by Becky Paroz, Queen B Project System

CH-CH-CHANGES

— a 30 year look back at the industry

by Becky Paroz

Director, Queen B Project System Pty Ltd & 2019 Lendlease Crystal Vision Award Winner (QLD)

In 1989 I was in my senior year of schooling. I wasn’t born into a great family life, so I worked during the school holidays to pay for my attendance. I worked on farms pruning vegetation and I worked construction jobs on the weekends when I could be snuck onto the site and no questions would be asked. It wasn’t the done thing back then, females onsite. There were no toilet facilities, no interest and hardly a thought given to it as a possibility. I’d get onsite and help clean up and install concrete joints and reo chairs to get ready for the next day’s early pour. I’d hold heavy things up in place while someone else used the tools and I’d put down drainage socks. I also annoyed the hell out of my local architecture firm enough that they gave me some drafting work once or twice a week. When I was accepted into the University of Southern Queensland’s School of Engineering, I realised I already had exposure to the industry. I was a cadet draftsperson (paid the glorious sum of $3.33 an hour, no penalties, no minimum payment, calculated by the boss to the minute on my timesheet) working in the local council for 75% of the actual wage because I was under 21. I was constantly told I don’t belong, I shouldn’t be there and if I planned to stay, I’d better learn to fit in with the boys. The calendars and the magazines were there, and they weren’t going anywhere. Honestly, it hadn’t even occurred to me to complain about them. I was there to learn, to become an engineer and a leader beyond that, not to worry about the décor. I fell in love with the construction side of the industry. I moved away from design and discovered a talent for QA/QC, processes, technical writing and systemisation, as well as training and mentoring. I learned about electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, rail, buildings, infrastructure and fire services and how to communicate with a wide range of trades as a result of my unorthodox career. I have been put in charge of graduate programs and I have been in front of so many audiences talking about systems and training in WHSQA&E that I cannot recall them all. I have also been part of the management teams of some of Queensland’s most significant landmark projects. The changes over the past 30 years have been remarkable. Every year I see more women embracing trades, engineering, estimating, mining, machine operation and becoming sisters in steel caps. I see groups like NAWIC start-up and flourish by supporting women in the industry with their goals. I see wages become fairer through the determination of the women who champion this industry. I see men embrace the benefits that come with women being a part of the workforce and I see women thriving under the dynamic and challenging conditions that come with being a part of the industry. I was told by my professor of engineering when I started, along with the eight other women out of the nearly 650 students undertaking engineering, that I was a forerunner, a beacon, a signal to the industry that we women were coming and we were going to stay. He didn’t quite say it that way and I didn’t quite understand what he meant then. As I reflect 30 years later over the course the industry has taken, and how far we as women have come to be represented as part of the workforce, I see what he meant. It has kept me going, kept me acting on behalf of, speaking out for, and training and mentoring the many young women I have had the pleasure to work with over the years. I never gave up, I kept applying for the jobs I wanted, kept being in the face of the industry, doing whatever it took, whatever role came up, that allowed me to stay. Now, with the advocacy of NAWIC and many individuals, there are many more voices added to the chorus. I encourage you all to design the career you want, carve your name in the concrete and become the forerunners for the next 30 years of change.