06 March 2025
As we look ahead to International Women’s Day, D-Drill & Sawing MD Julie White caught up with five female members of her team to discuss the progress made in construction and what further barriers need to be broken down.
Julie is keen to see more women come into the industry and spoke to Sharon Salomon, Debbie Brown, Donna Bradshaw, Julia Bodorin and Karen Billingsley about their experiences.
She started by asking what her team liked about construction.
Debbie: It’s a pretty straight-talking industry. If you want a straight-forward answer, you get one.
Karen: People say what they mean, there’s no beating around the bush, and I like that.
Sharon: Construction does so much for society. Everything you see around you – from roads to homes to hospitals – has been created by construction. Women need to be part of the industry to be part of all that.
Julia: I am quite new to it, but I can see that there is more that needs to be done to highlight construction as a career for women.
Debbie: I think it’s about promoting the idea that women can succeed in the industry. The work that Julie and some others do is starting to be recognised and we have to keep talking about it to make sure women and girls know they can have a career in construction.
Karen: I used to be a teacher and was in charge of careers guidance. Back then, I noticed women were starting to go into traditionally male-dominated industries. We had one female student go into the car industry, which was unheard of before.
Getting more women into construction is happening and it will grow, it’s just about making it more well-known and accepted. I used to talk to my students about Julie working in the industry and we’d have discussions around it. I hope that encouraged them to try a different industry but I think it proves that we need role models.
Julie: It’s hard for people to understand exactly what jobs are out there, so maybe we do need to get into schools a bit more, and from an early age.
Sharon: Yeah, it’s about changing perceptions and changing stereotypes. From a young age, girls are still – in a lot of cases – given a role to play. So, it’s not an industry issue, as such, it’s society giving boys and girls their ‘roles’ from an early age so they take that into their career.
Julie: When I was at school, I went against some of those traditional subjects for girls and my mum went to see the headmistress and got me to do technical drawing, metalwork and woodwork! I was the first girl at the school to do it!
Donna: I’ve got two daughters and I haven’t pushed any stereotypes onto them but they still end up seeing their peers doing certain things, which makes them go in that direction.
Debbie: It really does depend on the personality. I’ve got a two-year-old granddaughter who had a football goal for Christmas so I think certain things are starting to change and we have to keep moving that way.
Sharon: People will go with what they know. Children, in most cases, will see what they have been brought up with and follow that. So, if their family is in construction, they might go down the same path. People, in general, might not be bold enough to go for something different so it’s up to all of us to make sure women and girls know what is out there and not see this as such a big leap.
Donna: If girls are told ‘no’, they can’t do something, most will follow that. Someone might go against the grain but not many. That is why I would say to my daughters that they can do whatever they want to do, whatever makes them happy.
Debbie: When I left school, it was straight into a factory because we needed the money. Younger people today have got many more choices and hopefully they start to see construction as a career for them.
Sharon: I think that’s right. Hopefully, more choice will show them the options available to them.
Julie: When I first started a company in the sector, I was going to agree a first big deal and I was mistaken for the secretary by the person I was doing the deal with. At the end of the meeting, in which I’d taken all of the notes, he asked if I could get the contract signed by the MD and I leant over and signed it!
It is different now and, in many ways, we have broken through the glass ceiling. So, I think if women want to succeed in this industry they can.
Sharon: I think there has to be an education piece for some men too because it’s not easy to step into a ‘man’s world’. Again, that might be generational.
Julia: I think that is right. Most men I have worked with in construction have very big hearts and would want to encourage women to be in the industry but in society not everyone thinks the same.
Julie: So, what would you do to change things?
Karen: It starts with awareness, showing them that they can do it. Many industries that were once male-dominated are now opening up to women. We just have to keep pushing and start early, at primary school level.
Debbie: Let’s remove the stigma so that if a young girl says she wants to be an engineer or in construction, people just accept that as not being different – it’s just the norm. I think the industry has improved a lot and it might be that society’s perception still lags behind.
Julia: It will come in time. Construction needs more workers and we need to attract more men and women. Like we have said, it’s as much about society as the industry but I think we will get there in time.
Julie: Yeah, there are already female CEOs in major construction firms. More and more are coming up. Women can bring a different perspective and skillset to the industry. It’s about showing that we are already here and making a difference.
Donna: It’s hard being a teenager, when you are making career choices. So, we need girls to see what’s possible and make them think that this is something for them by speaking up as much as possible.
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