On Wednesday 12 January, the first round table on the subject of the place of women in construction took place. Following a strong request, we decided to provide you with an article that covers the essence of this webinar.
As a reminder, this event was co-organized with the association “Les SouTerreines” and brought together 6 talented speakers who work in the sector:
- Natacha Humel - My Ben
- Valerie Dore Roqueta - Vinci Construction
- Marion Malandain - Optimiz Construction
- Julia Petit Tortorici - BTP Magazine
- Myriam Fontaine-Boullé - Les Souterrines
- Loubna Bounouré - Transamo
And to animate this exchange, Richard Mitha, the director of Synaxe, organizer of the event.
Once again a big thank you to them.
Wishing you a good read!
For those who would like to see the replay:
The numbers
According to the Union des Caisse de France BTP (UCF-CIBTP): The share of female employees in construction trades rose from 8.7% in 2001 to 11.9% in 2018.
According to the French Building Federation (FFB): 45.3% of them are employees and technicians, 20.3% are managers, but only 1.6% work on construction sites.
According to the FFB: 24% of VSEs/SMEs are headed by women in the construction sector.
In the craft sector, there are 800,000, according to the network of chambers of trades and crafts (CMA).
The Confederation of Crafts and Small Building Enterprises (Capeb) has 13% of employees and 16,000 female managers in 2022.
In public works, they were only 11.6% in 2021. 20% of women managers and 25.8% of women, employees, technicians and control agents in 2021.
There is + 1% feminization in the sector in 10 years, and + 8.6% in 2000 to + 12.3% in 2020 of women in construction.
The causes
It was important to focus on the causes of these slight changes.
Today, the sector is full of prejudices: arduousness, the ambient machismo, the way others see a job that is not very rewarding at first glance, working hours that are not always reconcilable with family, frequent business trips that are also difficult to reconcile with private life, the absence of clear indications in courses of study...
Lack of national education initiative
They all said that national education plays a major role. Indeed, it is a sector that is too little highlighted and devalued due to its specificity, which is more technical than general. The look at the sector is therefore not rewarding, putting aside these jobs that are necessary for life today. In addition, the school does not provide enough education on the subject of discrimination, so it does not prepare women to live and deal with these situations.
French problem?
According to their experiences, they mention a problem that is certainly linked to the place of women in our French society. Indeed, they all noticed that in Asia or northern Europe, the place of women in the sector is much more developed than in France.
The vision of the company
Job descriptions are designed by men, for men. The scoring criteria are then more masculine, affecting the evolution of women. Despite very good school results and a non-minority class, Loubna faced the harsh reality once on the construction sites: no women in the works! 12 years ago, Natacha tells us that no woman was present on a construction site, today we find some of them. We also note that if the corporate culture goes against it, this is a real obstacle to the development of women. Occupations considered to be more like men's jobs, where power relationships are daily, and where women will tend to “get eaten”. It is therefore necessary to prove yourself to be respected and to assert your character, more than a man. The codes are now set to evolve with a new generation of entrepreneurs and women who are making things happen.
Bias in communication practices
The photos and images used are often of men at work; Linkedin posts (the construction industry's favorite network) rarely highlight women in the exercise of their profession or do too much. This muddles the message and tires the readers out. Job offers lead to interviews that are often intimidating, with HR or operational men who are very settled in their positions and sometimes gruff.
Bias in post-recruitment integration
In the field, male managers prefer to talk to men to give explanations; women who succeed in supervisory positions are not always well accepted by old-school operational teams, which are reluctant to obey a woman; inappropriate and macho jokes are still present when women have to exercise their skills.
The solutions
Rixain law
To accelerate professional equality, The Rixain law, adopted on December 24, 2021, aims to establish a threshold for feminization in companies. For this, it will impose for companies with more than 1,000 employees, the presence of 30% of women in positions of responsibility by 2026, and 40% as of March 2029.
35% of businesses have fewer than two women in the top ten earners.
Two months earlier, the agreement on gender equality had come into force, to ensure equal pay and balanced representation in senior positions of all architecture firms and their representative bodies.
In addition, since March 2020, all French companies with at least 50 employees must publish the overall score of the gender equality index each year. In 2022, out of all of these companies, “98% still need to make efforts to advance equality between women and men”, notes the Ministry of Labor. 35% of companies have fewer than two women in the top ten earners.
formations
Finally, vocational training is becoming more and more feminized. Courses exclusively composed of women in several training centers in France have emerged. These courses support them in learning the profession of VRD mason, for example, in order to then get a job in public works companies. This is the case of the Généa Formation training center in Montoir-de-Bretagne (Loire-Atlantique), which allowed seven women last June to begin a one-year work-study program within the Charier group. The CCCA-BTP encourages the feminization of the building and public works professions, through the “Plurielles” operation. Women at the heart of construction”
Each of the speakers also shared what they were implementing themselves as women in the sector.
Objective 100% of the Underground
Over the 22-23 school year, the association will allow 3rd year students to do their one-week internship in the construction industry. This is thanks to a network of members and to the association that is committed to providing PPE.
Interview
Natacha sets up interviews with women on the construction site in order to learn and share about their jobs.
Listening
Women don't necessarily feel like they belong. Women must be encouraged to come forward and talk about their situations at work. In particular by multiplying events like this.
Inform
From an early age: allow students to learn about the sector as soon as they start high school and at the end of middle school.
There is a need to better reorient women who want to reinvent themselves and retrain in the construction industry because the opportunities are there: a large panel of different jobs, including many positions in management, digital technology and the environment are recruitment levers for those with digital skills and the desire to contribute to a better world.
Quotas
A subject that is often debated, some of our speakers who were against it, have now changed their minds. Benefiting from a law that offers opportunities to women is a real opportunity that must be seized. Women in construction deserve their seats!
Once again, a big thank you to the team and to the speakers who were able to intervene in large numbers during the round table.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us: marketing@synaxe.com
If you want to contact Richad directly, to discuss how to modernize your industry, click here: rmitha@synaxe.com
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