The construction industry and particularly government often lament the lack of transformation and attainment of gender parity in the sector. However, during my career, I have seen tremendous changes, which we should be celebrating and continuing to support. In the 1960’s, as I understand it, there were only two practising female civil engineers in industry who had studied in South Africa– Joan Von Willich who graduated in 1948 and Coralie Squires who graduated in 1954.

Given that new entrants since those times have simply added to the existing large contingent of experienced white male engineers, we are unlikely to see the civil engineering demographics match those of the nation before 2035 to 2040! Hopefully, the story in the slider demonstrates the incredible progress that has been made. The infographic for each window shows graduations for the year, with the first graphic representing gender and the second, racial transformation.

My career dilemma began with career guidance at school in Standard 9 (now Grade 11). Being good at maths and science, the suggestion was that I should become a teacher in one of these subjects. This did not excite me and so began a long search through career brochures to find something that appealed to me. When I got to C for Civil Engineering and saw a satisfied engineer donning a hard hat standing looking up at a bridge he had just constructed, my mind was made up. However, when consulting Natal University on the matter, I was advised that it was an unsuitable career for a woman given the site work. I was advised to rather consider chemical or electrical engineering.