As part of the #BuildingEquality 2018 Campaign, Jackie Corcoran, JJ Rhatigan & Company, shares her story as a woman in construction.

My father is a carpenter and had a joinery factory, so I grew up being around construction working in the factory for my summers and visiting sites with him. Much to his dismay I went to college to do construction studies at a time when construction was in a very volatile state, but thankfully by the time I had qualified, Ireland was crying out for Quantity Surveyors so I had my pick of jobs.

Female Role models were non-existent when I started in the industry 20 years ago and they are still not too plentiful. When I started college in Sligo IT, there were four girls in the entire engineering department. Today that department is actually headed up by a woman. I would hope that I could be of help to the younger ladies coming into the industry. We need to show girls that there is no reason why women cannot have a career in the construction Industry. Granted it has been and still is a very male dominated industry, but there is nothing that a woman cannot do just as well as a man.

I am seeing more and more women in all aspects of construction, architecture, engineering, electricians, carpenters, painters, plumbers and of course quantity surveyors. I am also seeing a much better acceptance of us girls on the building site too, we are less unusual these days. It is a very interesting industry to work in, every project is different every team have their own dynamics. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

To learn more about the #BuildingEquality campaign and to share your own story, please visit our dedicated #BuildingEquality page here

Construction Industry Federation