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Since Dr Alberta Mayberry became US Consular General in Cape Town, she instituted a high tea in honour of National Womens Day. As co-founder of SAWomEng, I was invited to give a 5 minute speech on the success stories of women. I would like to share the address with everyone below:

It gives me great pleasure to stand before you to celebrate the contribution 100 000 women made 54 years ago.  My name is Naadiya Moosajee and I am co-founder of South African Women in Engineering. 

Women engineers are exceptionally rare as engineering is still very much a male dominated industry.  In fact, in South Africa, women engineers are only 13% of the engineering workforce. The low numbers of women in the industry is not just a local issue, but a global one as many countries, even highly developed ones have no more than 20% women engineers.

It is strange that the numbers are so low, since if you look at the traditional roles women play, it is very engineering oriented. Take baking for an example: mixing ingredients, to make something new, and when it flops, which is often in my case, we adjust proportions or oven temp so it doesn't flop again - right there is an example of chemical engineering.  Women are home builders, making sure that living conditions for their families are adequate and comfortable - well thats exactly what civil engineers do, except on a larger scale. I can go on in this vain bringing engineering into everyday life, but I only have 5 minutes.

This is what SAWomEng is about- promoting engineering as well as the personal and professional development of young aspirant girls from a high school level all the way through to graduate level. 

We focus on
-mentorship and networking,
-Creating new solutions to everyday global problems
-Breaking down barriers to entry and stereotypes
-And personal growth and development - who am I as a women, how do a gain inner personal strength to deal with issues such as racism and sexism in the workplace, which still exist.

At SAWomEng we have affected this year alone over 1500 females between the ages of 16-25 through our different divisions.  Most notably is our GirlEng division promoting engineering to young high school girls and providing mentorship, access to scholarships and an awareness of engineering.

So why is it so vital to have more women engineers? Recent evidence indicates that heterogeneous groups are more effective at problem solving, innovation and creativity. Women make up over 50% of the population and we ignore them as a skills base to our own detriment. As recently as the 12th July, the Economist attributed the rise of China’s economic growth to the education of women specifically in the S&T fields.

This month being about women, I am embarrassed to admit that I, myself had to do some homework on some female engineers and their contribution to society.  I call these the unsung heroes, like 

Aileen Cavanagh - born in New York, became a military engineer and is responsible radar technology that forms the foundation for air traffic control
Mary Walton - late 1800s pioneered pollution prevention in big cities and developed a method for reducing train noise - she went on to sell her patent to the New York Railroad System
Bonnie Dunbar who was a ceramic engineer, nasa astronaut and developed the innovative system of ceramic tiles on space shuttles to protect them on re-entry
Thabisa Mbungwana patented a water treatment system for rural communities where 50 litres of dirty water could be purified in 45 minutes.

There are so many more fantastic stories to tell, and so little time, but I leave you with this last thought.  At the dawn of the 20th century, Egyptian poet Hafez Ibrahim said: "When you educate a woman, you create a nation." This statement has never been more true.