BSRIA is celebrating International Women's Day on 8 March, 2016, as its chief executive asks if the industry is doing enough to promote female engineers

The remit of  International Women's Day is for women to continue to contribute to social, economic, cultural and political achievement – on a worldwide scale. 

The organisation calls for both men and women to take a concrete step; to help women and girls achieve their ambitions, call for gender-balanced leadership, respect and value difference, develop more inclusive and flexible cultures or root out workplace bias.

Julia Evans, BSRIA chief executive, said: "Each of us can be a leader within our own spheres of influence and commit to take pragmatic action to accelerate gender parity. BSRIA is working with the local schools and colleges to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects – not only at an early age – but to women – who have historically not always chosen this academic avenue."

Current statistics suggest women make up approximately 12% of the construction industry, compared to an average 47% in other industries, and 52% of Britain's population.

BSRIA believes that government leadership is crucial in helping women to get an equal footing in the construction industry. Ms Evans said: "Positive discrimination for women to join the board of companies in industry is called for. And there are plenty of different roles for women working in the built environment these days – with changing project teams and additional opportunities.”