WOMEN IN PROPERTY
THE REALITY OF WOMEN IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. MICHELLE LOWE Investor, Developer & Quantity Surveyor Redshell Consulting www.redshell.org
Michelle Lowe, Qandor member and founder of Redshell Consulting, tells it how it is for women working in construction Women in the construction industry. Another hot topic. Another buzz word and another movement. Justified? Well, yes, of course, but does this movement really help? Does it really solve anything or just continue the notion that there is actually a divide? Being a girl in a man’s world is all I’ve known. Leaving school and diving straight into technical college at 17 to study construction during the 1990’s, it wasn’t going to be any other way, was it? The thought of being the only girl on the course or even in the college didn’t cross my mind as 078 – Qandor – Issue No. 2
a concern, it was merely fact. Construction is what I wanted to do and that was just an inherent part of it. Surely the drive and the passion of doing what you want should overrule the environment or any obstacles that you may face. Maybe that’s the attitude that the world is missing right now: too much entitlement, too many offended and not enough driven by pure passion, intent and focus. In my 25 years in the industry I am proud to say I have never played the girl card. I’ve never used my womanly charm or flirted my way through (would you believe this advice is still being dished out to me now?!). I’ve never told the stories, made the complaints, bleated about the troubles and, of course, made an issue of the boundaries