South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) CEO Manglin Pillay has apologised for offending so many people with his “misogynistic article” about women engineers.

In a short statement‚ Pillay expressed regret for writing the controversial article‚ in which he insinuated that it was not a good idea to invest in female engineers.

“As the CEO of the SAICE‚ I Manglin Pillay unreservedly apologise for antagonising and offending so many people with my article‚ published in the July 2018 edition of Civil Engineering‚” he said.

“I humbly commit myself to taking counsel from fellow women engineers‚ other colleagues in the STEM fields [Science‚ Technology‚ Engineering and Maths] and professionals in diversity training.”

In the offending piece‚ also published on his LinkedIn page‚ Pillay questioned whether South Africa should invest heavily in attracting women into science‚ technology‚ engineering and mathematics fields. He claimed that research showed women to be “predisposed” to caring and people-orientated careers.

He wrote that “most women” at a certain age “prefer to work part-time or dedicate themselves completely to child rearing or pursuing other meaningful exploits generally related to caring‚” the Sunday Times reported. A petition was started calling for his removal‚ but the executive board of the SAICE said it had taken into consideration the fact that he had apologised unreservedly for the column and he would therefore remain its CEO.