A push to improve the built environment sector for women

The Council for the Built Environment joins the globe in celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, 2023, which one of days women all over the world are celebrated. We recognise their strong presence, leadership, resilience, and contribution towards the economic growth.

The Councils for the Built Environment Professions’ (CBEP) registration statistics for released in 2022 demonstrate that males constitute 86% of professionals in the built environment, while female professionals constitute 14%. This is gross underrepresentation of women in the built environment professions, especially as Stats SA indicates that women constitute more than half of South Africa’s population. 

Furthermore, the 2022 webinar survey results indicated that over 44% of women in the built environment industry identify career knowledge, gender discrimination, racial bias, and inflexible work practices as some of the major barriers in their career advancement.

The CBE is promoting the participation and inclusion of women in the built environment sector through the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Transformation Collaborative Forum (WEGE TCF) to, among other things, intensify the eradication of “men superiority” and “women inferiority” in the South African built environment professions. The WEGE TCF is charged with advocating for a built environment that is safer and more inclusive for women, youth and persons with disabilities. In addition, the CBE’s fundamental mandate is to revolutionise the built environment industry, produce qualified built environment professionals, and accelerate the empowerment of women, youth, and persons with disabilities. It’s important to note that women are a majority on the CBE’s Council and executive management.

In commemoration of International Women’s Day, the Council for the Built Environment (CBE) we are acting and convening a webinar on economic empowerment of women in the built environment on 15 March 2023. The theme will focus on women’s economic empowerment – their ability to participate equally in existing markets; their access to and control over productive resources; access to decent work, control over their own time, lives, and bodies; and advocating for their from national to international institutions.

We at CBE believe that meaningful reform can only occur by collective action, and we encourage all women, youth, and people with disabilities to become a part of the growing movement to achieve gender equality in the Built Environment.