By Isabel Ovalle
The number of Qatari women engineers has increased in the past few years, and they now account for more than 20 percent of all engineers in the country. In this context, and with the goal of highlighting women’s work in the construction sector, Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), in collaboration with Qatar University (QU), hosted a workshop in Doha yesterday.
Figures provide a glimpse of the role women play in the construction sector in Qatar. In 2011, the number of workers in this field was 500,000, of which 2,800 were women, according to Qatar Statistics Authority. While all the labourers were expatriates, a total of 143 Qatari men and women were working in the construction sector.
The workshop included presentations and panel discussions led by women on a wide range of topics, including Middle Eastern women leaders in construction, women and corporate social responsibility and designs for recycling.
Women are still in the minority in professions related to construction, like architecture and engineering. This is the situation not only in Qatar but also in Western countries like Switzerland, where Dr Anna Grichting, assistant professor at QU, studied.
“In Switzerland, we are not yet equal, with men sometimes earning more than women,” she admitted. There are also few female ‘starchitects’. However, “there are many other fields related to construction where women entrepreneurs decide to start up a business, not only architecture firms,” she clarified.
For Rasha Al Sulaiti, Vice Chairperson of QGBC and Project Management Director at Qatar Foundation’s Capital Projects and Facilities Management Division, “construction was a personal choice.”
There are 42 women in her department, but not all of them do field work, given that 37 of them do administrative tasks and don’t go to construction sites.
The fields that most attract women students in Qatar are architecture, electrical engineering, interior design, financial affairs and graphic design. Al Sulaiti explained that most of the staff from her department were members of the Qatar Society of Engineers.
“We are trying to create a chapter for women, because we don’t want to be separate, we want to work together in order to learn from each other,” explained the member of QGBC.
Among the challenges for women working in this field, she said it took time for “male colleagues to trust you and realise that you have the knowledge and that you are not there to play. It is a harsh and male-dominated industry, but we are here to give the feminine touch,” she added.
This experienced professional had a small piece of advice, but a significant one, for aspirant engineers: be patient with yourself and others. Rasha also encouraged reading: “If you don’t know something, don’t say ‘I don’t know’, say ‘I’ll get back to you’.”
Regarding the vital balance between work and family, she recommended that women keep up with references and continuous networking. “Don’t be ashamed if you don’t know something, because nobody knows everything,” she added.
Rasha has 10 years of experience managing projects at Qatar Foundation’s largest development: Education City. In her capacity, she has managed more than 20 projects of various scales and typologies. She is a member of the Qatar Society of Engineers (QES) as well as an active member of the Architectural Engineering Chapter of QES.
Over the years, she has developed great interest in green architecture through her involvement in QGBC as well as her work with green buildings in Education City.
When asked why she had decided to work in the construction sector, she joked: “I liked Lego.” This interest is not common to all potential engineers or architects. That is why professionals aim to attract students by offering them internships and training jobs.
After over a decade in the field, Rasha admitted that she had become a bit rough, “but now I know the industry more.”
Even though the industry is male-dominated, this experienced engineer advises women to not let men’s behaviour affect them. “Men joke in meetings a lot and some women are sensitive. But they should not let it affect them, just joke back,” she recommended.
She also urges future candidates not to quit at the beginning, and to say yes to new challenges. She also highlights the need for women to recognise they are different and not allow men to push them aside.
On her part, Dr Anna Grichting, together with two of her graduate students of architecture, talked about some of the projects designed by her pupils related to food urbanism. Qatar University students also talked about their research into urban food systems, noting that there were 1,200 farms in the country, of which only about 300 were productive.
Also at the conference, Dr Yasser Mahgoub, Associate Professor at Qatar University, emphasised that the number of architecture students was growing. Nevertheless, he said, “when I teach, I don’t differentiate between men and women, I only see human beings.” He added that the problem with the local job market in the construction sector was that it hired mainly very experienced architects and engineers, reducing opportunities for young graduates.
On sustainable development, Mahgoub was clear: “Sustainability needs to be enforced, awareness is not enough.” The professor added that “the Atone Age did not end because they ran out of stones, and the oil age will not end because we run out of oil, but because we find something better.”
