LIFTING AS WE RISE It takes just one woman to open the door for others and transform an entire industry. LISA WITEPSKI spoke to two women who exemplify this and, having broken the gender barriers, are helping other women to succeed in traditionally male-dominated industries
THE NEUROSURGEON Dr Nomusa Shezi is always taken aback to think that although the University of KwaZulu-Natal first opened its doors in the 1960s, it was a good half-century before she became the institution’s first black female student (and one of only three women) to graduate as a neurosurgeon. “I don’t believe that only three women have wanted to follow this career path. The fact that more haven’t studied this science tells me that society isn’t paying attention to the obstacles in women’s paths.” For Shezi, the biggest obstacle was that there was no one who “looked like” her in her classes – no one to be her advocate and encourage people to view things from a female perspective because they had walked the same road. Instead, she found that her male peers clung tightly to the status quo. “When I told my fourth-year anatomy professor that I wanted to specialise in neurosurgery, he said I’d have to choose between work and having a family. In
sixth year, I bought a book on neuroanatomy them that “showing emotion isn’t a weakness; for my own reading, and a classmate took it to the contrast, because we work in a highly away because he said it was of no use to me.” pressured field, it’s entirely necessary”. The most damning evidence of this ‘boys’ Shezi believes that her mere presence is club’, though, was how reactions differed enough to make more women consider a career when Shezi’s classmates grappled with a in science. complicated case. “Where my peers would commiserate with each other and say the Dr Nomusa Shezi experience was a common one, they would Standard Bank KZN Top Business Women 2021 tell me that my handling of the same issue was unacceptable.” Knowing just how vulnerable this made her feel, Shezi makes a point of speaking up for every female student with whom she works. “I point out that someone may not necessarily be less qualified to do a procedure; they may simply be less vocal about their skills,” she says. She also mentors black females, helping them navigate the challenges she experienced. For At the time when instance, she reminds
FAST FACT
Dr Shezi qualified as a neurosurgeon, she was only one of five black African female neurosurgeons in South Africa. Source: SABC News (2017)
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Dr Nomusa Shezi
“YOU NEED TO SEE PEOPLE DOING WHAT YOU WANT TO DO – BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOU NEED TO SEE THEM FAIL, SO THAT YOU KNOW THAT SUCCESS LIES ON THE OTHER SIDE.” – DR NOMUSA SHEZI 10
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