Building gender diversity in South Africa’s engineering sector from the ground up.
By Chris Campbell, CEO of Consulting Engineers South Africa
Achieving gender diversity in South Africa’s engineering industry is an ongoing imperative that requires concerted efforts not only within the industry itself but also across South Africa’s educational system. While progress has been made in recent years, the underrepresentation of women and marginalised groups in engineering roles remains a challenge.
To create a truly diverse workforce, it is essential to lay the groundwork early, fostering interest and engagement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields among young children. This holistic approach will ensure that future generations, with a focus on females, are better equipped to contribute to and thrive in the engineering sector.
While there are ongoing efforts in the engineering industry to see real transformation in terms of gender diversity, we must also really dissect the value chain outside an industry perspective – for example, how many young female learners are working towards a career in engineering, how many qualify to study engineering, and once qualified, how many of these female graduates enter the consulting engineering field.
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