Element Construction: Addressing the Gender Disbalance
Construction is an area in which gender stereotypes are still very common. The National Statistics Office of Georgia has not renewed its data since 2015, when it claimed that the engagement of women in the construction sector was less than 10%, while the engagement of men exceeded 90%. Three years is a significant amount of time, and the numbers may have changed, but the problem of gender disbalance in this area remains.
Fortunately, there are exceptional companies on the Georgian market that pay attention to social responsibility, gender balance and other similar issues. Element Construction is one of these exceptional companies. There are a lot of women working in the company, even in leading positions. In fact, we can say that the leaders of the most of structural units are women, and no important decisions are made without them. And you may think that their working day begins and ends in the office, but actually that’s not true.
Mariam Janelidze is a Project Manager at Element Construction. According to her, experience brings self-confidence. When she first went into construction, she encountered a number of difficulties, but after a time she proved that she was able to fulfill all the requirements of the job.
The Purchases and Logistics Department at Element Construction, which is mainly staffed by men, is led very successfully by Tamar Katsadze. Male members of her group have stated that a female employee turned out to be a better fit for the given position.
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On a personal note, when I started working as the head of the HR department in this construction company, I had the expectation that I would have to fight the gender balance constantly. I was pleasantly surprised when I was told directly by management that we needed as many female staff members as possible to reach the best results faster. I think this approach has helped determine the current success of the company.
By Eka Zedelashvili, Head of HR Department
Image Source: mckinsey.com