Women shine in jobs traditionally held by men

At the launch of the Public Safety and Women Development Programme in Randburg on Monday, Beauty Molefe, Nomsa Tshabalala, Nomsa Khumalo and Nwabisa Sono were honoured for setting records in this field.

Molefe, now retired, was the first black female ambulance driver, working in Soweto in 1985.

"I already got my licence in 1968, and that was hard at the time because black women did not drive cars," she said.

She joined the municipality as a clerk in 1985, started driving ambulances and eventually became a paramedic.

"It took courage to do what I did, but you have to stand up for what you want," said Molefe. "I wanted to drive ambulances, so I did it - even if men resisted me."

Khumalo is the city's first black fire-pump engineer - she not only drives fire engines but operates heavy firefighting equipment. But this is not a first in her career. In 1997 she became the first black woman bus driver with a private company.

"I was a secretary and was bored, so I decided to get my heavy-duty licence. My first bosses were surprised but gave me a chance," said Khumalo, noting that it was the passengers who gave her trouble.

"They said I was going to kill them because I was a woman and I couldn't control such a big bus - especially going around corners."

After Khumalo joined the Emergency Management Services (EMS) in 2000, she volunteered to become a driver.

"Again my bosses were surprised. They thought I could not do it, but they gave me a chance. My male colleagues also thought I couldn't do it but I showed them I am equal and capable."

Tshabalala was not only the first black ambulance attendant in the EMS but also the first black woman call-taker in 1993.

Working her way up, Tshabalala became acting station commander and then station commander. Today she is public relations officer.

"I encountered a lot of resistance from males all the way. Their idea was that women would leave to have children, so there was no career path.

"I had to work extra hard to prove that this was not true and that I could succeed. Also, men were not happy taking orders from women in more senior positions," Tshabalala said.

Sono is the only woman truck driver in the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD). As a member of the hawker squad, which removes illegal and confiscated goods from the pavements in the inner city, she manoeuvres a heavily laden 8-ton truck with ease.

She has always enjoyed driving trucks and got her code 14 licence in 1998 when she was a traffic warden in Midrand.

"Most male officers laugh when they see me driving my truck, but I don't care. I am happy," said Sono. "I believe that women can do anything that men can do."

Sizakele Nkosi, a member of the City of Johannesburg's mayoral committee responsible for public safety and security, said the development programme was launched because there were not enough women in senior positions in the EMS.

"We started off with a bad record. Our first intake of black female JMPD officers in 2000 all dropped out by the end of the first year because they were pregnant - not by their husbands or partners but by male colleagues, mainly senior officers.

"We realised there was a problem, mainly sexual harassment, and we had to deal with it.

"We have since made a lot of progress, and disciplinary and legal action now takes place in such cases," Nkosi said.

City of Johannesburg Speaker Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said the city's gender equity employment record was improving every year from a 30:70 male to female ratio in 2001 to 40:60 last year.

As a whole, the city was doing well, with some very senior management positions being given to women.

She pointed to Dr Ntombi Gule, the chief of the EMS, and Lael Bethlehem, the new CEO of Joburg's Development Agency, as examples.

This article first appeared on The Star metrowatch@star.co.za > and distributed by Independent Online (IOL)