Currently there are over 11 million women employed in the UK, accounting for 49.5% of the workforce. However, despite increases in the number of women employed in the construction industry over the past decade, they still constitute only 13% of the industry's workforce. This means that construction continues to be the most male dominated of all the major industrial groups. A review is presented of the literature relating to the current position of women in the construction industry. It identifies and examines the barriers preventing women's entry into the industry, the subsequent barriers faced by those working within the construction industry, and initiatives committed to promoting equality for women and men in construction. These barriers arise from a number of sources including: the construction industry's image; career knowledge amongst children and adults; selection criteria and male dominated courses; recruitment practices and procedures; sexist attitudes; male dominated culture; and the work environment.Women, Construction, Equality, Barriers, Initiatives,

A poststructural feminist approach was adopted to investigate commercial aviation and the experiences of female pilots in a large international airline based in Europe. The study aimed to examine critically the difficulties faced by female pilots. The data were collected from in-depth interviews with 23 female and 17 male commercial airline pilots. The article argues that commercial aviation continues to be dominated by masculine values and practices, which result in the earlier stages of women’s careers being treated as ‘a rite of passage’. The first women to join the airline experienced sexism, harassment, high visibility and isolation. Although the extent of the difficulties has declined over time, the experience of dealing with sexism and adapting to the masculine culture continues to influence the attitudes of female pilots, especially towards gender and equal opportunities. The article challenges the impression created by the aviation literature regarding the degree of acceptance of female pilots in commercial aviation and summarizes the recommendations made to management in relation to its equal opportunities policy.

Examines the situation faced by women in the UK construction industry. Finds that women are confronted by a significant number of barriers, beginning with difficulties in joining the industry. In addition, the administrative or human resource management roles traditionally occupied by women do not lead to mainstream roles and senior management roles. To increase prospects, women need to able to take on the more mainstream roles in the industry such as design, engineering and construcition iteself. The main investigation of the article is therefore into the barriers preventing women from taking these roles. Conclusions and suggestions for reform are made.

This research aimed to generate opportunities for UK construction companies, particularly contractors and consultancies with 50 to 150 employees to improve relationships with clients and to increase effectiveness through the exploitation of communication procedures and technologies. The research team used an action learning approach to work with managers from construction companies and housing associations to design and deliver support mechanisms, such as industry workshops, specific to the needs of SMEs. Analysis of the results showed how, as a result of interacting with other groups within a non-adversarial environment and benefiting from the process, partnering and performance improvement came to be seen as both desirable and possible. The trust and confidence generated from working together successfully also led construction SMEs to share good practice with others from the industry, including local competitors. The authors propose that SMEs should be treated as 'leaders' and 'full partners' within the programme for UK industry improvement being championed by Sir John Egan (1998), rather than simply recipients. It is also suggested that governments provide further support to ensure participation from small and micro firms.

Purpose -Designers and planners in the UK are being asked by government to address sustainability. This paper seeks to explore how such issues can be addressed with the urban design process. From the literature, it is unclear when specific sustainability issues should be addressed, who actually makes decisions and what influences them, or how different stakeholders are engaged. Design/methodology/approach -A case study is presented, focusing on the early stages of an urban design and redevelopment process taking place in a deprived region of the UK. Interviews with key decision-makers and observations were conducted and subsequently analysed using content analysis. Findings -The findings show that the process adopted by clients and consultants was relatively similar to that identified by the literature. The importance of creating a sustainable community, and of addressing deprivation and poor services was recognised from the outset. Sustainability was referred to in the briefing to select a team of consultants to develop a vision and regeneration framework. However, specific problems related to sustainability, such as crime and poor health, were not communicated through the briefing documents, for fear of deterring private investment. Indeed, the need to attract private investment was a key aspect of early stage of the urban design process. Originality/value -This paper highlights potential difficulties of addressing sustainability at the early stage of the design process, when private sector backing is such a crucial component of the regeneration.