Civil Engineering September 2022 | Vol 30 No 8

62 September 2022 Civil Engineering “W ell stay in the kitchen.” That was but one of the responses to a recent post on LinkedIn by a young woman working in the UK construction sector in the physically tough role of a heavy goods vehicle driver. Her post outlines the daily challenges women face in not only a male-dominated sector, but in a specific role within the sector that would seem to be more suited to males for no other reason than the sheer physical strength needed to do the job. This intelligent and respected young woman has built a large personal LinkedIn following through her valuable contributions to the important women in construction dialogue. Notwithstanding the large number of positive and sup- portive responses she received from both males and females, the disturbing issue was the number of insensitive, opinionated, and judgmental responses from many of the male readers. Open platform social media sharing certainly has its risks and can at- tract an undesirable element that not only fails to add value to the common cause but can actually have the opposite effect. “This hostile remark is an example of what the world needs to eradicate if we want to impact the trajectory of gender equality in the workplace, and specifically in our own engineering and construction sector,” says Shelley Marsh, structural engineering technician and co-founder of UK-based Knowledge Mentoring (Global) (KMGL). Shelley continues, “By contrast to this inappropriate response in open social media, consider the immense value of a secure struc- tured social learning and knowledge sharing environment within which women from across the full spectrum of built environment disciplines, supporting services and supply chain can share their chal- lenges, experiences, aspirations and visions, without fear of criticism or chauvinistic immaturity. Women from distinct professional disci- plines, non-competitive business sectors, collective special interests, and emergent 4IR learning areas, from across the world, can now share and support each other, along with our invited male allies.” A PLATFORM FOR WOMEN Women in the Built Environment (WITBE) is the brainchild of Shelley Marsh and KMGL, which hosts and manages WITBE as part of the planned global Women in series, along with other global collaboration partners. Mentoring 4 Success (M4S) is the exclusive South African channel partner for KMGL and WITBE, and through the vision and foresight of former SAICE CEO Vishaal Lutchman and long-serving industry champion and SAICE Head of Training, Tom McKune, SAICE has entered into a collaborative relationship with M4S via a Memorandum of Understanding to support SAICE’s Growing Forward strategy. “SAICE continues to push the boundaries in the diversity and inclusivity space and has launched a programme in collaboration with M4S where our female members can have a safe space to discuss their daily challenges,” says Tom. WITBE is the first of multiple collaboration initiatives planned between SAICE and M4S to enhance the learning op- portunities for built environment students, graduates, candidates, young professionals, and seasoned captains of industry. The SAICE driving force comprises Tom McKune and Innocentia Mahlangu (head of SAICE’s diversity portfolio and WITBE Ambassador: Africa Region), while M4S provides the technology enablers, international connectivity, and knowledge champions through the leadership of Philip and Shelley Marsh. The SAICE-M4S WITBE programme is supported by the structured social learning app, KnowledgeMentor™, which enables secure and structured collaborative dialogue between the participants in six important knowledge themes, specifically selected to ensure maximum value to all participants. In addition, monthly CPD-accredited webinars are presented by local and global experts on topics such as psychological safety, the neuroscience of female leadership, and empathy in female leadership. Participants can ask questions, exchange contribu- tions, and share insights on the expert presentations which are made available in the KnowledgeMentor™ app. Participants can rate the value of knowledge exchanges through a “Knowledge Quest”, and the most active contributors will be recog- nised monthly, with the first high-profile celebration event planned with SAICE for November 2022. WITBE is an open invitation for all South African women in the built environment and is currently spon- sored by M4S and SAICE. Industry sponsors are invited to participate and can enjoy branding rights on the app and regular publications. The Inkaba Knowledge Mentoring Academy and Inkaba Education and Development Trust have also been established by M4S to make it possible to support this important women’s initia- tive with B-BBEE grants in return for Section 18A tax certificates. Interested women participants can register at https://www. mentoring4success.co.uk/saice . For more information Shelley Marsh  |  shelley@mentoring4success.co.uk Women in the built environment – the real need for secure and structured social learning opportunities The KnowledgeMentor™ app enables secure and structured collaborative dialogue