Despite some beneficial government programmes, engineering is still dominated by patriarchal practices that are holding back the industry and the women who are working in it, writes Zaira Solomons.
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) have historically been associated with white men. Recently, in South Africa, black men have also entered the field. However, more needs to be done to welcome in women, especially those from non-white backgrounds.
To help diversify STEM, there have been several redress efforts such as government sponsored bursaries and academic support. These programmes helped to increase the number of black women taking up STEM subjects, particularly in engineering. However, various factors are sustaining normative gender roles in South Africa. As a result, black South African women’s participation in engineering is constantly questioned. Their intersectional identities do not fit with the field’s underlying Eurocentric terrain. This means they have extra hurdles to clear, which men and even white women don’t have to worry about.
South African engineering workspaces have become contested sites, in which hypermasculinity and cis heteronormativity are reproduced, whilst feminine behavioural characteristics are actively discouraged and undermined. Moreover, any form of the feminine in the engineering space is regarded as a taint which disrupts a purely masculine terrain. Since femininity is associated with impurity, men are particularly persistent in ensuring the sanctity of the engineering workspace, what it represents to them, and how its status quo should be maintained. Black women are open to physical and sexual violence on a daily basis, and the sector often neglects their safety and wellbeing.
Working in dark secluded spaces and being outnumbered by the opposite gender, placed the black female engineer at greater risk of sexual harassment, with no repercussions. When underground sitework forms part of the black female engineer’s work duties, she’s often denied access to adequate ablutionary facilities, especially when on her menstrual cycle.
Black women engineers are the most oppressed in the engineering workspace. They are compelled to conform to Eurocentric notions of masculinity, as well as succumb to giving up their womanhood.
These workplace views are the end of a journey that begins in a classroom. Teachers in impoverished South African areas still associate maths and science with men and by this rationale actively discourage girls from pursuing technical subjects. Many family structures favour the educational development of male children to the detriment of their female counterpart. Living under such patriarchal structures sends out a clear message to aspiring female scientists that they do not belong in the sciences, and that their contributions are not welcomed, but that masculinity is preferred in order to be recognised as a legitimate scientist. Such sentiments then further sustain traditional demarcated gender roles in society, further influencing study subjects and career choices amongst boys and girls.
Solutions
To drive equity and representation in the engineering field, it is imperative that we make a concerted effort to transform male dominated spaces. This can be achieved through both government and non-government actors adopting and implementing more gender inclusive policies. For example, by organising mentoring programmes and providing bursaries and scholarships. Black female role models in STEM should be made more visible to enhance the confidence and self-worth of black girls. Such initiatives can culminate in a more inclusive workplace, as well as highlight the importance of different perspectives to enhance creativity and innovation, in the interest of the broader society. This will allow for the transcending of barriers and fostering of trust relations between the genders in the workplace.
In addition, by tackling equity in the engineering workplace, organisations can positively contribute towards alleviating broader systemic issues in society affecting women, such as gender-based violence, which is currently still a pressing problem in South Africa. Ensuring gender parity in male-dominated workspaces will facilitate better empowerment opportunities for black women to become self-sufficient, without the need to become financially reliant on men. This can help to mitigate against female exploitation and oppression in communities.
Therefore, there is a strong need for a fully realised disruption of gender norms in engineering to ensure that policies on gender equity are not just on paper but are also implemented. As well as protecting women and diversifying the industry, it will mean that already committed resources, such as bursaries and funding set aside for black female engineers do not just scratch the surface but work to provoke deeper transformation.
There’s still a long way to go to ensure that black women can participate fully alongside their male counterparts in engineering workspaces. If these facts are not addressed aspiring black female engineers will struggle to realise their full potential in being and becoming engineers in a modern-day postcolonial society. It starts with recalibrating western patriarchal values in African societies. Hence, the focus should be in aiding Black men to unlearn and relearn matters pertaining to binaries and how such Western patriarchal influences can be overcome.
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