The ability of Africa to harness the potential of its female engineers is critical to the continent's long-term development goals and competitiveness.
Recruiting more women engineers not only creates a diverse sector workforce but also aids in resolving some of the most pressing issues confronting African communities.
Engineering metrics have shifted away from systems and objects and toward the impact on people. In Africa, this means dealing with the consequences of a population projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, such as water, affordable housing, and electricity; climate change, food security, utility infrastructure, and transportation access – all modern challenges that require engineers and a home-grown approach.
Africa's next-generation advancements will come from technologists and engineers who are driven to change societal needs and subsequent challenges. And, in both cities and rural areas, women often bear a greater burden as a result, such as putting food on the table or performing menial work in homesteads, so solutions such as solar-powered electricity, water pumps, clean cooking stoves or mobility solutions designed by women with women in mind would be most effective.
Africa has never been short on inventiveness. Indeed, it has become a melting pot of technological and engineering solutions, ranging from telecommunications mobile payment solutions like M-PESA in Kenya to hailing platform SafeMotos in Rwanda to automated medication lockers Pelebox in South Africa.
However, the gender and skills gap in engineering in Africa is impeding more of this progress. Women make up less than 20% of scientists and engineers in Africa. According to the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, the continent also faces a 2.5 million engineer shortage in order to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Female engineers registered by the Engineer's Board of Kenya are 7.3%.
Equipping African women and girls with engineering skills benefits the entire society by increasing the pool of human resources available to drive development. To shift the establishment, a collaborative approach is required.
First, society must decry the 'masculinity' tag of engineering courses, as well as gender stereotypes and related prejudices that undervalue girls' and women's abilities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) compared to their male counterparts. Stereotypes alone create an attitudinal ceiling, resulting in women's underrepresentation in the sector in the long run.

Furthermore, we must encourage young female engineers to pursue engineering as a career discipline. According to the Engineers Board of Kenya, females account for only 10.6 percent of engineering graduates, or 1,519 out of a total of 14,320 graduates. In fact, the myth that only girls with top grades can pursue engineering or related courses must be dispelled; common engineering needs at the grassroots level necessitate technical and vocational skills acquired at Technical and Vocational Education Training institutes (TVETs).
It is critical that the government, through relevant higher education bodies such as the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service, prioritizes and increases female student placement in STEM courses at universities and TVETs. It should also strengthen mentoring and role-modeling to prevent them from dropping these courses in the midstream. Importantly, gender mainstreaming policies that support mathematics and sciences at the primary and secondary levels of education would go a long way to instill confidence.
The industry, both public and private, play a role in skilling and guiding the next generation of engineers, fine-tuning them at entry-level positions to fit into the labor market. At Burhani Engineers Ltd, our mechanical, instrumentation, civil, and electrical infrastructure journey across African communities is driven by an investment in raw talent from engineering institutions who are trained to design, build, and maintain high-quality infrastructure for African communities and economies. In the near future, our female trainees will curate solutions for food security, affordable housing, climate change, and the circular economy.
On March 4, UNESCO’s World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development sought to raise awareness of the role of engineering in modern life, particularly in Africa, while advocating for the role of women. In a similar vein, this year's International Women's Day (IWD) on March 8 calls for greater use of technology and innovation in the pursuit of gender equality. These conversations are reflective of how serious the gender issue in engineering has become.
It is up to all of us to elevate engineering to its proper place and reap the socioeconomic benefits.
The author is the Chief Executive Officer of Burhani Engineers Ltd

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