Nick Boles, the skills and equalities minister, has appointed five women and three men as trustees of the Construction Industry Training Board, making it the first non-departmental public body to have a female-majority board.
Everyone on the board is new apart from the chair, James Wates, who hailed the appointment of a smaller, industry-led board. Only one woman sat on the previous 16-member board.
Boles said he hoped that this “encourages more women to consider a career in construction”.
The new trustees include Maureen Douglas, HR director at Forster Group; Karen Jones, HR director at Redrow; Maria Pilfold, HR consultant and a former director of Taylor Wimpey; Diana Garnham, chief executive of the Science Council; and Frances Wadsworth, the head of Croydon college.
The surge in housebuilding has led to severe shortages of skilled workers and soaring rates of pay, with the shortage of bricklayers at a record high.
Official figures show that the proportion of women working in construction has risen to 13.4% in 2014 from 11.7% in 1999. However only 1.3% of manual construction workers are female, little changed from 1.2% in 1999. The Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians has highlighted harassment and bullying of women in the industry.
