South Africa talks a lot about its engineering skills crisis. We see it in collapsing infrastructure, stalled energy projects, the slow rollout of digital transformation, and basic gaps that hold back growth. Every sector is competing for the same limited pool of engineers.
But there is a blind spot in this conversation that we almost never confront. While we worry about the shrinking pipeline, we ignore the biggest untapped source of engineering talent in the country: women. For decades, South Africa has been running an engineering marathon with one leg tied up. The consequences are starting to show.
The crisis behind the crisis