Tauranga woman exposes misogyny, sexualised threats in construction industry

Vanessa Crafts received sexual threats after she posted a Facebook ad challenging 'outdated' beliefs in the construction field.

When Tauranga health and safety consultant Vanessa Crafts ran a Facebook ad questioning outdated rules in construction, what she got back was a ‘flood of misogyny and sexualised threats’. One person wrote, ‘Don’t f***en come to our site unless you want to get bent over and slaughtered’. She took screenshots and shared them on social media, drawing hundreds of further comments.

A 2023 government report found that women make up only 15.8% of the construction industry in New Zealand – far below the national average of 47%. But when it comes to ‘on the tools’ roles – like trades and site-based work – the representation plummets to 3%.

In an interview with the Herald’s Varsha Anjali, the 15-year construction industry veteran explains in her own words why she’s decided to go public and what she wants to change for other women.

I’d say in my earlier days working in construction, the misogyny and toxic culture was quite heavy.

I’ve been spat on. I’ve been stood over. I’ve been yelled at.

So I think the saddest thing for me was, when I read the sexual threats commented on the Facebook ad I shared, I actually laughed.

I was most shocked by how shocked everyone else was, though.

I’m so used to those kinds of comments that I’m not offended by them anymore, and that’s really gross. I’ve got four kids myself, three being girls, and if someone said that to them, I’d be absolutely disgusted.

That’s what got me to write the post in the first place - like, hold on a second, this is still happening?

I didn’t post it to provoke outrage. I posted it to educate people about the risks and controls. But what I got back was a flood of misogyny and sexualised threats. It shines a spotlight on a toxic culture that’s still alive and well in 2025.

Vanessa Crafts, 34, has been working in constuction and health and safety for 15 years.

I got a comment on Facebook today telling me ‘I’m a 20-year-old small thing [in the industry] - that [me being on site] is a bigger distraction and blah, blah, blah’ kind of thing.

It’s like he was saying it’s not misogynistic, and that’s just the reality, when in fact, I’m very experienced at what I do. I’ve probably got more experience in the construction space than him - and I’m not 20.

I’ve had my consultancy for maybe nine years now. I opened my consultancy because there was a mad injustice of me doing roles, like “men’s roles”, and not getting the credit for it. So I didn’t really have a choice but to go out on my own to get my own credit.

And I’m actually there to help [the people who criticise me]. I’m literally trying to get them to do less with more meaning through my job. That’s the goal.

And it’s not my clients.

My clients are really responsive and I’m there for a reason, but it doesn’t mean that other contractors on site are as happy for me to be there.

I don’t get the comments that much in person anymore. It’s more like an unwillingness to talk to me - or just being dismissed from the outset. But again, that’s not my clients, that’s the contractors or other people on site.

I know women in trades definitely get these kinds of misogynistic comments a lot ... but again, they treat it the same, like just “boys being boys”.

Another comment Crafts received on her Facebook ad.

It’s definitely not everyone; we’ve definitely had progress, and it has changed. But the toxic culture is definitely still there.

For me, it’s just what comes up and we deal with it. You have to stand strong and back yourself, that is probably the biggest thing.

And I think most women in construction, who do well in it, just learn to live with it and don’t let it bother them. It’s almost like out of sight, out of mind, even when it’s right in front of you. Because that’s kind of how I deal with it.

[I’m] certainly not looking for sympathy, but I’m highlighting a true matter.

And I took the screenshots to share awareness about the comments more than anything else.

Being a female in safety [and construction] is not easy. But that’s exactly why I won’t stop. I’m on a mission to redefine the way people perceive safety. For too long, it’s been buried in paperwork and treated like a tick-box exercise.

I want to strip away the BS, give power back to the experts - the people actually doing the work - and make safety something that makes sense on the ground.

The irony is that some of my strongest champions are the men on the ground, business owners, foremen, and tradies who actually like my style because it cuts through the jargon. They appreciate that I’m not there to drown them in paperwork; I’m there to engage, to listen, and to make safety make sense. That’s where the real change happens

This won’t stop me. If anything, it proves exactly why I do what I do. Safety doesn’t suck. Toxic culture does. And it’s time we changed that.