For those of you who might not already be aware – it’s Pride month!
Every year in June, the LGBTQ+ community celebrates Pride as a way to honour the 1969 Stonewall riots which took place in New York City in response to a series of police raids on lesbian and gay bars which is widely accepted as a turning point for the LGBTQ+ rights movement in the USA.
Unfortunately, the UK no longer ranks as highly on inclusivity and equality for the LGBTQ+ community as it once did and as a society and, for me, that’s as good a reason as any to shout about the importance of Pride month.
I have had the privilege of knowing and working with numerous remarkable individuals who belong to the LGBTQ+ community. Their outstanding qualities and achievements stem from their inherent talents, intelligence, kindness, and hard work mainly because they are just amazing humans which is not necessarily a result of the fact that they happen to be gay or trans or non-binary (you catch my drift).
Construction is an industry I have fallen in love with in the time I have spent working with Contract Scotland and whilst there have been many improvements made – I acknowledge the fact that the diversity within this field still leaves room for improvement. It’s no secret that the construction industry is currently grappling with a shortage of skilled labour, tradespeople, quantity surveyors, estimators, planners etc. – you name it! In light of this, it is crucial that we do what we can to welcome and encourage intelligent, talented, and hard-working people into our industry regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Surely, we simply cannot afford to risk missing out on these valuable contributors?
What this means is that we might just need to work that little bit harder to educate ourselves and our peers on how to challenge stigma and bias when we see it, and work together to create supportive environments that allow individuals to feel safe enough to bring their skills to the table as their most authentic selves.
I hope to see our industry continue to evolve into one where everyone feels welcome & supported to achieve their goals and that we at Contract Scotland can do our bit to help along the way.
Happy Pride Month folks!
Building Equality is an alliance of construction consultants, engineers, developers, contractors, and institutions working together to promote inclusivity in the Construction and Engineering sectors in the UK and they have some great resources available on their website for anyone looking to educate themselves on how they can improve inclusivity in their own workplace. https://www.buildingequalityuk.com/
