Galea, N; Loosemore, M; Powell, A and Chappell, L (2014) Gender equity in construction professions: A new institutionalist perspective. In: Raiden, A and Aboagye-Nimo, E (eds.) Proceedings of 30th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September 2014, Portsmouth, UK.
Abstract
The construction industry remains the most male dominated sector in Australia. Despite three decades of formal gender equity initiatives by government and business, there is little understanding of why there has been little change to the hierarchical and numerical underrepresentation of women. Using a New Institutionalist perspective, more specifically Lowndes and WilsonÕs (2003) concepts of robustness and revisability, the nature and intent of formal gender equity initiatives, policies and practices are analysed through a single case study of a multinational construction firm. Through in-depth interviews with senior management and a documentary analysis of formal equity and diversity policies it is concluded that the robustness and revisability of policies, initiatives and practices are critical to achieving lasting change in gender equity in the construction industry, as is a focus on men as well as women and gendered practices in policy design.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | gender; policy; equity; diversity; new institutionalism |
| Index terms: | Australia, construction firm, policy design, case study, interview, gender equity, documentary analysis, construction industry, women, profession |
| Subjects: | organization, policy studies, data collection methods, institututions, data science, Geography, sociology, social justice, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Governance, Ethics |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here