04 Sep 2019

Debswana Jwaneng mine, in partnership with De Beers Group and Women in Engineering (WomEng), on Tuesday held the first ever GirlEng workshop to empower the girl-child.

WomEng is an international organisation that aims to encourage women to venture more into various engineering fields.

When welcoming participants at the workshop, Debswana Jwaneng mine’s corporate affairs manager, Ms Montlenyane Baaitse said one way to achieve such was to make Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects accessible to young girls and provide tools and routes to access engineering technology careers.

She said women needed to be hands on in major decision making processes across the globe, as they were equally intelligent and gifted. She said there had been some strides made to empower women globally, but that was still not enough. 

She said Debswana Jwaneng mine currently has about 6 000 employees, and only about 20 per cent were women, meaning that there were still more opportunities for women to fill. She said the company’s intention was to attain at least 60 per cent in its executive committee in the next 20 years.

“That is why Debswana decided on this workshop, to help build interest in engineering fields in young school going girls. We have a very low number of women in these fields even locally, but we believe that for our economy to grow, we need equal representation of all genders,” she said.

Ms Baaitse also said it was encouraging to note that international organisations such as the United Nations had also taken the initiative of women empowerment seriously, and that the national Vision 2036 also catered for such, through a commitment to prosperity for all.

“So with government noting the importance of women empowerment, it was only right that as Debswana we come on board and make an effort at women empowerment. Gender inequality is an anomaly that needs to be corrected,” she said.

Ms Baaitse therefore urged more women to move into science and technology as that was where the world was headed.

The senior vice president for De Beers Group, Ms Katie Fergusson also indicated that in the future, more jobs would rely on science and technology, therefore raising the need to encourage people, especially women, to embrace the field now as a preparation for the future.

She also noted the low number of women in engineering fields, which she said currently stood at only 11 per cent globally, which she said means that women have a big part to play to correct that.

“It is good that we catch them at such a young age, so such workshops as this are very important. As women we should not only aim at increasing our numbers, but also aim to be leaders in such fields,” she said.

In his closing remarks, the chief education officer from the Ministry of Basic Education, Mr Abram Molelowamodimo hailed the workshop as very inspirational and motivational, and said it raised a lot of curiosity among the girl-child that they would be excited to explore.

He said the initiative to encourage children to be more engaged in science and technology resonated well with the government’s intention of building a knowledge based economy, and said such workshops should be taken to schools to entice a higher number of girls.

The girls were given insight and career experience testimonies by women that work at the Jwaneng mine in various engineering fields such as chemical, mechanical, geo-science and civil engineering. The next workshop will be held in Orapa on Saturday. ENDS