In defence of SA’s women

Amid a raging storm fuelled by South African Institution of Civil Engineering (Saice) chief executive officer Manglin Pillay, questioning whether South Africa should be investing in attracting women into science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, a female academic has come out swinging.

University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) economics and statistics lecturer Nthabiseng Moleko, pictured, maintains that the key to resolving the country’s critical skills shortage hinged on increasing the number of females educated and employed in these fields.

Challenging Pillay’s notion, Moleko said she strongly believed that skilling women in these fields would ensure SA was geared up for a digital future.

“Reversing the growing gender wage gap in South Africa requires addressing stereotypes of certain careers as men’s work and better equipping underutilised TVET [technical vocational education and training] colleges to deliver technical, engineering and artisan skills,” said Moleko.

In a recently published Civil Engineering magazine column “Out on a Rib”, Pillay – who has since “unreservedly” apologised – questioned whether the country should be investing in attracting women into science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (Stem) as evidence showed that females were predisposed to caring and people-orientated careers.

According to Moleko, eight of the top 10 scarce-skills occupations in SA were Stem-related, with demand for technical skills and innovation capacity only increasing with the rise of the digital economy driven by rapid advances in the fourth industrial revolution technology.

She said women were “under-represented in these fields, where pay is generally better than in non-Stem jobs”.

“Encouraging young women into Stem education and training would not only reduce the overall shortage of scarce and critical skills, but also strengthen women’s economic empowerment by moving them from vulnerable positions in low-skilled and informal jobs to the stability of the formal economy,” said Moleko.

“Fifty TVET colleges across the country are specifically geared to deliver the technical, artisan and engineering skills to support these sectors.”