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In March we marked International Women's Day 2021, a day to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions and achievements of women around the world, especially the many amazing women at SMEC who bring passion, expertise and diverse experience to our organisation, and who make what we do possible.

It is also an opportunity to look back on some of the progress made over the past year, whilst increasing our awareness of the work still to be done to foster a more gender equal culture and environment.

In 2020, SMEC Australia was recognised by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency as Employer of Choice for Gender Equality. This citation is conferred by a leading recognition program designed to promote active commitment to achieving gender equality in Australian workplaces. Achieving the citation required commitment to key improvements in flexible work practices, industry leading parental leave policies and learning and development programs.

 

With a focus on actively promoting the development of female leadership, we have partnered with Cultivate, a research-based sponsorship program in Australia, to connect emerging female leaders with members of the senior leadership team. Read more about this program.

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IWD2021 at SMEC

Our teams and offices around the world celebrated International Women’s Day with events, interviews, digital communications and even Zumba lessons! Here are just a few of the highlights:

Events

Many of our teams and offices around the world held events celebrating IWD, either in person or virtually. In the South and Central Asia region, a webinar session was hosted by Chief Operating Officer Dr. Uma Maheswaran, along with a number of senior SMEC specialists, who shared their insights and experiences. Offices in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka held special appreciation events for their female colleagues.

In Australia, SMEC and our sister company Robert Bird Group (RBG) partnered to host a virtual panel event featuring keynote speakers Felicity Furey, an engineer, award-winning speaker and co-founder of the Power of Engineering; and Simonne Bailey, Australian Managing Director and Global Head of Strategy for GFG Alliance’s property and funds management business, JAHAMA. The panel discussed the theme of ‘A challenged world is an alert world’ and how change comes from challenge. The event was very well attended and generated positive feedback from participants.

Sharing our stories

Four of our female technical specialists were interviewed by Southeast Asia Construction, as part of a series on Women in Construction Asia. Check out their inspiring stories below

Neeta Arora
Director Design Centre and Functional Manager Hydropower and Dams

Flor De Jesus
Senior Structural Engineer and Project Design Coordinator

Frenchsie Kumoroputri
Project Engineer

Anuva Bhowmick
Environmental Specialist and Hydrologist

 

Click here to visit International Women’s Day 2021 page

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