Rachel Yeung is currently employed as an Assistant Quantity Survey Officer at a construction company. Her role, which she says is mainly clerical and desk-based, is focused on handling contracts.
Ongoing growth: Assistant Quantity Survey Officer Rachel Yeung says women are employed in many different areas of construction and expects the numbers to continue growing. Image source: www.news.gov.hk
Recounting her entry into the construction industry, she explained that she was laid off from a trading company a few years ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Encouraged by friends who worked in construction, she saw the opportunity to make a career change and enrolled in an Advanced Diploma in Quantity Surveying at the Institute of Construction.
Unique strengths
“Previously, I thought the construction industry only involved engineering, which I perceived as a male-dominated field,” she reflected. “However, after entering, I have discovered many female colleagues – in quantity surveying, in engineering teams, and even among architects – and this number is likely to continue growing.”
Elaborating on the attributes women bring to bear, she added: “Women in the industry demonstrate remarkable patience and meticulousness in handling paperwork. Given that construction involves not only hands-on work but also managing numerous backup documents, women truly excel in this area.”
Rachel’s perspective is shared by Nicole Chan, who is currently studying a building services supervision course. She believes that men and women each possess unique strengths.
“I think the biggest difference between women and men lies in physical strength” she said. “While women may be slightly less physically strong, I maintain a regular exercise routine. Additionally, women often excel in attentiveness and the ability to notice specific details. This creates a wonderful balance, with each gender complementing the other perfectly.”
In recent years, there has been a clear uptick in the numbers of women entering the construction industry. According to figures from the Census & Statistics Department, in the fourth quarter of 2025 women accounted for approximately 13% of those employed in construction, up from under 8% two decades ago.
Changing landscape: Construction Industry Council Executive Director Albert Cheng says the construction industry has shifted away from being primarily focused on manual work and labour-intensive jobs. Image source: www.news.gov.hk
Industrial transformation
Construction Industry Council Executive Director Albert Cheng commented that the construction industry has shifted away from being primarily focused on manual work and labour-intensive jobs.
“In the past, working on-site required a lot of strength and effort. Now we apply a lot of technologies so the workers do not need to spend a lot of effort. Some of the trade now, the workers need only to control robotics, and maybe use some technologies, like building information modelling or artificial intelligence for site management and control. I think because of a change of the nature of the work, a lot of females would like to join this industry.”
He also highlighted the rising proportion of female students attending the Institute of Construction. This grew from 11% of the total number of students in the 2024-25 academic year to about 17% in the current academic year. Last year, the institute launched a flexible training course that better enables students to balance family and career development. With over 150 female applicants enrolling in the course, this is helping to inject new energy into the industry.
Dual power: Institute of Construction student Nicole Chan believes that men and women possess attributes that complement each other perfectly in the field of construction. Image source: www.news.gov.hk
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — For former player and activist Khalida Popal, the formal recognition of an Afghanistan women's refugee team on the international stage isn't just about soccer.
The FIFA Council agreed last week during a meeting in Vancouver to amend its rules to recognize the team after a long campaign by Popal, advocates and others, meaning it could someday qualify for the World Cup or the Olympics. It was a moment of celebration for Popal after years of fighting.
“It has always been about the identity, it has always been about the greater mission, beyond football. We are not skillful, the most skillful team in the world, if you see our ranking, our results, it’s never been only about football,” Popal told The Associated Press. “Of course, football is the love and joy that brings. We’ll never forget that, but it was more about who we are as the identity, the women of Afghanistan."
Popal was one of the founding members in 2007 of the Afghanistan national team, which fought for acceptance before the Taliban's rise to power led to a prohibition on women playing sports. She was later instrumental in helping players flee the country in 2021 when Kabul fell.
Popal, the players who escaped and other advocates for the team subsequently mounted a campaign to revive the national team as a refugee team that would be eligible to compete for spots in international tournaments.
The victory for the team, which plays under the name Afghan Women United, also cleared the way for other teams that may face similar circumstances in the future.
“They have taken this great step to not only allow the women of Afghanistan to represent the country as a national team, but also they have changed and adapted the statues that no team in situations like us, that we have faced, will suffer the way we have suffered and sacrificed,” Popal said. "So this change is not only for Afghanistan and the future of the Afghan women, but is for the change for football globally.”
More than 80 Afghan refugee players are currently scattered across Australia, the United States and Europe. Two camps were recently held for the women, one in England and another in Australia.
The team, led by Scottish coach Pauline Hamill, is expected to play a pair of exhibitions during the upcoming June international window. The location and opponents for the matches hasn't been determined.
“I think that what this sort of says is that women can come together, and sport actually can be this vehicle or this conduit to change," FIFA chief football officer Jill Ellis said. “I think that’s why we’re working so hard within FIFA to get women’s football into every country, because we all recognize the benefits in society of having women that are strong and confident. But now to see it in such a major statement, I think it just reinforces that sport actually can not just bring people together, but create change and create opportunities, and rightly so, for those that either don’t have it or had it taken away from them.”
Popal served as captain of the national team in its early days, but she was forced to flee the country because of threats to her life and settled in Denmark.
She remained connected to the team and in 2018 helped expose sexual and physical abuse involving the women’s program. Keramuddin Keram, the federation president, was banned for life by FIFA amid allegations of sexual abuse.
In 2021, Popal was part of an international coalition, which included the global soccer players union FIFPRO, that helped some 75 people connected to the women's team escape the country amid harrowing circumstances.
The first move toward the refugee team's formal recognition came last October, when the Afghan refugees played in a tournament that included Chad, Libya and Tunisia in Morocco.
"This is about more than just football, it's about sending a message that no government should have the power to erase women from public life," said Andrea Florence, executive director of the Sport & Rights Alliance. "We are thrilled that FIFA has listened to Afghan women and addressed this gap in their statutes. We look forward to cheering them on for years to come.”
The elevation of the team drew applause from many of the delegates attending the FIFA Congress in Vancouver ahead of this summer's men's World Cup.
For Popal, whose life's work led to the refugee team's recognition, this is a moment of reflection and resolve.
“I’ll continue pushing and I’ll continue supporting. I will continue using my platform, my voice, to bring more awareness, because this is the time where the women of Afghanistan, inside Afghanistan, they have lost the attention from the Western world,” Popal said. “So football is our platform. It’s our channel, and we will continue to talk about their situation, and we will continue being their voice.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Members of Afghan Women United soccer team pose for a team photo before their match against Chad, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in Casablanca, Morocco, in their first international tournament since fleeing their country. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)
FILE - Members of the Afghan women's national soccer team celebrate their goal against the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) female football team at the ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Oct. 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)
FILE - Members of Afghan Women United soccer team celebrate after scoring a goal against Chad, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in Casablanca, Morocco, in their first international tournament since fleeing their country. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)
FILE - This Tuesday, March 8, 2016 file photo shows Khalida Popal, the former Afghanistan national women's team captain, in Copenhage, Denmark. (AP Photos/Jan M. Olsen, File)
