Women’s personal protection equipment manufacturer Sisi Safety Wear has launched a quarterly lifestyle magazine for women, specifically targeted at women who work in heavy industries, such as mining and manufacturing.

The publication, entitled Imbokodo – which means “boulder” in isiZulu – aims to celebrate women who play a significant dual role of not only being a mother and wife at home, but that of a dedicated worker in traditionally male-dominated industry sectors.

“Most of the women who wear Sisi-branded safety equipment earn significantly less than their male corporate counterparts and are often the sole bread winners in the family. We wanted to create a publication that provides these women with access to necessary information, but in most cases often cannot afford to obtain. In order to add real value, before launching, we conducted interviews with women that work in industrial environments to obtain a view of what they struggle with in life, including those issues that many women have, but often do not feel comfortable to discuss.” says Vanessa Ronald, Senior Brand Manager at Sisi.

“The magazine offers its readers practical advice on a variety of subjects, ranging from how to draw up a budget to food and health. Our goal is to share practical advice and information that enables these women to strike a balance between work and personal life,” Ronald explains.

The publication provides helpful, educational and informative advice to women who come from underprivileged backgrounds and who are often not equipped to make decisions specifically around matters such as money or healthy eating, to name a few.

“If you’re brought up in a business-savvy home, you’ll probably have the skills you need to better manage your finances than someone who wasn’t. So, if you’re someone who hasn’t been taught how to handle money issues, who is your first line of contact? It’s about raising issues that are very important to people on a practical level,” says Ronald.

The Food & Health section was compiled with input from a nutritionist and provides tips on healthy eating on a budget. Readers also receive fitness tips that deal with the subject of exercise and physical activities one can do in their spare time, to ensure that exercising becomes enjoyable.

The first issue features a section on depression, which is a very real issue among many working women, providing tips from a qualified psychologist on how to deal with negative emotions, as well as an article on how to cope with being a single mom.

“We understand our target market and we know that for many of these women the day starts long before she even gets to work. It’s about equipping women with information that will help them achieve some balance in what can be a very hectic life. The articles are written by women, for women,” Ronald concludes.