Recognising outstanding achievement at the Women in Industry Awards

The Women in Industry Awards recognises outstanding women from across a range of different industries that are traditionally male dominated – with Coralie Chapman, national logistics manager at Humes Concrete Products – taking out the Excellence in Transport Award for 2023.

The awards are hosted by Prime Creative Media, with chief operating officer, Christine Clancy, welcoming over 370 guests who attended the sell-out event in Melbourne last night (Thursday June 8).

Prime Creative Media has hosted the Women in Industry Awards for the past seven years and according to Clancy, this year’s rendition has been the most successful to date.

“We received an outstanding 158 nominations this year – more than triple what we received when we started – and our ticket sales have sold out,” she said.

“Now is when I would love to say that the result is an increase in gender equality in the workplace. However, it’s been seven years, a major pandemic, a shift to remote work and the most significant job mobility in two decades – and guess what? Women are still paid $26,000 less than men on average – the exact same number as 2016 when we started these awards.

“The answer to gender equality might not sit in gathering more statistics and analysis, or more drafts of workplace policies. At Prime Creative Media we’re betting we can make a difference by celebrating women in historically male-dominated industries.”

Coralie Chapman, national logistics manager at Humes Concrete Products, was presented with the Excellence in Transport Award for 2023.

The Excellence in Transport Award recognises an individual who has gone above and beyond to improve and positively impact the Australian transport industry.

Coralie Chapman, who has worked in the industry for the past 24 years and is also vice chair at Transport Women Australia Limited (TWAL) was up against five other finalists in the category: Amanda Bradfield from EES Shipping, Ann Lopez from Lopez Bros Transport, Caddie Green from Metro Trains Melbourne, Jenny Lancaster from Aurecon, and Leonnie Carter from Carter Heavy Haulage.

Chapman originally came into the industry by accident, at the age of 19, when she began working as a trainee with Linfox in 1999 – and she’s never looked back.

Throughout her career, she has spent a great deal of time volunteering, advocating, mentoring, representing and promoting the various roles in the transport and logistics industry, as well as safety around heavy vehicles.

She continues to encourage women to embark on a career in transport, which is why she originally joined the TWAL board in late 2016. She was also awarded the National Trucking Industry Woman of the Year in 2019.

In accepting her latest accolade, Chapman said it was an honour to win the Excellence in Transport Award.

“First I’d like to thank Prime Creative Media for putting on these awards and an amazing night. And to Transport Women Australia Limited for nominating me. Also congratulations to all the other finalists,” she said.

“I love working in transport and I have loved it since day one. But for me, I’m quite lucky these days, I work for Humes Precast Concrete, so I do construction manufacturing but I also get to play with trucks every day. What more can a girl ask for?”

In closing her acceptance speech, Chapman stated a case for changing our language to help get more women into transport and other industries. “Instead of saying ‘male-dominated’, which can sound very threatening, especially for young women, change it to ‘predominantly male’,” she said.

“Predominantly male doesn’t sound as threatening and it actually sounds more inviting. So if we can learn to change our language when we’re talking to women and to younger people in the industry, I think it’s a big step towards getting more women into any predominantly male industry.”