The importance of a gender-equal workforce in construction

30 Apr 2018 | Wong Lye Ling, Gamuda Group Human Resources and Admin Senior General Manager.

With Malaysia undertaking a number of large infrastructure projects, there is a growing need to expand the workforce.

In my role as, increasing female participation in the labour market and aiding the development of working women in Malaysia has been high on the agenda.

Last week, we launched the Gamuda Women Empowerment Network (GWEN). This is a very important network for us as this is an industry primarily dominated by men.

What is GWEN?

A platform to:

Advance careers of women as well as to provide a support network
Develop behaviours that align with and support career development, across generations
Promote and support career-life balance
Identify opportunities for professional enrichment, development and advancement

At Gamuda, we’re consciously trying to change that so we have more women participation in the workforce as well as more women at managerial and senior levels.

Through GWEN, we hope to educate our workforce on how to remove cultural impediments about women in leadership positions as well as discuss the types of policy measures needed to promote more diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Empowering female employees to pursue their career aspirations is also essential.

Already we have seen women coming together to support each other in building their careers at Gamuda. The support is not just in the workplace, but also how to balance their work and private life.

One area of focus for the company and the industry is engineering.

We have many large infrastructure projects right now and the demand for engineers is high. Not just male engineers, but female engineers as well.

If we continue to embrace, empower and elevate the skills and capabilities of young female talent, then I think there’s a lot of hope and opportunities for female engineers to contribute to the nation’s growth.

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