This year’s International Women’s Day theme focuses on the theme of: Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress.
Roadside Services and Solutions is proud it is leading the way in greater female participation in the workforce, especially for onsite jobs in traditionally male roles of civil works and construction.
The team is proud to celebrate the women in our workforce who are contributing to creating a safer environment.
Across our three operations in Melbourne, Adelaide and Darwin, Roadside Services and Solutions’ female workforce sits at 19%.
Construction is Australia's number one most male-dominated industry with only 12% of the workforce identifying as female and with less than 2% of on-site roles occupied by women.
Roadside Managing Director Craig Woods says: “We are proud of all our staff and the contribution they make to the work delivery of our clients. Specifically, the guidance and interactions of our teams providing mentoring, help and assistance where required is encouraged and fostered throughout company-wide.”
This year Roadside highlights some of the company’s female staff in Victoria and the Northern Territory starting with four of the longest serving female employees, HR Manager Catherine Vickers, Executive Manager Corporate Affairs Yolanda Torrisi, Northern Territory Customer Service Officer Natasha Beggs and linemarker Sandy Newnham who have delivered their expertise at Roadside for six years.
Meanwhile recent appointments in Darwin include Chloe Guo, a civil engineer working as a customer service officer. As a civil engineer Chloe engages with our clients across all aspects of the engineering and design components of the workscope to be delivered by the manufacturing team.
The Victorian Civil Works team is strengthened with the work of Nishani Dodampe Gamage, a civil engineer and estimator delivering work for Roadside’s council contracts, major construction companies and private operators.
Eboni Zanon is a civil worker in the Victoria civil works team.
Background to International Womens Day
In 1908, against a backdrop of terrible working conditions and exploitation, 15,000 women took to the streets in New York protesting for shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.
The next year the Socialist Party of America announced a National Women’s Day to honour the strikers, and in 1910 it went global – the Socialist International voted for the creation of a Women’s Day to advocate for suffrage. The first International Women’s Day was held in 1911, and more than a million people turned out to rallies in Europe.
For most of the 20th century International Women’s Day was acknowledged and celebrated by people at the grassroots level, a rallying point for social justice. It wasn’t until 1975 – International Women’s Year – that the United Nations adopted International Women’s Day on 8 March, when it is still held.
