Breaking
barriers
COMMENT
Tarren Bolton
[email protected]
23
June 2019 marks
International Women in
Engineering Day – an
international awareness
campaign to help raise the profi le of
women in engineering and celebrate the
outstanding achievements of women
engineers throughout the world.
It’s a little-known fact that throughout
history, female inventors, scientists
and engineers discovered countless
revolutionary and life-changing
inventions that have resulted in
unprecedented breakthroughs and
ingenious inventions which make our
lives safer, easier and more enjoyable.
These innovative women have
imagined, developed, tested and
perfected their creations, and are behind
many of the products and technologies
used every day, forever changing the way
we see our world. From women like Hedy
Lamarr (1914–2000), an Austrian-born
American fi lm actress whose invention
of the Secret Communication System
led to the development of Wi-Fi, GPS
and Bluetooth; to Mary Sherman Morgan
(1921–2004), an American rocket fuel
scientist and inventor of Hydyne (a liquid
oxygen propellant). From Lynn Conway,
an American computer scientist and
electrical engineer who is noteworthy for
a number of pioneering achievements
including the Mead & Conway revolution
in VLSI design, which incubates an
emerging electronic design automation
industry; to Olga D González-Sanabria, a
Puerto Rican chemical engineer, scientist
and co-inventor of Long Cycle-Life Nickel-
Hydrogen Batteries; these women have
signifi cantly contributed to various fi elds
of engineering.
www.plantonline.co.za
One thing they all have in common
(aside from their gender and brilliance)
is that their accomplishments are set
in opportunity – and they likely had
social challenges to overcome. Yet, they
persevered. Hertha Ayrton (1854–1923),
recognised for her work on electric arcs
and ripples in sand and water, was a
close friend of Marie Curie (1867–1934).
She famously wrote, ‘Errors are
notoriously hard to kill, but an error that
ascribes to a man what was actually the
work of a woman has more lives than
a cat’ after Marie's discovery of radium
was attributed to her husband. Yet
despite societal challenges, and beyond
her incredible individual contributions,
Marie Curie has left another enduring
legacy as she has inspired generations
of women to enter the male-dominated
arena and pursue their own dreams.
Much like the ‘masculine’ fi elds of
science and engineering, the mining
industry has not been an obvious
career choice and preferred place of
employment for women. Until 1994,
women were legislatively prohibited
from meaningful participation in the
mining industry in South Africa and were
denied access to skills and jobs, self-
employment and entrepreneurship. But
the Mines Health and Safety Act, No.29
of 1996, changed this when it removed
these restrictions. In addition, new
mining legislation and the accompanying
Mining Charter make specifi c provision
for the inclusion of women in core
mining activities and require 10% of
core positions to be fi lled by women.
Since then, the latest annual statistics
for top leadership placements show
that South African companies are
taking gender transformation to heart,
with more women than men landing
management and senior leadership roles
for the fi rst time last year.
Currently, women are heading
portfolios such as the public protector;
CEO of the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange and the fi rst female deputy
auditor-general, among others. Prior to
1994, South Africa had just one female
judge, while today women judges make
up almost 28% of the judiciary. Women
are making inroads into business
leadership and heading up global giants
in the country such as the head of ABSA
bank.
Women have entered previously
male-dominated areas in the corporate
world and currently constitute 3.6%
of CEO positions, 5.5% of chairperson
positions, 17.1% of directorships and
21.4% of executive management
positions (SA government statistics,
August 2018). Last month, I attended
the launch of the new Cummins Power
Hub and met with managing director
of Cummins Southern Africa, Racheal
Njoroge, to chat about her history
with Cummins, her role as a ‘woman
in power’ and the future of powering
on – you can read more about this
remarkable woman on page 32.
I hope you fi nd this issue informative,
interesting and insightful. If you have any
comments, tips, ideas or suggestions
on absolutely anything industry-related,
please don’t hesitate to email me at:
[email protected].
JUNE 2019
1