Pursuing a construction trade: contextual factors influencing career intentions of Australian schoolgirls

Abstract Factors influencing schoolgirls’ attraction to construction trades were examined using a contextual approach to career decision-making. Focus groups with schoolgirls indicated that contextual factors in the school and environmental–societal systems were particularly influential. The process through which schoolgirls decide whether construction is a viable career path is shaped and reinforced at multiple points within the career decision-making system and influenced by family, career educators, teachers, schoolboys, television and social media, and the reputation of the construction industry. Actions to increase schoolgirls’ attraction to construction trades are likely to fail until there is support and acceptance of women in trade roles across and within the various levels of the career-making system.