Put Gender on the Tender in Australian Public Projects

Liyaning (Maggie) Tang (), Shaleeza Sohail, Emma Shorthouse, Larissa Sullivan and Matthew Williams
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Liyaning (Maggie) Tang: School of Architecture and Build Environment, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Shaleeza Sohail: School of Information and Physical Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Emma Shorthouse: School of Architecture and Build Environment, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Larissa Sullivan: Richard Crookes Construction, Broadmeadow, NSW 2064, Australia
Matthew Williams: School of Architecture and Build Environment, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia

World, 2022, vol. 3, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Australia’s construction industry throughout the last two decades has seen an increase in the number of women pursuing careers. The percentage it has increased by between 1998 and 2020 is a disappointing 0.2% despite the research, strategies, and initiatives the Australian Government has implemented during the interval. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and support the legislative notion of required gender percentages on tendering documents and how this change could increase the number of women in public projects. A systematic literature review of scholarly sources from the database Scopus was applied to develop a thematic analysis of women in the industry. The results found four themes: underrepresentation, barriers to career, education pathways, and opportunities for employment. These themes reinforced the need to introduce legislation such as gender requirements for public projects. Connections made were that gender legislation would increase the number of job opportunities, more jobs would encourage all levels of education to promote women in construction, more women in construction would improve their underrepresentation, and thus make women-centric problems in the workforce a more common issue and more likely to improve. The paper concludes that to see an increase in the number of women in Australia’s construction industry, the government must take enforceable legislative change. This change must start by creating legislation that requires organisations that want to tender with the government to have a minimum percentage of women in any proposed public works submission before it can be awarded.

Keywords: gender on the tender; Australia construction; women in construction; female participation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G15 G17 G18 L21 L22 L25 L26 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 R51 R52 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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