Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Deputy Minister, Makhotso Sotyu, has encouraged women, particularly young women, to take up careers in the forestry sector. The Deputy Minister was speaking during a webinar as part of the forestry sector’s Women Month celebrations. The webinar convened to celebrate and acknowledge the progress made in the last two decades regarding women entering the forestry industry. The conversation zeroed in on making the portrayal of ladies in the forest industry. Sotyu said, “young women are needed to prepare and take up opportunities offered in the sector, including senior positions, starting their businesses and board participation.”
The aim of the webinar related well to the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) programme in the Amended Forest Sector Codes, which have set a target for inclusive participation, including women. The discussion focused on creating a representation of women in forestry. The initiative will improve the state of rural schools in forestry areas, particularly the worst-performing schools. Help will be offered to young lady kids to make their school lives simpler. The encounters of ladies in forestry have not quite the same as those of their male counterparts, making gender issues pertinent to forestry. A portion of the problem that ladies faced with is the way forestry is defined.
Women are noticeably present in every part of the forest sector from research, cultivation, nurseries, silviculture, harvesting, environmental management and fire protection to transport, pulp and paper, sawmilling, and furniture production. Through the continued profiling of women by the Forest Sector Charter Council in the Youth and Women Outreach Programme, youth would take up careers in forestry.
