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HOW NAWIC BECAME A FORCE FOR CHANGE IN THE AUSTRALIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY An interview with Professor Paula Gerber Faculty of Law, Monash University & NAWIC Founder (Australia) and Life Member
While we still have some way to go to realise NAWIC’s mission of 25% female participation in the construction industry, there’s no denying the sector has evolved in many positive ways over the past 25 years. Barriers have been removed, culture has improved, misconceptions about gender-specific roles have decreased and resources have been created. As a result, a growing number of women are pursing construction careers. The opportunities available today would not be possible without the trailblazers who have inspired, driven change and propelled the industry forward. In celebration of our 25th Anniversary, we pay tribute to the remarkable Professor Paula Gerber; founder of the Australian NAWIC affiliate. We asked Professor Gerber to take a look back and reflect upon her career, her early memories of the construction industry and her reasons for establishing NAWIC in Australia. What inspired you to pursue a career in construction law? Like many others, I found myself in the construction industry by chance. After completing my law degree at QUT, I was offered a job with the international law firm Baker McKenzie in Canada. I waited in London for my immigration papers to be approved, but the Canadians decided they already had enough lawyers, and so wouldn’t give me a work permit. Baker McKenzie in London came to the rescue. They offered me a role with a partner establishing a construction law practice, and encouraged me to enrol in the brand new Master of Science (Construction Law) King’s College was offering. I am proud to say that I graduated top of my class. I had always wanted to work in the US after spending time 20
THE NAWIC JOURNAL
being a camp counsellor at a Californian summer camp. As luck would have it, I won a ‘green card’ in the lottery which the Americans run as part of their immigration program. This enabled me to live and work in the US full time. After passing the California bar exam, I was hired by a boutique construction law firm in Los Angeles, Hunt Ortmann, as their first-ever female attorney. After working for five years as a solicitor in London and five years as an attorney in California, I was head hunted by Mallesons (now King & Wood Mallesons) to join their construction law practice, and decided it was time to return to Australia. I went on to become a partner at Maddocks, before moving from private practice into academia in 2000. I completed a PhD in children’s rights and am now in the fairly unique position of specialising in both international human rights law and construction law. What are your memories of the industry when you commenced your career? When I was working in London in the late 1980s, I was sent by my firm to a building site in the Canary Wharf development, to interview a witness as part of a construction law dispute. The man at the security gate asked me if I was the stripper! It turns out the lads had booked a stripper as part of the send-off for a co-worker who was leaving the job that day to return to Canada. He was shocked when I said I was a solicitor, not a stripper! I don’t think the same mistake would be made today! In my first six years in the industry, I didn’t have one female client and I was often the only woman on the sites I visited. I was often mistaken for a secretary and constantly made to feel like I had to prove myself. On most sites, there were girly pictures on the walls, no female toilet facilities and the men were either very rude or overly protective. I was often spoken down to, including by one lawyer on the other side of a case about concrete. He decided he needed to educate me about the process of mixing cement by likening it to making a cake; something he assumed I should understand, being a woman. It was difficult to know when to call out bad behaviour, because it was the norm. Nevertheless, I loved working in the industry, the people I worked with, the concrete nature of construction and I thoroughly enjoyed going to site. Why did you see the need to establish NAWIC in Australia? I joined the NAWIC Santa Monica chapter during my time working in California, and immediately felt welcomed, supported and
