Civil Engineering March 2022 | Vol 30 No 2

T he World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021 notes that gender gaps are more likely in sectors that require disruptive technical skills, such as engineering, where women account for just 20% globally. While attracting women to the built environment is a challenge, the retention of women in this industry is an even bigger one, and often does not receive the same attention. According to Innocentia Mahlangu, SAICE’s Diversity and Inclusivity Champion, this “leaky pipeline” is a testament to the many chal- lenges facing women in the sector. An analysis of the Engineering Council of South Africa’s 2020/21 Annual Report shows that just 7.5% of all profes- sional category registrants are female. In the professional engineer category, women account for only 6%. This number is a lot larger for all candidate category regis- trants where just over 25% are women. In the candidate engineer category, 23% are women, which is an encouraging sign. In terms of project professionals, the South African Council of Project and Construction Management Professionals’ 2020/21 Annual Report shows that just 6.6% of registered professionals are women, while 41% in the candidate cat- egory are women. Both Innocentia and Tom McKune, SAICE’s Head of Training, believe that the larger number of female candidates does not necessarily reflect larger numbers of women entering the profession, as the number of female graduates has not increased significantly in recent years. Instead, they believe the disparity be- tween female candidate and professional engineers is due to the “leaky pipeline,” which they largely attribute to workplace inequities which include: Q Q Organisational cultures that are not committed to diversity, equity and inclusion Q Q Unconscious biases and stereotyping Q Q Human resource practices (e.g. hiring and promotions) that marginalise women D i vers i t y and i nclus i v i t y Repairing the leaky pipeline: howwe retainwomen in engineering The general engineering and construction sector continues to be dominated by men, despite efforts to attract more women to the field. Civil Engineering spoke to several built environment professionals to learn more about the challenges facing women and how women-focused programmes can help retain female talent. 54 March 2022 Civil Engineering