International Wāhine Day at Te Ara O Te Ata (Mt. Messenger) Alliance

07/03/2024

Barbara ‘Barbz’ Ward works for Downer as a foreperson with the cableway crew on Te Ara o te Ata (Mt Messenger) Alliance project in Taranaki. As a mother to four daughters who are also pursuing careers in male-dominated industries, Barbz is excited to celebrate International Wāhine (women’s) Day this year and to give back both to her team and to their community.

The alliance constructing Te Ara o te Ata has a team of 200+ which includes Tangata Tiaki (tangata: people, tiaki: to protect or care) from Ngāti Tama, plus Downer, HEB, Waka Kotahi, Tonkin & Taylor, and a number of different subcontractors. Barbz has been working on the project for 18 months and what really stands out about this team is the higher-than-usual ratio of women – with wahine making up 67 of the 200 workers. At 34%, this ratio is significantly higher than the standard for the construction sector, which is made up of approximately 15-20% women.

This has really given wāhine at Te Ara O Te Ata something to celebrate, and they will be hosting a morning celebration on 8 March to which all genders are invited, with everyone bringing along a koha for the Taranaki Women’s Refuge. There has been a huge amount of support for the occasion already, with a number of subcontractors donating a range of prizes, including dinners at local restaurants, massage vouchers, prezzy cards, Farmers cards, and more.

Barbz talked us through her experience as part of this inclusive crew:

What led you to organise an event for International Wāhine Day?

We have got good numbers now, but it’s so male dominated still and we need to capture any and every opportunity to get women together and support each other. 

March 8th is also my oldest girl’s birthday which it brings it into focus! I’ve got four daughters, and I think my girls are inspiring, they are out there doing it. My 19-year-old is an apprentice builder and she’s going places, my second girl is a fisheries officer. I look at them and I think, “you got that from your Mum!” And I tell them, “I do this for you guys”.

When I approached my manager, Jackson Tilley, last year about doing an IWD event he said “go for it Barbz you’ve got my blessing and you’ve got a budget.” It didn’t happen last year for personal reasons, but it meant this year I was able to start organising early. I wanted to involve wāhine from each division across the project – someone from our Tangata Tiaki, one of the engineers, one of the girls from our admin team. We got together and started to put it out there and celebrate. 

I’m not shy, so I went and approached lots of our subcontractors and told them what we were doing, and asked what they could offer, so we’ve got some awesome prizes. One of them even paid for an IWD cake for us, and the local Four Square gave us a big hamper!

Next we talked to someone from our local Women’s Refuge local chapter, and we’ve invited them along for the morning tea. All our people will bring koha, so we can give back to women in need. 

All our tane bosses are enthusiastic and supportive too – there’s never any problem because they like this kaupapa.

The gender balance on this project is impressive – has it made the working environment any different? 

Yes, it does feel better to have more wāhine in the team. We try and push for time just for our wāhine, we get together after work, we look after each other, and we have wellbeing buddies on the project. A lot of us at Mt Messenger are away from home and family so this is really important. 

The big number of wāhine came about somewhat by accident, and part of it is because there a lot more science-based roles here than on other projects, and there are more women doing those kinds of jobs. About 60% of the work here is in ecology and geology. We’re dealing with kiwi and native bats and lizards in this environment, and we have a lot of geologists and ecologists alongside all our engineers, traffic management crew, admins, and more.

How do you think we can reach for this kind of gender balance in other projects and other parts of the business?

I’d just encourage women to get involved, come along to the major projects and check them out – you’ll see they’re exciting and fun, and just so rewarding when you can look back and see the progress that’s been made. 

We also have a neat culture across the whole team, and our tāne are awesome – we wouldn’t be able to do it without them. We have a regular whanau day when we get together as one, and we know we’re all rowing in the same waka, in the same direction. We make sure we all go home safely, then at the end we’re gonna have a new road we can drive!

About the project: 

Te Ara o Te Ata – Mt Messenger Bypass is a new 6km route that avoids the existing steep, narrow and winding route over Mt Messenger on SH3 in North Taranaki that is prone to natural hazards that can affect road safety and result restrictions and road closures.

The bypass project includes a bridge about 110m long and an estimated 230m long tunnel under the ridgeline south-east of Mt Messenger.

Improving the safety of travel on SH3, enhancing resilience and journey time reliability are key project outcomes, along with a strong focus on managing environmental effects.

Read more here about Te Ara o Te Ata – Mt Messenger Bypass.