Motivate, Empower, Celebrate
the next generation of
Women in Engineering
the next generation of
Women in Engineering
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The shortage of engineers is a global issue. The number of women in engineering has been of particular concern as women are still grossly under-represented, with the percentage of women graduates in engineering still below 20% in many countries. According to many commentators, growth in the areas of science, engineering and technology could be the catalyst for job creation, social upliftment and economic development. Perhaps even more significantly, there has been a failure to capitalise effectively on our most under-utilised resource: women.
In order to address the massive skill shortages experienced, and simultaneously promote progressive thinking in this arena, it is vital that tomorrow’s future captains of industry are at the core of this process. While many women’s networks and support groups have been established in recent years and months, few focus on the plight of the young women entering the specialised field of engineering.
Against this backdrop, SAWomEng presents an invaluable platform for the advocacy, advancement and education of females entering the engineering industry.
SAWomEng Divisions
The SAWomEng philosophy is inextricably linked to its five founding pillars. Whilst all the pillars are equally important, the mandate of the organisation is to increase the population of women engineers. Currently; the organisation is pitched at tertiary students in an aim to retain them in the engineering industry through the SAWomEng conference. It is however equally important to attract women engineers into the engineering field. Girl-Eng, the high school student wing of SAWomEng aims to achieve this goal.
South Africa is plagued not only by a skills shortage, but also a skills gap. Graduates entering industry face a double-edged sword in the form of ‘fast-tracking’ and poor mentorship. Young engineers are forced to accept huge responsibility early in their careers, as there are limited numbers of skilled engineers. However, industry’s capacity to provide adequate skills transfer and adequate mentorship has been eroded. SAWomEng aims to address this disparity through SAWomEng@newtwork.
GirlEng: Inspiring the thinkers of tomorrow
GirlEng feeds the proverbial pipeline and boasts a presence in five provinces. The purpose of GirlEng is to recruit high potential Maths and Science female high-school students into engineering. This is done through three interactive sessions:Information sessions:
Information sessions are a day when members of SAWomEng and GirlEng advertise engineering to as many girl-children as possible. Girls are recruited through advertisements in print and audio-visual media. Marketing material is also sent to specific high schools. The information session entail a two hour long presentation which provides details of core engineering disciplines. This includes the origins of the discipline, most significant achievements in disciple and what a day in the life of a practising engineer entails. Application forms for the workshops are disseminated at these sessions.
Workshops:
In each of the five provinces, these workshops are attended by 60 hand-picked applicants from the information sessions. The structure of these workshops has affectionately been describes as a week-long SAWomEng National conference on’ steroids’, this is because each of the pillars are covered during the day through key activities which include:
• Introduction to the world of engineering
• Team building activity
• Technical project
• Information session (University entrance requirements etc)
• Careers fair
• Sponsor talks
Mentorship Sessions
Delegates who are both eligible and interested in studying towards and engineering degree or diploma are invited to attend these sessions. These workshops will concentrate on mentorship development of the learners in preparation for tertiary level engineering study. These girls will be given assistance in applying for bursaries, guidance on studying techniques and challenges in university life. They will also be assigned to a mentor who will be a student pursuing a degree in engineering at that stage.
SAWomEng Conference: Motivating, Empowering & Celebrating the next generation of Women in Engineering
The second program is the SAWomEng conference. This is a truly unique event, as delegates are very active participants throughout the week. Since 2005, SAWomEng has run national conferences bringing the top female engineering students from around South Africa together to tackle social and engineering problems by finding engineering solutions. Examples of past projects include conceptual upgrades of informal settlements using sustainable development principles and finding alternative energy solutions for the energy crisis in South Africa. Aside from the project, delegates engage in other activities, including meeting leading women in industry, being assigned and engaging with mentors (female engineers from our sponsoring companies), being exposed to various sponsoring companies at the career fair and celebrating being women in engineering. The conference has in the past attracted speakers such as Minister of Science & Technolgy Naledi Pandor, City Press Editor Ferial Haffajee and Minister of Public Works Geoff Doige.
SAWomEng@NetWork
The third program is a platform for young female engineering graduates to network, and focuses on career development, through national networking workshops. This is a brand new addition to the SAWomEng stable. This event will be attended by ex-delegates and officios of the SAWomEng National conference who have been working in engineering for 1-5 years. The purpose of this wing is to skill women in engineering. This will be done in a series of networking breakfasts in Kwazulu Natal, Gauteng and Western Cape. Under this program, SAWomEng also plans to host a premium function for in the form of a Cocktail Networking Function and Engineering Expo. The purpose of this event is two-fold: marketing and networking.
Cultivating Future Leaders
All SAWomEng divisions are coordinated by young female engineering students and young female engineering graduates. All members are volunteers. As part of our commitment to developing future leaders, executive members attend leadership development workshops which we host internally, and when the opportunity arises are sent to other development workshops. Our philosophy is about empowering people from within the organisation.
