IN a yard not far from the country’s busiest motorway, 25 women have begun building the future. A range of ages and backgrounds, they are united by their skill and talent – and determination to break into the male dominated worlds of engineering and construction.

And it is hoped that their participation in a unique women-only scheme will not only help close the gender gap in those professions, but lead to a fundamental shift in work and life for women in Scotland, changing not only the face of the building trades but also the town centres, offices and leisure facilities at the heart of our communities.

While 52% of the population is female, just 11% of engineering employees are.

This figure drops to just 2% in the construction trades.

The discrepancy feeds into the very fabric of our built environment, leading to facilities more suited to men than women. Building temperatures are often too low for women’s systems, there is an inconvenient lack of female toilets in many places and a lack of adequate lighting leaves many unwilling or uneasy about using enclosed car parks.

READ MORE: Scottish employers urged to stop 'ignoring' menopause in the workplace

As explained in Caroline Criado-Perez’s book Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, the problems apply across borders. But Equate Scotland, which is working to close the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and maths, believes its latest project can help transform work and life here.

In partnership with specialist training firm Constructionarium Scotland, the organisation has created a unique scheme to help women break down one of the biggest barriers women face to entering construction and engineering roles – a lack of hands-on experience.

Participants from Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling and Livingstone were amongst those entering the three-day course at the Blackridge, West Lothian, base of Sibbald Training.

The only project of its kind in the country, Women in Constructionarium Scotland also aims to address the sector's skills gaps. Talat Yaqoob, director of Equate Scotland, said: “It is clear that women have the ambition and interest in pursuing a career in construction or engineering, but we must do more to tackle the barriers they face.

READ MORE: Glasgow City council sends women equal pay offers of up to £100k

“Even the most basic things such as changing facilities for women on site or personal protective equipment like safety boots are often unavailable in women’s sizes. This may sound trivial, but if these things are not considered, it illustrates that women are not being considered.

“The need for these sector skills is increasing across Scotland; we simply will not meet demand whilst we continue to alienate half of the population. There are clear economic as well as important social benefits to push for gender equality in construction and engineering.”

Learners were recruited from a number of university and college courses. Aged 19-45, they put together functioning wind turbines under the guidance of Dale Lyon of Constructionarium Scotland.

The cohort is the second and largest to take part following the inaugural event last year. Lyon said: “The feedback from last year’s participants showed we had created something very relevant and worthwhile not just to them but to the wider industry as a whole.

READ MORE: Twice as many girls and women playing football in Scotland

“Several of the women who took part last year have been inspired by participating in 2018 and have kept in touch, crediting their involvement as being the driving force behind the career path they have now taken within construction.

“I continually find myself referring to the event as one of the most satisfying of the projects that I deliver as it truly makes a difference.”

Fife College student Amber Collins, 22, began her architectural technology course after discriminatory attitudes deterred her from completing an HNC in civil engineering. Now she may re-enter that route as a result of the on-site scheme. She said: “Attitudes in the sector really need to change. As soon as a woman walks onsite the thinking is automatically ‘you can’t do anything’ or ‘you can’t compete with anyone who is there’ and that is the wrong attitude to have. This attitude was a big barrier for me – after my first experience it put me off construction as a career and it took me two years to get back into it, to even think about going back to studying anything related to construction.

“Now I want to get a job onsite, I would like to be an engineer again.”

Linly Kumweda, 37, is the only woman in her construction management class at South Lanarkshire College. She commented: “You think, 'oh my god, I am the only female' and you think 'am I good enough?' But I told myself if this is what I really love to do I should step up and do it.’’

Yaqoob said this could have a very real impact: “There are too many examples of the world around us being designed by and for men. Evidence suggests that even something as simple as office environments are set to temperatures that are more comfortable for men than women, safety wear is harder, and sometimes more expensive, to source in women’s sizes.

“We need women to be involved from idea generation, to infrastructure design and testing.’’