Wāhine Kotahitanga is an employee-led internal network dedicated to supporting wāhine in site-facing, graduate, and cadet roles at Downer. The mission of this network is to nurture, support, and empower wāhine.

The name Wāhine Kotahitanga means women united, which links back to the purpose of the group – to bring wāhine together to grow and to change the ‘status quo’ of the industry.

Wāhine Kotahitanga’s Story

During Downer’s 2020 Young Professional Conference, there was an opportunity for female graduates to share their journeys about what it is like to work in a male-dominated industry. Many of these female attendees realised that they had shared experiences and faced similar challenges. And many of them were passionate about creating change and wanted to ‘Stand in the Gap’.

Stand in the Gap is a simple message within Downer. In essence, each Downer employee is empowered to ‘Stand in the Gap’ and call out risks or concerns they see within Downer, so that these risks can be avoided. Stand in the Gap means a respected environment where safety and mental wellbeing are a priority and supported by colleagues and managers, where everyone feels included.

From the Young Professionals Conference, a group of the female graduates approached senior leaders within Downer and shared their concerns and their vision for the future. With their help, the female graduates then put a proposal to the Downer Executive Leadership Team. With their help Wāhine Kotahitanga was born. 

The network launched as part of International Women’s Day in 2022, and since then Wāhine Kotahitanga has delivered a number of initiatives including bimonthly connection sessions, courageous conversations workshops, national networking events and much more. 

Our Mission

Wāhine Kotahitanga is a community that supports, builds, empowers young female graduate engineers and business cadets at Downer.

Our goal is to nurture and support a community of young wāhine. We want to empower and retain the female engineers entering the construction industry and connect them with wāhine in leadership roles.