Bright Ideas Grants and CEO award highlight culture change advocacy, says NAWIC CEO Cathryn Greville
It’s been an exciting start to the New Year and as a representative of NAWIC, I am truly grateful to have been named Best Construction Industry Advocacy CEO 2025 (Australia).
This recognition from the CEO Monthly’s prestigious Female CEO of the Year Awards 2025 reflects the passion, generosity and commitment of our growing NAWIC community – our inspiring volunteers, members, sponsors, supporters and dedicated staff – who show up every day to advocate for positive change and to strengthen our industry.
Advocacy remains central to our work. Strong, informed and courageous advocacy is essential to ensuring the voices of women and underrepresented groups are heard, and to driving lasting, systemic change across the built environment.
The recipients of our 2026 NAWIC Bright Ideas Grants also reflect our commitment to driving positive change. This year, I’m delighted that the seed funding is going to a pilot program offering supported pathways for women in construction navigating parental leave and an innovative project to provide hygiene facilities for women onsite.
Samantha Grant from New South Wales was awarded the $30,000 Bright Ideas Individual Grant for her Crib Shift: Building a Better Way Back pilot program designed to address the urgent need for structured, supported pathways for women in construction navigating parental leave and returning to work.
Crib Shift is a research-informed, industry-specific and community-powered program responding to a gap identified in NAWIC’s Boosting Retention of Women in Construction parental leave research project, which highlighted the absence of cohesive, consistent frameworks to retain and support women during this transformative life and career stage.
Samantha says the program is also inspired by her lived experience and, at its core, Crib Shift is primary prevention, creating the conditions where women can thrive in the construction workforce through supported leave transitions, employer capability uplift and peer-driven community care.
Crib Shift is beyond a wellbeing initiative – it’s a primary prevention workforce solution.
This program doesn’t exist anywhere else. It’s informed by lived experience, guided by research and grounded in reality.
The program will include:
• Mothers on Leave Stream: accessible peer circles and reflective tools support women to stay connected to their identity, ambitions and industry during leave, without pressure to perform or plan.
• Returning Mothers Stream: For women in their first two years back at work, this stream offers facilitated sessions and access to shared stories, frameworks, strategies and community; supporting a sustainable, confident return.
• Employer Stream: This stream offers targeted, practical tools to build confidence among employers and managers.
• Dedicated resources for dads and partners: Recognising that women are best supported through this transition when there is a broader ecosystem around them that understands and shares the load.
The $20,000 Bright Ideas Business Grant has been awarded to The GO Company in Tasmania for their Hygiene for Her Project. The funding will be used to develop, produce, and distribute GO Sanitary Site Bundles, ensuring smaller and regional construction businesses have access to practical, affordable hygiene facilities for women on site.
Co-founded by electricians Jasmyn Smith and Logan Barnett, The GO Company is dedicated to supporting women in underserved industries by providing essential sanitary solutions.
Many smaller construction businesses and remote sites do not have access to basic hygiene amenities. This leaves women without suitable facilities, impacting their comfort, health and sense of belonging in the workplace.
The aim is to offer workplace solutions that make hygiene accessibility simple, affordable
and standard across all industries.
By delivering ready to install hygiene stations, the Hygiene for Her Project aims to:
• Eliminate reliance on basic or unsuitable portable toilets and ensure consistent access across sites of all sizes.
• Enable women to manage their hygiene needs safely and privately without needing to leave work, which will reduce downtime, improve productivity and demonstrate that the business values its female workers.
• Encourage healthier, more sustainable work environment, supporting women’s long-term health, helping them maintain their careers without compromising wellbeing or family planning goals.
The Bright Ideas Grants provide an important opportunity to support innovative projects for women in construction that focus on retention, career progression, leadership pathways and cultural change.
It was pleasing to attract a total of 36 applications across both categories this year. My thanks go to our judges who noted that the overall high quality of the applications made the assessment process quite difficult.
Congratulations to both of our grant recipients for their innovative projects to support women in construction and I look forward to sharing the positive outcomes of their projects in the year ahead.
Learn more about how to become a member and the Allyship in Action project at www.nawic.com.au
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