Women also help shape the engineering industry

Women in the engineering industry shared their views on the equality of men and women in the engineering industry at the Women in Engineering roundtable at engineering company GIBB’s head office in Woodmead.
The event was to commemorate women who are successful in niche careers within the engineering sector. As part of the Wits 17th Annual Women in Business Conference, in celebration of Women’s Month, GIBB– considered one of South Africa’s leading black-owned engineering consulting firms– was commended for its gender equity in training and equal pay.
The panel was made up of young engineering women who are currently charting successful careers in the industry and included geoscientist in GIBB’s Dams Hydropower and Underground Works Sector, Monique Wainstein; technical executive, Teboho Mofokeng and civil engineer in the Transportation Services Sector, Siza Ndimande.
Wainstein spoke on the topic, Investing in tomorrow’s engineers and closing the gender gap, and touched on the vast opportunities she received from the firm to develop and advance her career, including her current role that gives her the opportunity to lead and manage a team of six professionals.
“At GIBB, we have a very comprehensive talent management plan where female junior engineers are nurtured and supported. It is very important for all women to know that they should not let their gender hinder them. We, as women, need to go out there and flourish,” Wainstein said.
Mofokeng spoke on the topic, Inspiring young women on the many unique and niche career opportunities within the engineering landscape, and said for the duration of her stay at GIBB, her experience has been that everybody was committed to the progression of women engineers in the firm . “When I joined GIBB, the first thing I realised was that the pay was much better for female employees compared to other firms in the sector; and that it was also more equal with that of their male counterparts,” she said.
Ndimande’s topic touched on the GIBB bursary programme and said that she was the product of a successfully-run academic financial aid support and graduate recruitment programme that developed and nurtured young women to reach their true potential