Women in Construction Week offers an important opportunity to shine the spotlight on the women who are working within and helping to shape the UK construction industry.
The industry has always been one of the most male-dominated sectors but the picture in the UK is slowly changing, thanks to shifts in school leaver apprenticeships, recruitment processes and workplace culture.
Why it is important and what action do we take? Most businesses within our industry recognise that attracting and retaining more women in the sector is critical to widening their talent pool, not just equality. To achieve this, female employees need to feel included, valued and supported.
As a family business led by a strong set of values, Story Decorating Group have always been committed to creating an inclusive environment where all employees are treated equally and diversity is celebrated. Our STORY company recognition scheme and annual team days are great ways to encourage collaboration and support for each other.
Currently women make up 48% of our administrative, professional and managerial roles but only 19% of our overall workforce. Whilst we have a good representation and distribution of females across our business, there is still a gender inequality in the site-based or skilled trades roles, which is something that we aim to address.
Through our Apprenticeship scheme, we aim to attract enthusiastic young people into the business. We actively work with education providers to promote painting and decorating to young women as a viable and rewarding career, with varied career progression opportunities beyond being a technician. We’d certainly love to see more female apprentices!
When it comes to retaining our female talent, we are big believers of continued growth and development, and we actively support our female employees in their career aspirations. We also support females who have family responsibilities by offering flexible and hybrid working opportunities wherever possible.
A great example of how we champion our female talent is Michela, who has recently begun a new role within Story Decorating Group. As a dedicated and valued member of our team (Michela was our ‘Trusted’ winner at this year’s STORY Gold Awards), we’ve supported Michela’s career pathway and we’re excited to see where it takes her!
A STORY Woman in Construction:
Michela – Commercial Assistant
Michela began her journey in August 2024 when she joined Story as an Operations Administrator. Within that role she helped the Estimating and Accounts teams and began to build her knowledge of the Commercial aspects of the business. In January 2026 she progressed to Commercial Assistant.
How have Story supported your career development as a female in the construction industry? “I’ve always been supported with whatever training I felt would be beneficial for my personal and professional development. Story has an inclusive culture, and I’ve never been told no when it comes to the areas I’d wish to explore. I’ve been encouraged by both our Operations and Commercial teams to look at every job role whether that’s a Contracts Manager role, Estimating or even wanting to go out to site and look at painting aspects, it doesn’t feel like I’m stuck in any role here.
What advice would you give to women entering construction? “I think construction is a great place to work in, it needs diverse voices and ideas – it’s changing constantly. My advice would be to ask questions and learn as much as you can from the people around you, building strong relationships with everyone will take you far”.
Have you ever felt any career barriers because of your gender? “Not currently although I have yet to go on site and see another female worker; I do see how male dominated this industry is so it can definitely feel intimidating at times.”
What are your career aspirations for the next 5 -10 years? “I would like to become a quantity surveyor and get a formal qualification in quantity surveying within the next 5 years. By the end of the year, I would like to QS my own job”.