Construction reflects society’s values, aspirations and culture. Therefore, as we transition towards a circular and digital construction sector, adopting a culture that embodies both sustainability and inclusivity is crucial. Sustainability is about our harmonious relationship with nature, and inclusivity speaks to human relations and women’s role in this transformation.
Today, we convened seven members of the team behind Reincarnate in a roundtable discussion, focusing on the role of women in shaping a circular and digitally-driven construction future, timed perfectly with International Mother Earth Day (22nd of April) and International Girls in ICT Day (25th of April).
🗣Get to know our roundtable insights!
Let’s start the roundtable by asking if you think female representation matters in the digitisation of the circular construction industry and why.
Magda Wotjas, as a sustainable development manager at PLGBC and from your experience working with over 200 companies and organisations to implement sustainable building principles, we would like to hear your thoughts.
Yes, it matters, due to their creativity, multi-level thinking, and ability to form multi-generational teams based on trust and respect.
I see that your colleague Dominika Lisicka, a Sustainable Marketing Specialist, also agrees. By the way, we know that you are fascinated by environmental and psychological science!
Yes. Well, I think that women have a lot of caring and empathy, which is also essential in this industry.
It is interesting to see so many women working at PLGBC and in Poland, where men dominate the construction sector. Alicja Heller, you are a Sustainability Specialist at PLGBC, tell us more about your country and the industry?
The construction sector accounts for 7-8% of Poland’s GDP. There currently need to be more than 200,000 skilled workers in the construction market. Digitising the construction industry would encourage young people and women to plan their career paths in this sector. Supporting and promoting investment in smart specialisations would directly impact the implementation of national strategies to decarbonise the construction industry.
Benjamí Moreno, as a Research Assistant at the Technical University of Berlin, what can you tell us about resources and gender?
In my opinion, the digitalisation of Circular Construction is, besides a technical effort where gender is not relevant, a trend that needs dissemination to gather enough resources. If the channels where women and men share and gather information were sensibly different, female participation would enlarge the potential of disseminating digitalisation in this sector.
Ghezal Ahmad Zia, you are also involved in academia as a PostDoc and Researcher at Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, what are your thoughts on the question?
From my experience, female representation is indeed vital in the digitisation of the circular construction industry. Women contribute diverse perspectives that are essential for fostering creativity – as Magda mentioned – and driving innovation in sustainable practices, which are foundational to circular principles in construction.
How do you approach this question Anne-Marie van Prooijen, as an Assistant Professor at Erasmus University of Rotterdam?
To me, female representation matters. Aside from fairness arguments, there are also clear instrumental reasons for including more women in the industry.
With a largely homogeneous workforce, there is a higher risk that challenges in the digitisation process are approached from a limited range of perspectives. Having a more diverse and inclusive workforce allows a company to benefit from the wide variety of insights, experiences, and skills these employees bring. This can result in a more critical reflection of (sometimes outdated) practices, which promotes a company’s stronger innovativeness.
The lack of female representation often stems from implicit gender biases. Considering the enhanced performance outcomes that a diverse workforce can bring and the current labour shortages, companies can no longer ignore such biases and miss out on talented female candidates.
Alicja Brachaczek-Jokel, as a Sustainable Construction and Engineering Design Specialist at CEMEX, you can develop further on this question and companies.
I would start with the idea that it shouldn’t be a question of women’s matters. Of course, we do matter as well as our male colleagues. There is enough space for all of us!
I am happy that I can take part in this project and be surrounded by brilliant people. We all differ in one way or another, which is why such projects succeed: we all bring value from our diversity!
It is true that the Reincarnate project has quite a diverse, multidisciplinary team, and we can learn from each other. But in this exemplary work of our project, what type of support do you think is needed to increase the participation of women working in the digitisation of a more circular construction industry?
Let’s start with you, Magda!
Well, organisational support based on knowledge and technology transversal, as well as mentoring and leadership support, supports operational, research, and development activities.
Alicja Heller, I see you want to add more!
First and foremost, there is a need to promote digital education and skills, retraining and re-skilling opportunities for those in the workforce, programmes to support the integration of the unemployed, policies to invest in access to education, effective policies to address skills gaps, development of green jobs, improvement of non-formal education, support for the introduction of innovative solutions in the construction industry.
Zia something more to comment on this?
I also think that to increase the participation of women in the digitisation of a more circular construction industry, concerted efforts are needed to provide accessible educational resources, create inclusive workplace cultures, and establish mentoring programs that empower women to thrive in technological and leadership roles within this evolving field.
Dominika, what about your perspective as a marketer?
Highlighting women’s presence in this industry demonstrates what’s achievable!
And what about your thoughts, Anne-Marie?
From my perspective, to attract more women to male-dominated industries, it is crucial to provide a safe and inclusive working environment where they can enjoy the same job benefits as men.
Several actions can be implemented. For example, develop transparent and unambiguous assessment criteria to create fairness in payment and promotion opportunities. Support employees with children, for example, by offering flexible working conditions and encouraging male parental leave. As my colleagues mentioned, provide training sessions to teams to increase awareness of implicit biases and how they can negatively affect decision-making procedures. Social norms on the work floor would need to change. Men have an important role to play, for example, by speaking up when other male colleagues make discriminatory or inappropriate comments.
Overall, a change in mindset is required. One in which differences related to—for example—gender, cultural backgrounds, or age are no longer seen as risks or weaknesses, but rather as valuable resources to stimulate creativity and growth.
Benjamí, you can follow up on the academic perspective and your own experience with female colleagues.
The drivers or triggers that increase women’s participation in this sector are probably the same as those that increase their participation in the technological sector.
From this point on, the opinion turns political implicitly because answering this is answering if women’s and men’s approaches to the technological field are different and if there is or is not an existing structural bias that prevents their full participation in the sector. From the POV of the women inside and outside the construction field, the answers would be more significant than my opinion.
And I come from an academic environment where women (important to remark: from all around the world) outnumber men and where their participation is similar to that of their male counterparts. This is only my experience in one faculty department, and it can probably not be extended further.
Also, in my experience in our Reincarnate initiative and in our General Assembly, women are as numerous as men and often occupy the lead role representing their respective organisations.
Alicja Brachaczek-Jokel, we would love to hear your thoughts before we conclude our roundtable discussion.
The construction industry is no longer exclusively for men, so don’t hesitate to bring your bright mind and skills to this field. Let’s bolster the confidence of those who doubt themselves and empower women on their career journeys. We need leaders who recognize skills over gender.
With these encouraging initiatives and words from our colleagues, we close the roundtable.
Thanks for taking part in our discussions. We are glad to have such fruitful contributions to our campaign.