Supporting women in construction

Women currently make up around 14 per cent of construction industry professionals, but this number is only set to rise as misperceptions and stereotypes are broken, with more and more women choosing jobs in construction and engineering.

Josie Tildesley, a cable puller working for subcontractors Electric Distribution Centre (EDS) at Peddimore, is excelling in her career.

Josie enjoys her role and the benefits it brings. She lives close to the site and enjoys the short commute, but is looking forward to the potential future travel opportunities her work might bring. Josie explained how she began working as a hairdresser when she left school, but quickly realised it wasn’t for her.

She began her job building an understanding about EDS’ operations, and soon progressed to working on a construction site with her colleagues helping her to build a technical skillset.

Asked about what she would advice she would give to other women thinking about a career in construction, she said:

Do it! It’s the best thing I ever did, most days go so quickly and are such great fun. I meet different people on site all the time and my strength and technical skillsets grow each day, plus the salary is better than all my friends at 21!