Platform on civil engineering, underground infrastructure, energy, construction equipment & construction machinery
Regular readers of this magazine know by now that the theme Top Women is all about making women visible within the civil engineering industry. Our editors are assisted by Nina van Arum. She is co-owner of Provades and also founder of network organization Top Women Construction & Infra, a growing network with now more than 750 active female members.
When we had Nina on the line for this edition, we were pleasantly surprised: this time she introduced a woman who is not only firmly rooted within our industry, but is also self-employed. "The boss," in other words, to use popular language. We are talking about Marsha Goosens, Operational Environmental Manager Infra.
As a woman working in a real man's world, that must do something to you, right? Marsha answers with an anecdote: "Some time ago, I was driving in the car with my children through the tunnel under aqueduct de Vliet. "Look, mom used to help build this tunnel!", I exclaimed enthusiastically. "Big eyes looked at me from the back seat. My son was duly impressed and shouted 'That's cool, mom!' And that's how it really felt. I'm proud of my work, proud of the projects I get to be a part of."
Marsha started working as a ZZP in The Hague as a result of a graduation project on Direct Overslag Binnenvaart en Spoor (DOBIS). "I graduated on the construction of the 2nd Maasvlakte, specifically on the container terminal there. By now I have been working within the infrastructure sector for 20 years, 8 of which I have been working as a self-employed contractor, the last 4.5 years on behalf of the Port of Rotterdam Authority among others. For example, I am involved in the construction of the Container Exchange Route, which brings me full circle. I can be found on the Maasvlakte every day. That area is the economic engine of the Netherlands," Marsha outlines.
Marsha is originally from Iran. Her father owned a contracting company there, a business with incredible appeal. "As a child, I sat there at the drawing table creating entire designs with a Rotring pen. The love of construction was instilled in me from the very beginning. After learning Dutch when we were settled here, I went on to do HTS Architecture. One day in Rotterdam I saw the Erasmus Bridge open and close and instantly fell in love. Then I knew where my future lay: within Civil Engineering. From Architecture I then switched to Civil Engineering and graduated in it in Rotterdam, in 2000."
In 1999, Marsha stepped in from her graduate studies as a project coordinator at BAM. "My first assignment was the Aqueduct de Vliet project in Leidschendam, part of the Scheveningen national ring road. Later I made a foray into residential and commercial construction in Rotterdam, but that didn't last longer than 9 months, it just wasn't it," Marsha lists. "I ended up at the municipality of Oud Beijerland, in the position of Project Manager/Manager of the Public Area Department. I was there for five years and was then ready for a new step. The business world beckoned and I switched to a secondment agency in 2010, attracted by a vacancy for an Environmental Manager. As an interim, I took on that role for 1 year."
By the end of 2011, self-employment was a reality. "The reason? Motherhood presented itself. I desperately needed to find the balance between being present at home and working. Self-employment did give me the freedom to plan my own hours, but in fact it gave you two jobs to run. As Environment Manager, I act as a connecting factor between the design table and the environment in the broadest sense of the word. This can be for an interested company or residents (the soft side) as well as for existing cables and pipes, laws and regulations or flora & fauna (the hard side). My goal? Creating support and the right conditions to make the project a reality."
"I have never had the ambition to hold a line or management position anywhere," Marsha continues. "I simply function best in a team environment, then I can make my contribution to the work and the team. As a woman, I see things more easily from a different perspective. The most fun projects are those where there is humor and lightheartedness within the team. A day without laughter is a day not lived! In everything I do, I challenge myself. I just want to get the best out of myself."
Twenty years ago, 95% of the workforce within the infra consisted of men. "Working part-time was very difficult back then. Everyone was kind of trapped in the typical role division back then. Fortunately, now there is much more room for part-time work, a good development. Regardless of what role division might prevail, I have always strived for everything: building a career that made me happy myself and combining that with a rich family life with children. That's hard work, but I succeeded, thanks to my move to become self-employed."
Working as a woman in a man's world has never hindered Marsha. She does admit that it took her more time to get to where she is now. "Actually, working in a man's world has given me more confrontational situations privately than at work. See me sitting at a party, explaining to my girlfriends how my day has been? Then suddenly I'm 'one of the guys from that man's world,' in a typical woman's world," Marsha says, laughing. "However, everyone knows that problem in our industry. Our industry has tremendous social value that gets very little understanding from the layman. Somehow that's a shame."
"If you change the way you look at things, things you look at change" is Marsha's motto. "Women can do that naturally. I have never felt a barrier to allow myself to be vulnerable. So my appeal to women, but perhaps even more so to men, is to open yourself up. Dare to be vulnerable and connect. That's how you build bridges. Not only in the landscape, but especially between people."
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