International Women’s Day: 8th March 2025

Celebrating Women in the Industry: Breaking Barriers and Building the Future

As we continue to highlight the incredible women who have shaped APS and the wider design and construction industry, we celebrate their resilience, talent, and achievements—while looking forward to an even brighter, more inclusive future.

Today, our spotlight is on Fran Watkins-White, a dedicated CMaPS member and also one of APS' NMRGs. Fran shares her journey in the industry, offering valuable insights, advice, and reflections on the challenges she has faced and the successes she has achieved. She also discusses what International Women’s Day means to her and the importance of championing and empowering women in construction and design.

What inspired you to pursue a career in construction/design? I graduated in Business in 1994 and worked in various Administration and Business support roles, then in 2000 took a job temping as Administrator for a Building and Quantity Surveyors, initially to make ends meet. I became really interested in Construction, I had previously had some involvement in Health and Safety, implementing the Management Regulations etc, so bringing that to the table supporting our Planning Supervisors (As they were pre 2007) was a natural progression, which led me into further study and a career in CDM. I’ve since been able to grow and shape my career through continued learning and development, looping back to the skills from my Business Degree to support a move into a management role

What a advice would you give to young women entering the field?

I was pondering this one for some time so I asked other women in construction for their personal thoughts and got back some great advice so sharing theirs and mine below. Key advice is around being confidence and trusting self....

‘Don’t be afraid to ask questions, to learn and be open to growing and shaping ‘

'trust your skills and the value you bring as it carries your presence, never let anyone undermine your capabilities'

‘be confident, build your inner confidence – you have to not question your abilities, we are all capable, we just need the inner confidence to know that and act accordingly.

.....To not be daunted by the Construction industry being predominantly male dominated, there are lots of women out there in different disciplines in the industry, hold your own and know your worth and experience level. Reach out to other women for feedback and their experiences to assist you........

Have confidence. I encourage women to step up and be confident in their work because we work just as hard as our male colleagues and can handle the same challenges they can. Women we need to stop questioning our abilities because we are all capable of the work if we would just have the confidence to know that we are

You may come across as much discrimination in the workplace as there is in every day life. Just know that your gender does not determine your ability to do any type of job. Yes there are arguments around the physical strength of men versus women in that respect but there are many examples of this not being a big enough reason not to embark on a particular career. Employers want to see a desire to learn and apply knowledge which is not affected by gender just your belief in your own ability and the hard work you are willing to put in to achieve your aims in whichever role you wish to embark on!

It is a great career and brings together so many skillsets, communication skills, negotiation skills, being part of designing and shaping buildings and safety can be very rewarding. There are still challenges to overcome but we are slowly chipping away at them.

Who/ What has inspired or supported you along the way?

There are so many people who I have taken inspiration from, every person I meet brings their own skills and experience to any table and there is something to learn from everyone. A lot of women I’ve met from earlier generations made great strides for all of us and laid foundations on which we continue to build... A key person who springs to mind is my ex St John Ambulance Manager Maureen (RIP), who in her young days was told she could not provide first aid cover at a football match because it was not a suitable space for women – she persevered and eventually was the manager for our first aid cover at the local stadium. Small local steps which slowly lead to greater impact.

I would recommend joining networks and support groups – I find being part of a gender balance group at work and within St John Ambulance, has provided some great mutual support, inspiration and learning.

What progress have you seen in gender diversity, and what still needs to change?

we see more women playing an active role in all sectors of the industry, the world has certainly improved in terms of attitude and behaviour to women, and a lot of the time we seen and treated as an equal part in the project teams etc ...

However, there is also still work to be done in terms of equity of opportunity and creating a more diverse workforce, research shows there is still a gender pay gap and less women at higher levels in the industry than there should be, we can all be part of changing that.

A key challenge is to breakdown stereotypes and shape a welcoming place for everyone - to do that we need to work together to listen, learn and engage towards making our workplaces equitable.

We have some great women in the APS and working together we can seek to inspire and lead other women to join us - We also need to start young ensuring that young people see construction as a potential career option so we encourage all people from the next generations to follow construction as a career.

To quote Hilary Clinton ‘ When there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit. So let's keep going."