Civil Engineering September 2021 | Vol 29 No 8

From the Pres ident ’ s desk Civil Engineering September 2021 1 I n August we celebrated Women’s Month and it was indeed an honour for me as President of SAICE to pay tribute to those 20 000 brave women who, on 9 August 1956, marched to the Union Buildings in protest of the extension of the pass laws to women and who paved the way for the fight for women’s rights and equality. At the same time, I want to pay special tribute to all the hard-working women out there, be it in our profession or outside of it, to acknowledge your im- mense contribution to your professions despite all the barriers that you may have faced in life as well as in your careers. It is no secret that women have made considerable achievements in our profession in the recent past, but there is still so much work to be done to achieve equality, and it is our responsibility to ensure that we work towards that. PROMOTING WOMEN IN ENGINEERING The theme for Women’s Month 2021 is, “The year of Charlotte Maxeke: Realising Women’s Rights” and I am happy to say that a major part of my presidential theme for 2021 is based on gender inclusivity and equality. My theme also promotes how we as professionals in the industry can advocate the need for working towards creating a more gender- inclusive environment that is conducive and equitable for all to work in harmony. Engineering contributes to shaping the world around us, making our planet a much better, safer, more innovative and, if done correctly, a much healthier place to live in. However, engineering is perhaps the most male-dominated of the STEM fields. It is no secret that the slow pace of transformation in terms of inclusivity in our profession has limited our capacity to effectively meet our societal needs. Over the last few decades, progress has been made to varying degrees, through awareness, education, and even policies and government legislation. However, this is still not enough, and a concerted effort is needed to fully achieve inclusive and equitable practices in our profession. This will not only assure true representa- tion of our global communities, but also yield fair societal results from the work that we do. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY We must acknowledge that inclusivity is about all of us as we all need to do more to encourage women as well as other under-represented groups to enter the civil engineering field. Furthermore, gender inclusivity and diversity are crucial to the bottom line of companies. This is evident from the benefits gained in terms of increased innovation and better productivity as well as the greater success that can be achieved by inclusive and diverse teams. Many companies do have comprehen- sive inclusivity and diversity statements, but for some these are just on paper and top management only pays lip service while never translating them into action. Moreover, it must be noted that company statements and visions don’t turn into actions on their own. What is needed are transformational and inspirational leaders who can actively transform their organisations to achieve what is set out in their strategies. There must be a firm belief that diversity and inclusivity is a key business driver and that it must be woven into the culture of every organisation. CEOs and captains of industry must be committed to promoting and maintaining a barrier- free, non-biased recruitment and reten- tion process. Furthermore, promoting gender inclusivity and diversity should be an essential component or strategy when pursuing success for any organisation. This world has a long history of exploitation and exclusion which has led to a lack of generational wealth. It is extremely important for us to dismantle this negative bias and move forward as a global community. There has been a drive to get com- panies to publish their own diversity and inclusivity CVs outlining what they have achieved thus far, so that potential employees can decide whether they want to join an organisa- tion based on its ability to provide an inclusive environment that promotes adequate growth paths beyond the glass ceiling. Moving towards a more gender‑inclusive work environment There must be a firm belief that diversity and inclusivity is a key business driver and that it must be woven into the culture of every organisation