Addressing women’s construction health and safety needs in Africa

Samuel H.P Chikafalimani,Nathan Kibwami,Sibusiso Moyo

doi:10.4102/hts.v77i2.6849

Abstract

Concerns have been raised in Africa to address women’s construction health and safety needs adequately. These concerns include less participation of women in the sector, low income and less benefits being given to women, lack of adequate protective construction clothing suited for women, unfavourable employment conditions for women, and lack of construction site security and other facilities for women. This research article provides an overview of the suggested solutions to address the concerns raised. In addition, practical interventions being implemented by the Durban University of Technology and Makerere University research collaboration project team to address women’s needs in construction health and safety through women empowerment and involvement in construction research, education and practice in Africa are outlined. The main approaches applied in this research study are as follows: use of relevant publications on women’s construction health and safety needs in Africa and analysis of data obtained from reliable construction professional bodies in South Africa and Uganda to demonstrate gender imbalances.Contribution: The main contribution of this study was to emphasise the significance of including and involving women in construction research, education and practice as a major solution to address women’s health and safety needs in Africa in the future as women are in a much better position to understand their own needs than men.

Highlights

In Africa, concerns have been raised towards women’s construction health and safety needs (Okwel, Alinaitwe & Kalumba 2019; Oyewobi et al 2019)
This female representation provides strong evidence that the Durban University of Technology (DUT)–Makerere University (MAK) research collaboration project intends to effectively address women’s construction health and safety needs in Africa by encouraging them to participate in construction research and education
This study identifies practical solutions to address these concerns on women’s construction health and safety in Africa through the reviewed literature and by drawing on practical interventions being implemented by the DUT–MAK research collaboration project

Summary

Introduction

In Africa, concerns have been raised towards women’s construction health and safety needs (Okwel, Alinaitwe & Kalumba 2019; Oyewobi et al 2019). These challenges have been compounded with minimal participation of women in construction research, education and practice in Africa This is an undesirable situation as women are more capable than men to find appropriate solutions to meet their own construction health and safety requirements in the future (Strachan et al 2018; Zengin-Arslan 2002). This female representation provides strong evidence that the DUT–MAK research collaboration project intends to effectively address women’s construction health and safety needs in Africa by encouraging them to participate in construction research and education. Apart from being empowered to meet their own construction women’s health and safety needs by the research collaboration project, they will progressively support in the future in the processes of increasing the much required pool of highly qualified women in construction research, education and industry in Africa to participate in more important work earmarked for further improvement of women’s

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Conclusion