A young electrical artisan, Cathrine Kgaladi Tsima, is tackling gender inequality in the engineering sector head-on.

The 28-year-old chose to study electrical engineering not only to make a good living for herself, but to also bring a change to her community.

“I moved to Gauteng in 2001 to live with my parents in an informal settlement called Gabon in Daveyton,” said Cathrine.

“We had no electricity and used paraffin or coal stoves to cook, and candles for lighting. In that situation some of the residents illegally distributed electricity to their shacks.”

She said seeing many of her childhood friends being exposed to illegal wiring which led to the deaths of innocent children made her decide to put an end to it.

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“I grew up enjoying working with my hands, creating and assembling things, all thanks to my late father. I used to work with him on weekends, he used to repair electrical appliances for the community.

“He saw my desire to learn about his job and took me under his wing,” she said.

“Most people were negative towards my choice and tried to convince me not to follow the electrical path as it was not suitable for women and said I should at least try medical courses, but that did not stop me and my parents had always motivated me.”

The Cloverdene resident completed her electrical infrastructure and construction level four in 2012 and her electrical engineering N6 in 2019 at the Ekurhuleni East Tvet College.

“Through my hard work I secured an in-service training position at three major companies, Mpact Corrugated, Siemens and Carnival City, where I was conducting most of the electrical work on my own,” said Cathrine.

Cathrine was recently nominated as the best female artisan for women’s month at Ekurhuleni East College, Artisans Skills Development Centre.

She added that as an academic person; she always encourages others to go to school and work hard so they can have a better future.

“My love for electrical made me work hard and when I saw other students dropping out, I fought to climb up the ladder because I knew this is my dream and for it to come true, I must chase it,” said Cathrine.

She is currently working as an innovative creator at Qiniso, where they create virtual reality learning contents that will be used as a learning tool for students.

Cathrine encourages women to go out there and work their way to success.

“We can, and we got this. We can work on heights, we can wire the whole house, climb up the ladder and replace and install lights,” she said.

This youngster is also a motivational speaker and she would be pleased to give motivation at any local schools or colleges.

To get in touch with her, call 078 017 8517 or follow Qiniso on Facebook or Twitter at Qiniso Virtuals.

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