Nikki Davis IWD Blog

The first female CEO & Principal in Leeds College of Building’s 60-year history

Nikki Davis, Principal & CEO, Leeds College of Building

This March, we again celebrate International Women’s Day – a day which should be about celebrating women’s achievements, driving gender parity, and raising awareness of discrimination.

In the #IWD2023 call to action, we’re asked to “imagine a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.” However, it can be hard to find things to celebrate when you look at the bigger picture.

According to a World Health Organization report from 2021, one in three women globally, around 736 million, have been subjected to physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes. Some democracies are still intent on restricting women’s rights or using acts of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Closer to home, social media continues to negatively impact young people’s body image and self-confidence, sometimes with dire impacts regardless of gender. In the face of all of these issues, International Women’s Day has been called out by cynics as a virtue-signalling irrelevance.

And yet, it is the strength of individual women’s stories which continue to inspire and give hope: Olympic gymnast Simone Biles publicly standing up to her abuser; environmental advocate Greta Thunberg providing a bold Twitter take-down of a renowned misogynist figure; footballer Megan Rapinoe fighting for equal pay in sport; actress Jameela Jamil advocating for greater discussion around body image.

All of these women are ambassadors, fighting individually or as a collective, using their position to advocate for other women’s rights. Even locally, we’re seeing more female figures in positions of authority such as West Yorkshire’s Tracy Brabin, the first woman elected to serve as a Metro Mayor.

Media interest around International Women’s Day has more recently focussed on the gender pay gaps which organisations report each year. The COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly impacted women in the workforce and perhaps wiped away years of progress. The TUC even reported in February that the average woman in paid employment in this country effectively works for free for nearly two months of the year compared to the average man in paid employment.

In some industries, including my college’s specialism of construction, the gender pay gap is an extremely tough nut to crack and made worse by a lack of funding in Further Education. Given the small female talent pool in the industry, data will always be skewed towards men. Until that is resolved and more are women employed as construction and built environment lecturers, any fair comparison of the pay gap is almost impossible.

So, how do we support women and girls to enter careers in male-dominated environments? It’s a difficult task, but one that must happen. Holding taster days and recruitment drives is important, but work needs to start far earlier in targeting young girls and breaking down stereotypes about jobs and careers. This can seem an overwhelming challenge, but the important thing is to make a start – small actions build momentum.

At Leeds College of Building, this is where we are. Making changes to our outreach work with schools and communities, holding events to showcase women in industry, celebrating our incredible female lecturers and students in specialist trades, working in partnership with organisations such as LEEDS2023 and WOW to raise awareness of construction as a career for women and non-binary people, developing allies in our young men to challenge inappropriate behaviour, and providing role models for girls to aspire to – our college is full of phenomenal women who do this - day in, day out.

These actions individually appear small but collectively make a difference. And perhaps that is all we can do – work collectively to achieve more, fight for fairness, support others, and continue to challenge the status quo.