Ambassadors 

Managing Director of Melbourne residential building company Fasham, Melanie is also President of Master Builders Victoria, the first woman to ever hold that position.

As a business and industry leader, Melanie wants to give more women the opportunity to choose a career in building and construction where she sees benefits for women who want to lead and achieve and for the employers who gain from new and different skills and attitudes in their businesses.

Melanie wants to see young women informed about the range of jobs they can find in the industry and encouragement to explore making that career choice.

Taking on the day to day management of Fasham, a family company established by her father more than 40 years ago, Melanie is one of an inspiring number of pioneering women relishing roles that would have traditionally been taken on my a male member of the family.

While her career choice has had its challenges,  Melanie says she's had huge support and wants other women to also have the information and support to choose a career in building and construction.

When reflecting upon her education choices as a young student, Melanie notes that pursuing a career in building and construction was never discussed at school, nor was it really even clear what options were available had she been interested. With the benefit of hindsight, she says it would have been great to have had a better understanding of the jobs available in the industry and the pathways to get there.

As a business leader, Melanie also knows the benefits that follow getting more women on board. As she says, "Women learn and think differently and bringing those different skills and approaches into the industry will only boost business success."

Meadcon is a Tasmanian commercial and residential builder that employs more than 50 people.

Meadcon has a strong focus on training and employing apprentices, including young women, and says completing an apprenticeship in a building trade is one the best pathways to gaining full time employment.

A big supporter of women apprentices, Vonette says women need more information about the many occupations they can choose from in the industry because many are not aware of the fantastic opportunities to apply their talent and passion.

Vonette feels that the current low numbers of women in the construction industry in Tasmania can be addressed by providing better information on what a career in the industry offers.

Mead Con also participates in a pro-gram that helps high school students become “work ready” by teaching them about how to write resumes and improving other core competencies and skills, including effective interview techniques. The company’s program is not limited to finding work in the construction industry but is designed to assist all students at local schools.

“Young People need to identify what they are interested in,” she said, referencing that many high school students, particularly women, are not aware of how they could apply their passions and talents to the construction sector.

>Additionally, she said that more females on work sites would create a new culture that changes the mindset of male workers – particularly older ones – toward women in construction. Such a cultural shift would make it easier for more women to enter the industry.

Vonette lists the opportunities to be creative, to be hands on, physically active and to work in the outdoors as the best things about working in construction. Despite the current low numbers of women in the industry, Vonette believes the future is bright for women in construction.

>She said, “there are many opportunities for capable and motivated female apprentices. Pathways beyond apprenticeships are diverse – they can go any-where – it’s an exciting career.”

21-year-old Tameka Kenny is a fourth year painting apprentice working in Western Australia. In 2016 she received the WA Female Apprentice of the Year award.

Tameka originally wanted to join the Australian Army but deferred her application to pursue a trade. She was choosing between becoming an electrician or a painter when she was offered a painting job first. Since then, she has done both commercial and residential work and has a passion for the more decorative side of commercial painting. In her current role she does a lot of high-end painting and skyscrapers. She said, “I have not really looked back. I love it.”

Tameka has big ambitions for her career. She plans to do an interior design course and once she finishes her apprenticeship, she would like to start her own business. She has already laid the groundwork by completing a Certificate III and a Certificate IV in Business while at high school.

Asked to say what the benefits of a career in construction, Tameka gives an honest answer. She says, “it definitely is rewarding; I would not say that it is as easy as people think - there is a lot of hard work involved in it. If you just wanted to kick back and think it’s going to be a cruise, then yeah it is definitely not for you.”

The best bit about the job she said, is the opportunity to make good friends.

Her experience with men in the construction industry has been positive and Tameka attributes this to her straightforward way of dealing with people.

Penny Petridis is the founder of Female Tradie, a Sydney-based construction services firm. As the name implies, Female Tradie has an all-women workforce, something which allows the company to focus on traditional female strengths such as attention to detail and better cleanliness on site.

Penny is passionate about the building industry, her building business and training women so they can follow in her footsteps. She has focussed her business on the home renovation and maintenance markets where the different perspective and skills women bring to the industry produce outstanding results for her clients.

Penny wants women to have confidence in their ability to do jobs in building and construction well and to excel. She wants better information for women, so they know the huge range of job roles to choose from. As Penny says, they do not all involve manual labour.

Grace Ferreira is the President of the Australian Capital Territory branch of Master Builders Australia. She is the first female president of the organisation. She is also cofounder of Canberra-based Pacific Formwork a specialised construction firm that works across the eastern seaboard.

Grace has always enjoyed working on site, and loves the sense of achievement that comes with completing a project. She said, “In construction, you can leave some sort of a legacy behind for your kids and grandkids.” However, Grace did admit that when she first started, there were difficulties being a woman in the industry.

In particular, she believed that younger men found it hard to accept her because in her words, they had “something to prove.”.

Grace was keen to stress that acceptance of women in the workplace is not limited to the construction industry; and that it is important for parents to educate their boys to treat women with respect in all facets of life.

Despite the current low numbers of women in the industry, Grace is of the view construction is a great sector for women. The flexibility of the industry, a product of project driven work, for instance, is a good fit for working mothers.

She said, “Even if a woman pauses her career to have kids, it is possible to come back to the industry when you are ready.” She also notes that the heavy focus on design and creativity is something that would benefit from greater female involvement.

To get more women into construction Grace believes improving career education at school will have the most significant impact. In particular, she said it was important to explain all the different career paths available to young people to join the industry, whether it be through university, TAFE or an apprenticeship. Also, it is important to explain the incredible array of jobs that can be pursued.

Complementing this approach, Grace believes it is important also to make parents aware of these options so that they can support their children’s decisions.