Tribune’s note

Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Andrew Giles on 14 April launched the Male Allies Challenge in New South Wales, a free online training program aimed at equipping construction workers to identify and respond to everyday bias and barriers women face on the job [TA-260414-dewr-3b7f7e3a68dc]. The Challenge is a component of Allyship in Action, itself a $5 million initiative nested within the Government's $60 million Building Women's Careers Program [TA-260414-dewr-3b7f7e3a68dc].

Delivery partners include the National Association of Women in Construction, ADCO Constructions, CPB Contractors, the Australian Workers' Union, and Holmesglen Institute — a combination of industry, union, and training-sector actors.

The launch anchors in a stark workforce participation figure: women hold roughly 13 per cent of jobs in building and construction, with only around three per cent working on the tools [TA-260414-dewr-3b7f7e3a68dc]. The Building Women's Careers Program, now in its second year, is active across 175 organisations in every state and territory, targeting structural and cultural barriers in construction, clean energy, technology and digital, and advanced manufacturing.

The Male Allies Challenge represents the demand-side element of that strategy — shifting the responsibility for cultural change onto existing workers rather than placing it solely on women entering the sector.

Primary records (1)

The official records this note draws on — the raw primary documents themselves, as published.

MediaMale Allies back women’s careers in constructionAndrew GilesTuesday 14 April 2026