include community gatherings, conferences, awards, exhibitions, festivals, fun runs, corporate events, concert performances, speaking events and online digital events. They are hosted by women’s networks, companies, charities, educational institutions, government bodies, political parties, community groups, the media, and more.

This year, IWD falls at the beginning of National Careers Week (NCW) which celebrates careers guidance and free resources in education across the UK. The aim is to provide a focus for careers guidance activity at an important stage in the academic calendar to help support young people leaving education.

Robert Candy, Chief Executive of the Scaffolding Association said; “Construction suffers from significant skills shortages and demonstrating the diverse range of opportunities that the industry provides is vital if it is to attract a new generation of workers”.

A report published by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) last year found that 37% of the construction workforce are over the age of 50 and estimated that 217,000 workers will need to be recruited into the industry over the next 5 years. 

Robert Candy added; “Overcoming the common misconception that construction is just for men is just as important as attracting young people to consider construction as a career. IWD is an important event. However, what it stands for needs to be recognised all year round and not just on one day”.

For more information on International Women’s Day visit: International Women’s Day 2022 (internationalwomensday.com)

For more information on National Careers Week visit: New NCW Homepage – National Careers Week