Business Link

by Michelle Hardy-Berrington and Ed Richardson

Opportunities for women to engage in the housing and construction sectors are greater now than ever. Government has played a key role in opening the doors for women and “encouraging their participation in all aspects of the economy, including construction,” says Khuthaza, a non-profit organisation dedicated to driving the empowerment of women in the housing and construction sectors.

“Gender equality and the development of women have become key national goals. As a result of the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Act (BBBEE) and numerous other government policies that promote racial and gender equality, we are beginning to see the formation of a more representative economic and social landscape,” says the organization.

Government sees the housing and construction sectors as critical areas of opportunity for transformation in terms of both race and gender, and the benefits are being felt in the Eastern Cape. One of the pioneers in creating opportunities for women in construction was the Coega Development Corporation, which nurtured and supported a number of women-owned and managed construction and related companies during the building of the Coega IDZ infrastructure and Vulindlela village.

Ingrid Verwey, specialist in contractor development at the Development Bank of Southern Africa and founder of the South African Women in Construction Association says that South Africa’s once male-dominated construction industry has become attractive for women. “The association’s database of women contractors had grown from 60 at its inception in 1999 to over 2 000 by 2007,” says Verwey.

Locally, the Eastern Cape Development Corporation’s (ECDC) R6-million Integrated Emerging Contractors Development Programme supports women like Mandisa Makiwane. Mentored by Heaton Construction, her first big contract was work done for the Department of Public Works at Masibulele College in Whittlesea for R800 000. This was followed by a R1,7 million contract to erect fencing at Sekunjalo in Mount Coke.

Not all the walls have been demolished, however. “The construction industry is broken down into two groups, contractors who typically work on-site and ‘get their hands dirty’, and built environment professionals (BEPs) which include quantity surveyors and architects,” says Jenni Lawrence of iQuad, an accredited BEE verification agency.

“In our experience, there is very little involvement of women in the contractors section of the construction industry which is seen as a traditionally male orientated environment. Women typically occupy office-related positions in the construction industry, either in admin or in the HR field”.

“There is supposedly no glass ceiling, but there definitely is one in the construction industry, as I have bumped my head on it a few times,” says local businesswoman and entrepreneur, Heather McEwan, projects manager for Locrete South Africa.

McEwan advises women in the boardrooms or construction sites of the building industry to quickly establish their credentials up front, speak with authority, and know their subject well, maybe even better than the men around. “It is hard for a woman to make a mark in this industry, but once that mark has been made, it becomes a moot point,” she says.

Lawrence says women bring more than skills and BBBEE points to the construction industry: “Women tend to have different networking and social contacts to men, which can add to the marketing aspect of the business.”

Women are getting involved at all levels of construction – including supply. Other “sisters doing it for themselves” is the Khayamnandi Women’s Development Co-operative in Despatch, which makes bricks for locals and government construction projects. The 15 women, all from impoverished backgrounds, received sponsored training in management and brick making skills in 2001, and by 2002 the co-operative was producing 500 bricks a day. Khayamnandi now employs an additional eight people and produces up to 900 bricks a day.