A labour-hire provider will be allowed to discriminate based on sex in a bid to employ more women to build transport infrastructure for the Queensland government.

Protech Personnel Pty Ltd sought an exemption from the Anti-Discrimination Act to allow it to target recruitment for women. At the moment it recruits 9 per cent of women in non-traditional roles.

The company will be allowed to "discriminate" based on sex for two years in a bid to boost female staff numbers. Credit:Jason South

Protech had been approached by the Department of Transport and Main Roads' RoadTek to address the under-representation of women in their construction workforce, but could not find any non-discriminatory ways of achieving that.

In the company's application to the Industrial Relations Commission, it said women made up about 12 per cent of the construction industry workforce.