Eleanor Deeley, joint managing director of Deeley Group

International Women’s Day 2025 is focusing on the theme of accelerate action.

PLMR Advent Account Director Michelle Wilson spoke to Eleanor Deeley, joint managing director of Midlands-based construction and property development business Deeley Group, about the importance of International Women’s Day and the difficulties of attracting more women into the construction sector.

International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to highlight the amazing talents of women who are often not in the spotlight.

It is a chance for women whose fantastic work is not always recognised to take centre stage because sometimes it is a case of those who shout loudest who are recognised and those who are perhaps quieter don’t get the acknowledgment that they deserve.

It’s amazing that in 2025 we don’t have gender parity. I think that the biggest factor to accelerate parity is to ensure that women have the career networks to enable them to progress swiftly.
We all need our personal network of advisors from within our own industries and externally who are there to help us – our own personal advisory board who we call on when we are thinking about the next step in our career or we encounter a difficulty at work.

Historically, it has been difficult for many women to build their work networks because of the lack of flexibility in roles and family responsibilities, however Covid helped everyone realise that work can be flexible for many and it gave many fathers a chance to enjoy spending more time with their children which many have continued to do.

It’s integral that women support other women and enable them to move up the career path. I think potentially it is harder now to recruit women in property and construction than it was 20 years ago because of the rise in importance of image and social media platforms such as Instagram.

When I go into schools to give career talks a lot of young people feel that construction is muddy boots on housing sites so there is an image issue for the construction industry to resolve because there’s a huge amount of technology, engineering and project management involved in the sector. I find that those women who are involved in project management are exceptional at their jobs.

Accelerating gender parity is not something that is likely to be achieved quickly in terms of women coming into the construction industry given how much of a minority we currently are. I believe that women in construction need to be more visible and we need to invest in going directly into schools so that others can understand that this is the most fantastic industry to be part of, an industry that impacts on every individual’s life, an industry that changes lives through the homes, schools and workplaces we build.

When we have graduate roles, we interview men and women because, like every business, we want to appoint the best person for the job, and we provide flexibility in terms of hours, but it is difficult to encourage women to apply and it’s not really getting any easier.

So, as we countdown to International Women’s Day 2025, I would encourage women to not be shy about their talents and if they are interested in a particular career to go for it!