The Civil Engineering Contractor October 2018 | Page 3

COMMENT Why engineering needs more women professional female engineers totalled only 4%. These paltry figures should not be used to discourage women from the profession, but as a reason to redouble efforts to transform its demographics. Engineers play a massive role in designing the infrastructure of the world around us and it cannot be healthy that they do not reflect the broader society that the infrastructure serves. While other countries have moved on, in South Africa, the profession’s image remains highly gendered. The figures position South Africa at the extreme edge of the gender spectrum, making it hard to attract people who would not envisage themselves as engineers. The CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Hayaatun Sillem, is the first woman to take up the role and she recently penned an article saying: “It is encouraging that fewer people today argue that there are so few women in engineering because girls have less interest or ability in the subject. There’s a growing body of evidence that debunks that myth. The evidence just does not support the idea that there’s something inherent.” Yet many female engineers continue to leave the industry because of the gender bias they experience. If female engineers face challenges in the broader industry, it is nothing compared to what they face on the jobsite. Firms are obliged to employ women, especially black women, Eamonn Ryan - editor [email protected] T he issue of female representation in engineering is a serious topic that can become somewhat trivialised by writing on it in ‘Women’s Month’ (August), as though that is the only time it rates a mention. South Africa’s record on employing female engineers is well behind countries such as Latvia, Cyprus, and Bulgaria, where about 30% of their respective engineering workforces are women, and also behind Sweden (26%) and Italy (20%). In countries like Malaysia and Oman, the engineering workforce is 50% female, exposing the fallacy that women are predisposed to caring and people- orientated careers alone. But in South Africa — and Britain for that matter — the construction industry has long been infamous for being a ‘boys club’ with no girls allowed, with the biggest sexist cliché being men on a scaffold wolf- whistling at a passing girl. Out of SAICE’s database of almost 16 000 members, 17% are women. Of the number of members who are professionally registered, just 5% are female. Backing up these figures, the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) in 2013 said only 11% of the total number of engineers registered with the council were women, but that but these women are made to feel unwelcome on site, down even to lack of dedicated toilet facilities and even a scarcity of female-designed personal protective equipment. Traditionally, women have had to don workwear designed for average-sized men, with goggles, safety boots, and overalls that do not fit — let alone embrace their femininity. This reduces the protective function thereof. Worse, women continue to be victimised on site — many men cannot accept that they are there to do a professional job. One complaint frequently heard is that women have to work twice as hard as men to be taken seriously or trusted by men and have to constantly prove their ability. Writing in a column, The Hard Hat Professional, construction consultant Gretchen Rose Matthews says: “One thing that I have personally encountered repeatedly is indifference from subcontractors and suppliers who are meant to work under my direction. Even to this day, when I meet a new subcontractor or supplier, they assume I know absolutely nothing and have the need to re-educate me on my job. I have even had to work with male professionals who refuse to speak to me directly and will speak about me in the third person to my male counterparts in my presence.” Women continue to be victimised on site, as some men cannot accept they’re there to do a professional job. CEC October 2018 - 1