Case Studies

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Whilst we understand that every bodies experience is unique there are a number of similar stories that we hear time and time again. The stories are usually only shared under a confidence and women repeatedly tell us they would be wary of talking about these experiences within their own companies for fear of the repercussions. Please take a moment to read the following testimonials, which are taken from a sample of women working in medium to top 10 Main Contractors can you be sure this isn’t happening in your organisation?

Discrimination.

"I have been subject to quite a bit of discrimination in my role as a BS, I suffered a miscarriage and whilst I was away from the office, the company passed all my work to a younger less qualified male surveyor. This work was never again passed back to myself. Shortly after they disciplined me for using the office facilities (out-of-work hours) to undertake my coursework. 2009

I was then told that I should not continue in Surveying because I'm a woman." 2009

"Even though I was the third most qualified and experienced engineer in my team of five, I was always left with the admin duties. I made it clear I wanted to have my own section of works and not be confined to the site hut, but it was not until I decided to leave the company that my manager admitted he'd been afraid of giving me a section. He didn't know how I'd react to site conditions and managing male subcontractors. I found this ridiculous - I'd actually done the exact thing in a job two years previously." 2007

Victimisation

"I was with a well known powerful company for over 2 years. I finally got tired of listening to one fellow continually talk crude about women in the break area. When I told my supervisor, he wanted to handle it in a way that would not affect me. He did not want anyone to know it was me who complained. The outcome of this was this fellow lost his job. It was handled by the HR Department by an investigator who made the decision to fire this man. On jobs after that, indeed in different states, his best friend would spread to everyone we worked with that I was a threat to all of them. It excluded me somehow and affected me mentally. The first time the friend did this, I filed a greivance but later withdrew it. The second time he did this, I left the job. The BA in that state was a "temporary" BA and as it turned out, an employee for this company himself. He discouraged me entirely from filing a greivance.The woman who initially did the investigation no longer worked in the HR Dept for this company. And thereafter I was in contact with a man at the HR department of this company. I always thought it strange that I only had this man's cell phone number and never his office number. Needless to say, I am never called out to work for that company again. This company is very powerful across the country and internationally. I think my union did not stand behind me in this matter. And I think a lot of "trade offs" were made at my expense. I will never go to a BA about any problems again." 2009

Harassment

A colleague is always making crude references towards me, which I feel over step the mark. My boss gives me no support and I feel like this is all a test to him to see if I can “hack it” in the industry. The true is I can t hack daily harassment on top of my job and I don’t think he could either. 2009

"An Engineer would always write in his site diary which days the Secretary was wearing tights. I only found out while looking over some cube results. Though the information wasn't about me, I dreaded working with him from then on." 2007

"A Site Manager used to tell me at least once a week that he wanted to F#*! me. Everyone just passed it off as banter, and if I complained people would moan that 'you used to be able to have a craic on site' or 'women are too sensitive'. He would also tell stories of a graphic and highly offensive nature (including one where a girl was raped), which were laughed off and treated as funny. Many of the other lads did say afterwards that they, too, were repulsed. However, they didn't want to say so in front of the group." 2008

Bullying

"I once had a site manager who told a colleague that he'd 'crack me' and set about doing just that. In the end, after I'd complained, I was moved to another site. What's most annoying is that I felt he got what he wanted. Essentially, by moving me, the company condoned his behaviour." 2008

Stereotyping

I get told off for being too sociable, but then when I act more like the men and show my assertive side I get reprimanded for being too aggressive. I don’t feel I can win, and I certainly don’t feel like my softer skills are valued in the work place. 2009

"I'm always getting stereotyped. One of the strangest examples was when a subcontractor told me at the beginning of a job that we'd never fall out because I was too nice. I tried to point out this wasn't always the case, but later on in the project, when I told him his work would have to be redone, he stormed off to my manager and refused to speak to me." 2008

Exclusion

"I once worked on a site where the men seemed to have some sort of boys club. They would invite me to a team weekend away but then announce that it would be spent almost entirely in strip clubs. When I asked if this was true they said of course and if I didn't like it I could stay behind with the Secretary. Aside from the obvious feelings of exclusion, the fact that they clearly bonded and had more trust in each other after the trip definitely affected my work." 2008

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