SYDNEY, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has rolled out an initiative to encourage more women to join the male-dominated construction industry.
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean said in a statement that the scheme, called A Culture Standard for the Construction Industry, was designed to "boost productivity and secure brighter futures" for the state's 369,500 construction workers.
Kean said the 20.2 million Australian dollars (about 13.63 million U.S. dollars) program was part of a 112.7 billion Australian dollars (about 76 billion U.S. dollars) "infrastructure pipeline" to improve worksite morale and safeguard workers' mental and physical health.
NSW Minister for Infrastructure Rob Stokes noted that female construction workers in Australia received about 30 percent less pay than their male counterparts, which is a situation the government wants to rectify.
"We're going to trial the publication of that data so we can work toward women being fairly paid for their equal contribution," Stokes said.
NSW Minister for Metropolitan Roads Natalie Ward said the scheme would be the first of many government initiatives aimed at raising the number of women in the construction industry to 15 percent by 2030. ■