Siemens Southern Africa has sponsored the SA Women's Engineering Forum in a joint venture with the University of Cape Town. This is a move aimed at highlighting the career options open to female engineering graduates, as well as encouraging more women to finish their degrees in this discipline and enter a traditionally male-dominated working environment.
Following the launch of the SA Women's Engineering Forum on 26 August 2006 at Belmont Square in Cape Town, Nicolette Barnard, recruitment, training, leadership and development manager at Siemens Southern Africa, says the purpose of the initiative is to unite women engineers under one umbrella. The aim is to unite women engineers at UCT and all other tertiary institutions in South Africa in order to promote engineering as a viable career choice for women, act as an alumni organisation for female engineers, and to advance the interests of women in the engineering profession.
Addressing more than 100 female students in their third or final year, Barnard said many women do not realise the full extent of career choices and disciplines open to them in the engineering sector, including 65 different fields such as civil, mechanical, electrical, electronic and computers.
"Many women who have initially chosen engineering as a field of study switch to other disciplines between their first and final years," said Barnard. "The challenge for us as an industry therefore is to keep them interested and motivated enough to continue their studies in this field and pursue a career in engineering."
In addition to several presentations from speakers in the engineering sector, delegates at the Forum visited several exhibition stands - including one from Siemens - that showcased engineering recruitment as well as the opportunities available for women at various companies active in the industry.
Barnard says that Siemens is partnering with the SA Women's Engineering Forum on a long term basis as women in engineering is an important global topic, one the multinational electronic and engineering giant will continue to support.
"Given the importance of combating the skills shortage in engineering and the significant contribution women can make to the profession, Siemens is partnering with the SA Women's Engineering Forum on an on-going basis by means of funding provision, exhibition participation, website support and presentation branding - in fact anything that will contribute to making the initiative a success," she concludes.
For more information contact Nicolette Barnard, Siemens Southern Africa, +27 (0)11 652 2000.
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