Breaking Barriers: Women in WASH
To spotlight International Women’s Day and the contributions made to Sanivation by women, we interviewed Emily Woods. Emily is a Fecal Sludge Management expert with 13 years of operational experience in Kenya. She holds a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, and a Masters in Natural Resources and Renewable Energy from UC Berkeley. She is a recognized Forbes 30 under 30, and Georgia Tech’s first 40 under 40 award. She co-founded and currently acts as the Chief Operations Officer at Sanivation. Her experience includes over 33 distinct FSM project in Kenya across the sanitation value chain from containment to emptying, transport, treatment and reuse.
Her expertise is in the intersection of technology, business models, stakeholder relations, policy, and operations. Emily holds two US patents for fecal waste treatment and transformation to solid fuel. Emily exemplifies the philosophy that through investing in people, you multiply your outcomes. Through her enthusiasm and curiosity, she ensures that the right people are involved in creating solutions that last.
1. Bio question – can you tell us a bit about your background and career that led you to Sanivation?
When I studied mechanical engineering as an undergraduate, I took a year off between my second and third year to work in the engine room of a ship. This was an incredibly engaging and captivating experience and like for many on their gap year, was life-altering.
On the ship, I was really fascinated with the water and waste systems, as these systems converge under the responsibilities of the engine room staff. I was fascinated by how we get purified water, how we treat the waste, the environmental impact of these processes, and the disease outbreaks you can find on a ship. I think this is where my passion for engineering, specifically within the WASH sector, began.
Not only did the experience further my interest to work internationally, I was also amazed by how little engineering and development had progressed within WASH, as this sector presents problems that have existed for as long as humans have. There’s still so much within the WASH sector that we have to figure out and I think that is a really fun challenge for an engineer and an entrepreneur.
2. What is the most significant challenge you have come across in which women in your sector face?
Everything I do, from sanitation to engineering to being an entrepreneur, is very male-dominated. During my academic studies of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, the enrollees were certainly majority men. Currently in Kenyan water and sanitation utilities, there are less than 5% of women employed.
It is difficult for women to find role models or mentors to look up in this sector. The lack of gender equity makes many sectors, including entrepreneurship and engineering, hard fields to enter and even harder to know how to move up and progress your career.
3. How can we empower more young women towards entrepreneurial roles?
We need to get more women making funding decisions. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but the ‘Boys’ Club’ still exists. There is a stereotype about networks and decisions that are made informally over late-night chats and drinks, and I have seen this to still be pretty accurate. That situation is not conducive to women and leads to many missed opportunities for women.
Far more men have led investments than women within my sector. Far more men in management roles are doing the hiring at WASH utilities. This leads to more men being invested in and more men being hired. This recycles the “chicken and the egg” question which seems to follow queries on gender equality in industry.
We do a lot of work with government utilities and partners, where many deals may not be decided in the meeting room. As mentioned earlier, the ‘Boys’ Club’ is still alive, and this is a world-wide problem. By empowering more women in decision making, leadership roles may help to mitigate this problem.
At Sanivation, we also offer Mentorship Programs focused on females -mentors and mentees - to offer career progression and provide more opportunities for women in our sector.
4. What actions or initiatives or policies does Sanivation carry out to empower women in their career choices and decisions?
At Sanivation, we are trying to create gender inclusivity across every level. Our company has policies that make it easier for women to join and stay here, including maternity leave, flexible working hours and locations, and requiring our head-hunters to give us short lists containing at least 50% female applicants.
There are challenges that accompany policies like these, particularly in Kenya; many entry level jobs involve manual labour which historically have been viewed unacceptable for women to take up. We are changing this narrative on what women can and cannot do in these entry-level roles.
There are not as many women in management roles either, despite the fact that in Kenya, there is a higher proportion of woman graduating university than men. More women have university degrees, but still only a small percentage of women are in management positions. Looking for women that have the education and the experience required for certain roles, which they are often denied opportunities for, is a sizeable task. Working with recruitment firms to require that short lists for applicants contain at least 50% female applicants helps to turn on the pressure for closing this gender gap and makes our values known.
“Stand tall, speak up, make yourself known.” -early advice given to Emily Woods in her career
5. What is the best piece of advice you have been given that you would want to impact to young women in your sector?
“Stand tall, speak up, make yourself known.” As a lone female in a mechanical engineering background, I was incredibly encouraged throughout my studies to stand up for yourself and make yourself heard.
“You get what you expect and you deserve what you tolerate.” If you’re expecting people to look down on you, they will. If you tolerate men speaking over you, they will. Let’s push back on those norms together.
6. Roadmap ahead – where do you see yourself in five years and where do you see Sanivation in five years?
Sanivation is growing. We are in that pivotal moment of exponential growth and it’s exciting. In five years from now, we will be a very different company and you absolutely have to change to handle that type of growth. In five years’, time, Sanivation will be operating in multiple countries and serving improved sanitation solutions to over 1,000,000 people. At the start of Sanivation, I loved the initial technology generation and the ideas that led to its conception. I thought once the initial development was done, my role would be very “copy and paste” or “rinse and repeat”. I look back on my younger self and I laugh. Every day growing a company presents new challenges, new learnings, and is an incredible adventure to be a part of.
And me? I will be continuing to riding this crazy adventure - I am learning more every day on what it means to lead a growing, impactful company.