IN Brief:
- CITB says women starting construction apprenticeships rose from 1,450 in 2018 to 2,410 in 2025.
- Completions increased from 340 to 910 over the same period.
- The data points to progress in recruitment, but also to the harder question of how the industry converts training into long-term site and technical careers.
CITB has published new figures showing a steady rise in the number of women entering and completing construction apprenticeships, with female starts increasing from 1,450 in 2018 to 2,410 in 2025 and completions rising from 340 to 910 over the same period.
The figures, drawn from Department for Education data, offer one of the clearer snapshots yet of how the gender balance in the construction training pipeline is changing, even if the absolute numbers still underline how much further there is to go. The rise in completions is especially notable. Recruitment figures often attract attention, but completion is the more useful measure if the objective is to build a durable workforce rather than a short-lived intake.
CITB said its funded Onsite Experience hubs are part of that effort, helping connect training and work placements with local employers. Through its work with The Skills Centre, the body said 182 women have been trained to secure employment in construction. Deb Madden, executive director of customer engagement and operations at CITB, said the industry now needed to focus on retaining women and ensuring apprenticeships translate into long-term, secure job opportunities.
That emphasis on retention is well placed. Construction has become more serious about attracting people from broader talent pools, but it is often less consistent once they enter the industry. Site culture, access to good work experience, visible progression routes, welfare provision, PPE fit, supervisory standards, and the availability of sustained employment all shape whether new entrants remain in the sector. A wider intake only changes the labour picture if it is matched by a working environment that people choose to stay in.
The backdrop is a labour market that still looks tight. CITB’s own outlook has pointed to the need for tens of thousands of additional workers each year if demand is to be met. That gap is one reason the conversation around diversity has changed in tone. It is no longer being treated solely as a workforce image issue. It sits squarely inside the sector’s productivity, capacity, and delivery challenge.
There are some signs of that thinking becoming more practical. The Women and Work APPG has been examining the barriers that continue to restrict entry and progression, while employers, colleges, and training bodies are increasingly talking in terms of route-to-work rather than course completion alone. That is an important distinction. Construction does not simply need more learners. It needs more competent people moving from training into sustained work on sites, in technical roles, and across supervision and management.
The difficulty is that progress is rarely uniform. Some employers have made visible changes to recruitment practice, mentoring, flexible working, and workplace standards. Others remain at a much earlier stage. Smaller companies, which make up a large share of the construction base, often face real constraints around supervision time, administration, and work-placement capacity. The result is a pipeline that improves in places, stalls in others, and still loses too many people between entry and long-term employment.
Even so, the direction of travel is encouraging. More women are starting construction apprenticeships, and more are completing them. That does not resolve the sector’s skills pressures on its own, but it does show that the intake is broadening in a way that could have lasting effect if employers, trainers, and project pipelines remain aligned. The next stage is less about applauding the trend than about making sure it holds when apprentices move from training into the realities of working construction.
