Spain: Fundación Laboral de la Construcción led the Erasmus+ project, Women Can Build

After 38 months of partnership, Women Can Build finishes with more than 100 testimonies collected, 500 teachers surveyed, 63 stakeholders consulted, 50 women trained, more than 150 media impacts and more than 30 participations in events. These figures show the relevance of the project both at a national level -in Spain- and in the world; because Women Can Build has exceeded the expectations of the European consortium, managing to have an echo at an international level.

This European partnership formed by seven organisations from Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Portugal, and led by Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, was born in September 2017, with the aim of redefining Vocational Training and orienting it towards a construction industry on an equal footing.

To this end, the project set out three areas of action: sectoral trainers, as they are a ‘gateway’ to the sector; companies, because they are a key element in the implementation of gender equality; and finally, women. This last pillar has been the main focus of attention. The consortium has tried to show construction as one labour market option, and to break down the barriers and prejudices which mean that only 9% of the professionals in the Spanish sector are women, according to the data collected by the Industrial Construction Observatory of Fundación Laboral.

Women Can Build: An initiative to foster gender equality in the construction sector

These figures of the sector, promote the need to boost equality projects that help to improve the diversity of professionals in the works, such as Women Can Build, which in addition to the technical work has developed an important work in terms of awareness and dissemination for the visibility of women.