{"id":22847,"date":"2021-08-09T07:59:42","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T07:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leoka.co.za\/?p=22847"},"modified":"2021-08-09T07:59:42","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T07:59:42","slug":"finding-work-life-balance-in-a-male-dominated-industry-two-young-women-speak-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/2021\/08\/09\/finding-work-life-balance-in-a-male-dominated-industry-two-young-women-speak-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding work-life balance in a male-dominated industry: two young women speak up"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no denying the advances that have been made in working towards gender equity in the workplace. Over the course of several decades, significant gains in equal representation and pay parity have been secured, much of which is now mandated and closely monitored by regulators. Decades of awareness-raising, campaigning and advocacy are at last bearing fruit.<\/p>\n

And yet, despite these shifts, deficiencies and gaps remain, particularly in industries that have historically been heavily dominated by men. In sectors like aeronautics, finance, software development and construction, the tide has been slow to turn. Fortunately, there are exceptions \u2013 instances where the progress felt elsewhere is evident.<\/p>\n

At Leoka Engineering, a pioneering engineering, project development and management services company based in Johannesburg, 54% of the team of engineers, quantity surveyors and other specialists are women. In management, half of the four-person team are women, too. \u201cEmploying and developing women in this sector is a priority for us,\u201d says Leoka\u2019s Manager of Corporate Affairs, Motlatsi Makgata, \u201cand that means being sensitive to the unique needs of our female employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A challenge that many women face\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Polokwane-born Nthabiseng Madubanya graduated with her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Pretoria in 2018. In September 2020, she started working at Leoka Engineering. \u201cThere are more female engineers now than there once were,\u201d Madubanya says, \u201cbut the industry is not where it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madubanya is currently working on several projects, including those related to road rehabilitation and traffic modelling, and counts among her clients such high-profile entities as Palabora Mining Company, Anglo American Platinum and Arnot Coal Mine. The experience she has gained over the past year has been broad and fascinating.<\/p>\n

There have, however, been challenges, the greatest of which is having to live far away from her children: twins, a boy and a girl. \u201cMaking time for work and making time for family is difficult. It\u2019s a challenge that many women face,\u201d she adds. \u201cI\u2019m grateful that I have the support of my family and of my colleagues at Leoka, who understand what I\u2019m going through.\u201d She is particularly grateful to have women in leadership positions to whom she can look up. \u201cThese women guide me,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

\u2018I have to balance my time\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Refilwe Kgwebane, who graduated from Wits and now works in quantity surveying and procurement, has been part of the Leoka team since December 2019. It wasn\u2019t until Grade 11 that she learnt she could combine her interests in law and accounting into the discipline she now calls a profession. \u201cI like that quantity surveying has all the elements of law I love and as much accounting as I can handle,\u201d she laughs. \u201cAnd I love that it gives me access to the engineering world so that I can see what happens on-site.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kgwebane is currently working on a major project for Exxaro and is responsible for the design, implementation and management of the project\u2019s various contracts. She\u2019s been involved since the process was just a proposal. \u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed working closely with the engineers and learning from them, and love that so many of them are women. It\u2019s inspiring working with women of that calibre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working in a male-dominated industry hasn\u2019t always been easy. At a previous firm, a male colleague once explained to Kgwebane what a ladder is. Becoming a mother presented new challenges. \u201cOnce a woman becomes a mother, society thinks she\u2019s no longer fit for the workplace,\u201d Kgwebane says. \u201cYes, we have more responsibility, but that doesn\u2019t mean we want our careers to stall. At first, I worked long hours to prove that I was still committed to my job, but I\u2019ve since learnt that I have to balance my time.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Leoka, this balance is encouraged. \u201cTime is one of our values,\u201d says Makgata. \u201cWe are just as likely to ask about your family life in a work interview as we are about your qualifications. We know that our people are humans with families and lives, and that they will be happier if they work in an environment that has proper support structures in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its recognition of the demands placed on women, and their unique professional experiences, Leoka is redefining what it means to be a female civil engineer or quantity surveyor. This awareness may be at the heart of long-term change in the sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no denying the advances that have been made in working towards gender equity in the workplace. Over the course of several decades, significant gains in equal representation and pay parity have been secured, much of which is now mandated and closely monitored by regulators. Decades of awareness-raising, campaigning and advocacy are at last bearing fruit. And yet, despite these shifts, deficiencies and gaps remain, particularly in industries that have historically been heavily dominated by men. In sectors like aeronautics, finance, software development and construction, the tide has been slow to turn. Fortunately, there are exceptions \u2013 instances where the progress felt elsewhere is evident. At Leoka Engineering, a pioneering engineering, project development and management services company based in Johannesburg, 54% of the team of engineers, quantity surveyors and other specialists are women. In management, half of the four-person team are women, too. \u201cEmploying and developing women in this sector is a priority for us,\u201d says Leoka\u2019s Manager of Corporate Affairs, Motlatsi Makgata, \u201cand that means being sensitive to the unique needs of our female employees.\u201d \u2018A challenge that many women face\u2019 Polokwane-born Nthabiseng Madubanya graduated with her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Pretoria…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mavro.co.za\/leoka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}