Hi-viz never looked so hot.
A website intended to build community among construction workers is getting a taste of the wrecking ball after dressing female models in skimpy, construction-inspired attire to spice up an annual industry event lambasted by DEI activists as “sexist.”
Walking on stilts and sporting ultra-revealing versions of the trade standard high-visibility gear, the buxom builderettes appear to have strolled straight out of a construction-themed role playing fantasy — a huge turn-off for some, The Telegraph reported.
Diversity campaigner Faye Allen was quick to call out event organizers as a bunch of tools, claiming that “horrified” attendees reached out to her with complaints, including one woman who “literally walked into a crotch.”
Allen, a former construction company director, found the display regressive and misogynist, given that she has been “fighting really hard for PPE that fits, for women and other diverse groups.”
“To have people put on hi-viz colors and dress like that, it’s frustrating,” she said.
She said she worked in the industry for three decades but quit because of how she was treated — and wasn’t happy to be reminded that “women are still being treated that way today.”
DEI expert Harriet Waley-Cohen also lambasted the showcase in a LinkedIn post entitled “sexist WTF of the week.”
“When women are sexualized as eye candy like this, it tells every person present that women aren’t to be taken seriously, that they are objects for entertainment and titillation,” she wrote.
“It reinforces the idea that women’s value is in their looks, especially in how sexy others find them, not in their ability, experience or intelligence. It says ‘we don’t take women seriously.’”
Waley-Cohen added, “Women have far shorter careers than men in construction, according to RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) data. It’s not surprising women are leaving if they are unsafe at work and routinely sexualized. What happened [here] absolutely reinforces all of this.”
The offending organization, On The Tools, describes the site as the “largest and most engaged online construction community for UK tradespeople.” An official apology has since been published on LinkedIn — with a claim that the event was organized by a contractor they’d hired.
“We asked for a construction theme but didn’t check the outfits,” CEO and co-founder Lee Wilcox said. “But no matter the ins and outs of it and how it happened, this was a f–k up and we’re sorry.”
“We always aim to empower women, which is why I’m personally really, really sorry to anyone we’ve offended,” Wilcox added.
“Those that know me, know this isn’t what I’m about, and as the leader of the business our culture and beliefs are a reflection of me directly. Which is why this is on me,” he said.