Nottingham Women in Construction

Women in Construction, Nottingham City Homes' Rebecca Hart and some of the tradeswomen who are working in construction for them joined us for our Women into Film session this week. Along with watching the iconic "The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter" film which tells the story of women who learned and worked in traditional trades building aircraft, ships, jeeps and other war related necessities, during the second world war in the United States. We heard from Rebecca and her colleagues about how women can get into construction locally and what it is like to work in construction in the 21st century. We heard many women in the film saying how they were disheartened to lose their newfound confidence, money and skills once men returned from the war to take their jobs. We also saw how the experiences of black women were made harder by the ever present racism that affected which jobs they were given, and how childcare was so much more limited for them. Rebecca and her colleagues gave us a greatly positive account of how taking on jobs in these trades is both empowering and satisfying, although they still have to work very hard to be accepted in a still hugely male dominated world. They are fantastic role models and inspiring examples of how women and girls can of course do any job which they desire to do, and we're sure will encourage many girls and young women to consider these careers in the future. The NG:She team are very grateful to Rebecca and the tradeswomen who came along to the session and enjoyed exploring women's history in construction with us, and with Karen Livesey who presented her film, The Ladies Bridge, about the women who built Waterloo Bridge in London during the second world war. Find out more here about Rebecca's work with