By Sarah NEGEDU
An Abuja based non-governmental organisation, Helpline Foundation for the Needy, is advocating for the redirection of more girl children towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM, disciplines.
This, the group say will help increase access for girls and women education in various fields of science, as well as improve their participation in national and global technological advancement.
Speaking at an event to commemorate the 7th United Nations’ International Day for Girls and Women in science, the President and founder of the NGO, Dr. Jumai Ahmadu, called on government to encourage the girl child, by providing all necessary facilities to foster enabling environment for the girl child.
Ahmadu, while speaking on this year’s theme, “Equal Access and Participation in Science for Girls in Accelerating Progress Towards National Development,” also stressed the need for donor agencies to maintain gender equality and inclusiveness in grants giving and scholarships, so that girls and women can maximise their potential in science.
Ahmadu, who spoke through Onoja Arome Godwin, coordinator, Special Programme of the foundation, noted that a significant gender gap has persisted throughout the years at all levels of STEM all over the world.
She added that even though women have made tremendous progress towards increasing their participation in higher education, they are still under-represented in the STEM fields.
According to her, “A brief rundown of the statistical position of women in research fields of science to educate you more to mention only four observations women are typically given smaller research grants than their male colleagues and, while they represent 33.3% of all researchers, only 12% of members of natural science academies are women. In cutting edge fields such as artificial intelligence, only one in five professionals (22%) is a woman.
“Despite a shortage of skills in most of the technological fields driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution, women still account for only 28% of engineering graduates and 40% of graduates in computer science and informatics. Female researchers tend to have shorter, less well-paid careers.”
Furthermore, she explained that girls and women irrespective of how oppressed their situations are, have been participating and contributing to national development from the scientific angles since the beginning of the awareness campaigns.
“However, we cannot reduce this awareness, because we are seeing some little results for as long as we live we must continue to encourage our feminine gender to study science through it rigours and making them know that becoming a scientist does not correlate with gender issues but a ready mind.
“On our part as a woman led Organisation, we have instituted a programme we call Voice of the girls’ parliament, which has been running for years now to nurture the girl child on all aspects of life, including encouraging them to participate in academics and making choices in science related careers. This program has generated allot of success in the lives of our girls and we hope to do more with your support,” she stressed.
The awareness and interactive session for school girls and women featured talks on STEM product development and design.
