Engineering institution cut the cord on CEO for sexist comments

CAPE TOWN – The South African Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE) announced in a statement that it will be parting ways with its CEO Manglin Pillay on Thursday after he made sexist comments questioning whether women are suited to high-powered careers.

His remarks sparked public outrage and has pushed him to resign with immediate effect.

In a statement, SAICE president Errol Kerst said Pillay and the SAICE board agreed to part ways following several responses from concerned members about Pillay’s column.

SAICE president Errol Kerst said in a statement on Thursday that the board has spent many hours “carefully deliberating the matter” after receiving “numerous responses” from concerned members about Pillay.

“As an organisation, SAICE takes its members views an opinions extremely seriously and it would have been remiss of us to not consider your feedback”

“In the interest of SAICE and the long-term relationship with members, stakeholders and the public in general, Manglin Pillay and the executive board of SAICE have agreed to part ways. Manglin’s tenure as CEO has thus been terminated with immediate effect.”

The remarks he made can be found in his column‚ titled Out on a rib‚ featured in the group’s civil engineering industry magazine, he suggested that “there was no place for women in engineering” or the field of science.

On Twitter, under the tag #manglinpillay many women are satisfied with these decisions.

Here is what they had to say on Twitter:

It’s a difficult & lonely road to stand up for what is right. When it comes to #sexism in #engineering we cannot remain silent. Proud of our @_WomEng team & the #women & #men in our sector who have had enough & stood up together to lobby #saice to dismiss CEO #manglinpillay pic.twitter.com/EWwUYV3z8R

— Naadiya Moosajee (@NaadiyaMoosajee) September 6, 2018

Good grief. Did #ManglinPillay really think he can write this about women in the workplace without any consequences? Millions of us (many single moms too) have brilliant careers AND families!
Engineering body removes CEO for comments about women via @Fin24 https://t.co/HZuxoqvE9F

— Ilse Salzwedel (@ilsesalzwedel) September 7, 2018

For many the case of #ManglinPillay was forgotten after the hype. But to those who continued to advocate for change, today you won. And just to be clear, the victory is not about losing his job, but about sending the message that no form of #discrimination will be tolerated pic.twitter.com/YGNGocW4Nf

— Hema Vallabh (@HemsVallabh) September 6, 2018

– BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE