Closing the Genger Gap in STEM - Why do girls and women lose interest in STEM overtime?
Background:
Despite decades
of multiple, dedicated and spirited efforts to entice more girls and women to
take up science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related
subjects and careers, the gender gap remains wide. Botswana and Zambia are
among a few African countries where gender parity in enrolment in secondary and
university has largely been achieved and girls are outnumbering and
outperforming boys. Yet, the gender gap in STEM remains significant and thus,
they are perfect places to understand salient challenges that may need to be
addressed to bridge the divide.
It is against
this backdrop that the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, ATDF
Entrepreneurship Hub (AEH) in Zambia and their partners that included the
African Academy of Sciences, University of Botswana, University of Zambia, and
Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA) undertook an
investigative study on information gaps and factors that dampen girls’ and
women’s interest in STEM education and career over time.
The research was
funded by the University of Glasgow’s GCID Small Grant Funds with the support
of AEH that funded the meeting of partners a day earlier.
About the
Forum:
The Forum on Girls
and Women in STEM was held on 13th March 2024 at Taj Pamodzi Hotel
in Lusaka, Zambia, and brought together students from Secondary schools and
Universities in Zambia; teachers,
lecturers and researchers in Botswana, Kenya, United Kingdom and Zambia; and
policy makers from Zambia to jointly explore why girls and women lose interest
in STEM study and careers overtime. The Forum served as a platform for
participants to share and discuss the survey findings; exchange practical
experiences and insights; and explore collaboration opportunities. Over 40
participants attended the full-day event.
Welcoming
remarks were delivered by Dr Yee Kwan Tang,
senior lecturer at Adam Smith Business School of UofG and the principal
investigator of the project; and Dr Victor Konde,
managing partner of AEH. The Forum was graced by Dr Benson Banda, the
Director of the National Science Centre (NSC), Ministry of Education, Zambia
and President of the Strengthening
Mathematics and Science Education in Africa who gave the keynote speech on behalf of the Minister of Education.
Dr. Banda offered
numerous examples of women’s wisdom, skills and knowledge in applying STEM in healthcare,
agriculture, homes and so forth to pinpoint that women participation in STEM is
high in fields that are more of an extension of traditional gender roles (e.g.
nursing and medicine for homecare) but falls rapidly in business for STEM (e.g.
pharmaceutical industry, agricultural processing, construction industry etc). Therefore,
measures to ensure women participate fully in STEM careers and industries are
needed. Outlining major challenges to
increased inclusiveness of STEM education, Dr Banda stressed the importance to formally
institutionalise and drive gender parity in STEM education in the National Development
Plan. He noted that the inclusion of STEM in the National Development Plan of
Zambia opened the door for innovative ideas to be implemented including STEM
Secondary Schools.
The key findings
of the survey on students were reported by Dr Mwansa Kalumbi Mukalula from
University of Zambia and Dr Dikabo Mogupodi from University of Botswana. Participants
also had the opportunity to hear about the personal experiences of some trailblazing
women who have not only made significant strides in their respective STEM
fields but also committed to STEM teaching and learning of new generation,
including Dr. Lungowe Sitali, Head of Department of Biomedical Sciences, and
Dr. Balimu Mwiya, Zambia
Flying Labs
Coordinator & Senior Lecturer, School of Engineering, both from University
of Zambia; Bessy Nambela, founder of Alinaswe Foundation; and Christian Kafulo, the female
project lead on software system created and developed by the National Science Centre.
Ms Marlyn Wanjiru, Manager of
the Executive Office, Semiconductor
Technologies Limited in Kenya also shared her insights about women’s career
development in technology fields. She highlighted that her firm’s 70 plus
engineers were female, most under the age of 30. Africa had a greater
opportunity to close the gender gap in STEM much faster that most regions given
its high population of young people.
It was very exciting to see the passion
in students in secondary schools whose favourite subjects were mathematics, physics,
chemistry and computer sciences. The presentation by two student
representatives Mairi Matheson and Vivian Abrahamm from FemEng, a self-initiated female
student network in James Watt School of Engineering at UofG; and that by Kenneth
Nsalamu, from the University of Zambia Engineering Society
showcased how students may engage and participate proactively in the promotion
of gender parity in STEM.
Lessons
and way forward
The
closing remarks by Professor William Phiri, the Acting Vice-Chancellor at Chalimbana
University, noted that academic institutions need to open up more space for
female members of staff to transform the traditional STEM environment that was
designed for men to work for both men and women. Deliberate steps to increase
women lecturers and laboratory technicians can help create a free and safe
space for girls and women.
In terms of next step, AEH introduced two further engagement initiatives: an online interactive platform STEM4E (http://www.stem4e.org) designed to disseminate useful information to support STEM learning and encourage knowledge exchange of users; and a design challenge that encourages students to innovate STEM solutions to daily challenges