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Bunmi Atta is director of construction at Southern Housing
Women in construction: ‘I see a barrier as something that stops you, but I haven’t been stopped’
Last week saw International Women’s Day and Women in Construction Week. Bunmi Atta reflects on how things on a construction site have changed from 30 years ago
It’s always a very interesting question when I’m asked about barriers I’ve faced in my career. Until you’ve actually come up against them, you don’t know they are there.
I feel I’ve had a very successful career in housing construction. If there were barriers, what I could say is that I encountered challenges and dealt with them by crashing through them. Being a woman of colour in construction in itself is breaking the mould and breaking down barriers.
I see a barrier as something that stops you, but I haven’t been stopped.
Yes, there are barriers out there I’m sure, but my being present and visible diminishes the view that they can stop you. Obviously in some cases they are real and in some cases they are perceptions.
My focus was always to be the best at what I’m doing – the best construction director I can be.
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Of course, there are inconsequential issues you have to deal with, like going on a building site and people expecting there to be a man in front of them and instead it’s a woman. If you want to call those ‘barriers’ then fine, but I just see them as everyday challenges.
I’ve also been in situations where I’ve turned up at a meeting with a male colleague and the host assumes the male colleague was the senior of the two of us. It’s just my job, by being present I put them right.
“When people come here for meetings, they are absolutely astounded at the number of women I have in my team at a very senior level – all qualified, all very professional, all very technically skilled”
About 30 odd years ago, I was a project manager, pregnant with our first child and there were no women’s facilities on site. Because of my constant need for the loo, I found myself using the male facilities without batting an eye lid.
Fast forward 30 years and it’s very different. On all of the construction sites I visit, there are facilities for women and men. And that is progress.
One of the highlights of my career is running a successful construction directorate within a G15 housing association. We have a healthy number of women representing my team at Southern Housing at different levels, which I feel is a success story.
When people come here for meetings, they are absolutely astounded at the number of women I have in my team at a very senior level – all qualified, all very professional, all very technically skilled.
Last week was International Women’s Day and the theme was #EmbraceEquity. It was also Women in Construction Week. What does it mean to me? It’s about embracing inclusion.
I would ask you to consider this challenge: what are you and your organisation doing to support the progression of women?
There’s no point in driving for equity if you’re excluding people, and this will happen if you don’t have a fundamental strategy for inclusion in every area of the business.
Bunmi Atta, director of construction, Southern Housing
