Abstract
Equality and diversity remain crucial in the workplace, yet research has shown that there are not enough women in engineering due to various reasons. Women are also experiencing difficulties in their career lives as a result of maltreatment in their workplaces. Some countries in the world have introduced policies that force their organizations to employ women from grass root level to the executive level in the engineering industry. Scandinavian countries are said to be ahead of other countries concerning gender equality. Some countries have realized that excluding women in engineering results in a shortage of resources, talent, experience, the absolute number of needed engineers, and the country's economic progress.
It is stated in the literature that even though women make up the majority of the population in South Africa, they are underrepresented in the engineering field. The engineering community and academic institutions can match their policies with those of the best-performing nations in this regard by using the benchmark of global best practices in support of women in engineering. The study identified the global best practices in support of women in engineering. The research identified the benefits of the global best practices in support of women in engineering.
Despite the vast literature on women in engineering, studies on benchmarking global best practices are limited. Benchmarking is the practice of comparing an organization's performance to that of the top in a similar or unrelated field. It is also a fundamental way of methodically learning from others that enables us to change our practices. Benchmarking is a technique that frequently evaluates and compares goods, services, methods, and processes with the high standards set by competitors or those who are regarded as industry leaders. The study focus area is “Women in the Workplace”.
This research looked into the implementation of strategies to empower women in engineering in South Africa. To achieve goals and respond to research questions, a quantitative descriptive study and inferential statistics were used. The study has shown that the best practice in terms of company policies and empowerment principles in support of women in engineering is a “gender inclusive policy” and the guiding framework of the best practices by companies in support of women in engineering is gender equality and empowerment. These practices are considered significant for women in engineering to be effective in their workplace. Economic expansion, superior
3
organizational performance, and employee retention are frequently linked to gender equality.
The results imply that the South African government has to put systems and legislation in place to ensure that women in engineering are empowered. The implication for organizations is that the concept of supporting women in engineering cannot be ignored to become technically superior. Organizations must have gender-inclusive policies to employ and empower women in engineering and therefore address gender equality. If women appear to lack the soft skills that men have, then educational institutions should focus on instilling and improving these effective skills in young women.
Keywords: women in engineering, women empowerment, best practices, gender equality, gender-inclusive policy, engineering industry.