As an electrician who has worked on hundreds of construction and mining projects across Australia, Sarah Brunton has used countless temporary toilets and portaloos.

In some cases, these facilities have been located in makeshift cleaning storage cupboards or hundreds of metres away from a building site.

At other times they have not existed at all.

"The first time that happened was at a small commercial shop fit out," Ms Brunton told 105.7 ABC Darwin.

"There was a toilet in the corner with no walls around it because they'd taken all the walls down throughout the building.

"The boys would walk up to it and pee in it. I'd just drive down to the servo at smoko time."

As the founder of the Darwin Sparquettes, Ms Brunton is working to improve workplace standards for women in the Northern Territory's male-dominated construction industry.

According to Worksafe NT, employers must supply workers with facilities that are a "reasonable" distance from a work area and cater to particular needs or disabilities.

But union representatives allege small businesses through to contractors at Darwin's major gas project — Ichthys at Bladin Point — are not always compliant when it comes to the needs of their female workers.

Bryan Wilkins, the NT organiser of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU), said the union this year mediated a workplace dispute after an Ichthys contractor "forgot" to bring in a women's toilet block.

"[The Ichthys contractor] brought in a male block and no female block," Mr Wilkins told 105.7 ABC Darwin.

"There was a number of female workers. They were expected to drive themselves 500 metres to the toilets, if there was a car available, or walk that distance.

"It went on for two months. We had to use legislation to provide something that should just be provided.

"I can't believe in 2015 we still have to have these arguments with employers, and this wasn't the only employer that's doing it."

'It's about respect in the workplace'

Mr Wilkins said it was unclear if the Ichthys contractor's lack of female toilets was gender discrimination.

"I wouldn't like to think the employer was actually discriminating or discouraging females from working there. I'd say it was all to do with the money," Mr Wilkins said.

Paul Kirby, NT organiser of the Electoral Trades Union and secretary to Unions NT, agreed that many workplaces were either forgetting, overlooking or ignoring women's needs.

Sarah Brunton describes these toilets, which also house cleaning supplies, as standard conditions for women tradies in the NT. ( Supplied: Sarah Brunton )

Mr Kirby said workers should be realistic about the bathroom standards — or lack thereof — on makeshift and temporary building sites.

He said women were entitled to easily accessible toilets and sanitary bins, especially so they could manage menstruation needs.

He told 105.7 ABC Darwin it was "acceptable" for employers to supply unisex portaloos or toilet blocks as long as urinals and toilets were separated, but said that even this policy sometimes raised eyebrows.

"I have people say, 'you use the same toilet at home'. I say, 'but do you use it at the same time?'."

Ms Brunton has also received similar responses from employers when raising her toilet troubles.

"You can get a varied type of response from, 'if you don't like it, don't work here, just leave' to 'we forgot about that' to 'oh, there's a servo down the road or Maccas is five minutes away. Just duck down there'," she said.

Attitudes like this were indicative of the industry's wider lack of sensitivity at a time when more and more women were entering traditionally blokey workplaces, Mr Kirby said.

On smaller construction sites, it is now common for there to be at least a few women among a group of men.

At major projects like Icythys, about 1,000 women work as engineers, boilermakers, electricians and surveyors.

"We get women having no access to toilets or being sacked because they can't lift the same amount of things that men can. It can be abhorrent at times," Mr Kirby said.

"It's not just about toilets. It's about respect in the workplace."

Times slowly changing for tradie women

Mr Kirby said Territory tradie women often came to the union with workplace issues that they did not feel comfortable raising in an environment where they were already in the vast minority.

He said this was understandable and that it "doesn't need to be up to the women to bring these things up".

"It's not about the women having to stand up and be better educated. It's probably more about the men being better educated — whether they're employees or employers," he said.

Ms Brunton, who holds talks at high schools promoting the trades and mentors young women entering the industry, had a slightly different take.

"I know women who drop out because they can't be bothered with things. I tell them to draw the line," she said.

Sarah Brunton says it is important for women to "stick up for themselves" in male-dominated industries. ( 105.7 ABC Darwin: Emilia Terzon )

"You're sticking out anyways as you're a minority. So my view is stick up for it and don't worry about that.

"You just have to raise your voice. If you're in a workplace where the facilities aren't acceptable, you need to approach your safety committee or employee or union delegate.

"Take that issue to them and raise it there so it ends up being sorted out and fixed.

"It is 2015 and it's not acceptable."

But Ms Brunton added the situation was improving.

"There's more women realising they can get into these trades and it's a good career option for women. It's improving as more women work in trades," she said.

Her advice to workplaces seeking to hire more women: "If you don't have the right toilets, it might put them off straight away."

A spokesperson for Inpex, which hired the contractor at Ichthys, told the ABC that separate toilets for male and females were being provided, with a screen at exit points and "adequate and hygienic means for the disposal of sanitary items".

The spokesperson said the company was "proud of the female participation rate" at the Darwin site.