Modise Makes It In The Diamond Industry
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Monday March 9, 2020 15:00
Modise has been cutting and polishing diamonds for 13 years now, having joined in 2007 without any trade for the job that has become a source of livelihood for her family. At the time she joined SAFDICO, she became their first Motswana woman diamond polisher.
“It was in September 2007 when I approached one of the company’s managers, Oz Franco, for a job. At the time, I was working for a construction company, which was doing work here, so I wanted to do something different.
I told him I had been employed temporarily so he told me to serve notice and join them in October. I didn’t know about diamonds, let alone cutting and polishing it. I had no training but I took the job and later realised it is an enjoyable piece of work,” said Modise. At the factory, she joined men, mostly South Africans and others from Mauritius and a few Batswana who made her first few months as a trainee very comfortable. She had never held nor touched a diamond before, but she was confident that she would do well.
She said despite only going as far as form two in her education, she wasn’t too much bothered that she was the only woman in the factory, without any specific qualification for the job she was about to start doing. She stated that she learnt fast and started producing like the rest of the men in the factory.
“I later learnt that as a diamond polisher, you have the standard, but everyone has their own exact interpretation of how to polish a diamond in the most beautiful way. Therefore, you can vary within one brilliant actually. It is all in the shape of the facets. I realised that this is not a men’s job as others viewed it. I am glad that the company has also created a conducive environment,” she added.
However, she said while she has enjoyed her job there is a lot that needs to be done to attain equality. She said there is need for companies in the diamond industry to continuously send their employees, especially women for training, as they are a disadvantaged gender.
She also said men in management positions have to be trained to understand that women, unlike men have special needs. She stated that some male supervisors still have issues when a woman asks for day off to take her child to the clinic.
As her partying shot in relation to International Women’s Day, Modise said achieving gender equality would take efforts from all people. She encouraged women not to shy away from doing jobs traditionally considered to be ‘male jobs’.