Women Thriving in Construction

How do we build movements that create lasting change within organizations and across industries?

In this episode of Women Thriving in Construction, host Gretchen Gagel welcomes UK leader Srabani Sen OBE to explore how to shift workplace cultures and expand access to leadership for people from historically marginalized groups.

Together, they discuss the challenges of movement building, what it takes to turn a shared purpose into action, and how these lessons connect to the International Institute for Women in Construction’s mission. Srabani also shares why inclusion is a business decision and how more inclusive organizations can strengthen performance and profitability.

Listen for insights on building a movement, advancing inclusive leadership, and creating meaningful change in construction and beyond.

Commercial real estate shapes how we build, maintain, and repurpose the physical assets that support our communities. But how much progress are women making in the industry—and where do barriers remain?

In this episode of Women Thriving in Construction, we welcome Alison Beddard, CEO of CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) Network, to explore how its 14,000 members are advancing women’s careers and building a global community of support alongside male allies.

Alison shares insights from CREW’s decades of benchmarking research, including its 2025 study examining workplace trends, gender equity, and leadership opportunities. We discuss women’s continued underrepresentation in the C-suite, shifting interest in executive roles, and why data is essential to understanding both progress and persistent challenges.

Join us for a conversation about the power of professional networks, the importance of measuring change, and what it takes to help more women thrive in commercial real estate and the broader built environment.

Explore the research: https://crewnetwork.org/resources/gender-diversity-research/benchmark-studies/workplace-data-and-trends-in-commercial-real-estate-2025

Having a child at 17 and the resulting bias she experienced was a defining moment in Clare Friel's life. I admire Clare not only for founding her construction PR and marketing firm, Friel, but also for channeling her passion for women in construction by creating Women in Construction Anglia. 

Clare's work connecting construction university students with industry leaders is groundbreaking, as is her program that trains university students to visit high schools to talk about our work. 

Key questions we discuss: How can the industry collaborate globally to learn about and scale programs like this? And how do we address certain elements of our industry to ensure women stay? 

"26% of applicants were women . . .  but we lose 49% of women before they turn the age of 34."

During my recent UK trip to meet with industry leaders I unearthed the Diversity Survey Benchmarking Report 2025. This report, produced for the Fairness Inclusion and Respect (FIR) Program and the Supply Chain Sustainability School, involves 466,000 employees in the UK built environment. Author Liv Banfield from Action Sustainability joined the Women Thriving in Construction Podcast to share many of the report's insights and the ongoing UK work to address many issues, including retention. 

We at IIWIC believe the work Cathryn Greville and the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) Australia are doing to shape the future of our industry is among the most significant worldwide. Thanks to a $5 million grant, NAWIC is developing and executing a multi-pronged male allyship program to help address the structural and systemic challenges in our industry. It is a big vision: a fair, inclusive, and respectful industry. They are "calling men in, not out," and it's working.

In Australia, women comprise 3.2% of the trades. The challenge is accentuated by the shocking dropout rate for apprenticeships after the first year: 72% of women and 61% of men. As Cathryn says, this is not an attraction program. 

We strongly recommend you take 30 minutes to listen to this podcast. It shares many implementable ideas for any company or project team, such as "stay interviews" and understanding who is in the room when decisions are made.

Small things, done consistently, by the majority of people will shape our industry's culture and sustainability.

Dr. E (Dr. Egheosa Igbinoba) joined the Women Thriving in Construction podcast to share information about the National Association of Black Women (NABWiC) in Construction, founded in 1991 by National Academy of Construction member Ann McNeill. Dr. E shares that Ann "ran from it" for 10 years but then realized creating a space for Black women in construction was critically important. Dr. E shares that many members belong to other organizations and are even encouraged to join industry-specific associations to drive business opportunities. However, a Black-centric community that provides support through local chapters is vital to their success.

Dr. E candidly shares the challenges Black women face in construction, including reduced access to capital and assumptions they are in the room BECAUSE they are Black. We are not seeing enough women of color thriving in construction. Listening to this podcast creates higher levels of empathy and informs our unconscious bias.

Interested in how the UK construction industry is tackling the talent challenge? I was, so off to London I went. The stories are similar to other countries: one-third of construction people over the age of 50 with an average retirement age of 55, high suicide rates, and low participation by women.

This podcast with Mark Harrison of CIOB and Sybil Taunton of RICS contains a wealth of information, including details about the MOU of nine professional global organizations in the UK called B.E. Inclusive. This collaborative efforts includes planning a campaign to define and encourage appropriate job site behavior, encouraging leadership development at all levels, and figuring out how to reach the 90% of construction industry workers employed by small businesses ("micros").

One phrase stood out: brave leadership decisions. Being an industry where all people thrive requires brave leadership decisions from all of us.

Few people are as focused upon transforming the leadership and culture of the construction industry as Barb Jackson. Barb joined the podcast to share her observations on an industry that she describes as "full of noble, hardworking, well intended people" but that is at times "visionless", focusing upon management instead of leadership. Barb's Women Building Change Leadership Program, and her new podcast, Stirring Up Dust, are two excellent resources for those interested in leading transformation in our industry.

So thrilled to share this global construction leadership report that highlights the thinking of 50 global construction leaders with a combined 1354 years of experience. Angela Hucker, CEO of Australia-based EPIC - Empowering People in Construction, joined IIWIC Founder Dr Gretchen Gagel and IIWIC Advisory Board member Doreen Bartoldus on the Women Thriving in Construction podcast to share key insights from the report, including that 86% of those interviewed "identified gender inequity and exclusion as persistent industry challenges." 

Angela's 30 year career included time as a FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) worker in a 2000 person remote camp with 100 women working 28 day rotations. She shares her passion for ensuring our industry values everyone and that no person should have to endure the challenges she and others face. Angela's advice for industry leaders is to engage with grass roots change agents, and that we must "all band together" to make this work. We need everyone to "be a good human"

Few industries exhibited as much agility during the pandemic as the hospitality industry. As a fifth-generation hospitality/construction leader, Sarah Treadway, President/CEO of Stout Street Hospitality, discusses how they kept every hotel open after dropping from 600 to 86 employees in March 2020 in an effort to take care of as many of their employees as possible. Sarah shares amazing insights on leadership and how her organization maintains a "family culture"; on her strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome as she balances her role as mom to four young children; and on how her company is investing in their greatest asset, their people, via strategies such as paying for the higher education of all dependents.