NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 13 – The International Day of Women and Girls in Science which was held this week went largely unnoticed despite the deep-rooted variation and stereotyping of women and girls in society.
This important day is marked annually on February 11 and is recognized by the United Nations as part of measures to empower girls and women to ensure the society get to realise that it is not just one gender that should dominate the field of science.
This year’s theme was Women Scientists at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, a pandemic that has ravaged nations across the world.
In Just like the rest of the world, fields perceived to be complex were mostly left to men largely due to the stereotyping that goes with it.
But this has changed, and with time we see organisations like Kenya Airways having more and more women piloting huge jets as others take up engineering and other technical work.
According to Mr. Sammy Muraya of the Voice for Women and Girls’ Rights-Kenya, a project of the Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) that mobilizes media to spread human rights awareness, there is much more that need to be done to change the perception in society about women and girls, including the enactment of laws as well as implementing existing ones.
“Gender-related laws are the beginning in creating a broader and much-needed space and development of policy and national values-oriented process to institutionalise affirmative action in the country,” Muraya said.
Over the past 15 years, the global community has made a lot of effort in inspiring and engaging women and girls in science. Yet women and girls continue to be excluded from participating fully in science.
At present, less than 30 per cent of researchers worldwide are women. According to UNESCO data (2014 – 2016), only around 30 per cent of all female students select STEM-related fields in higher education. Globally, female students’ enrolment is particularly low in ICT (3 per cent), natural science, mathematics and statistics (5 per cent) and in engineering, manufacturing and construction (8 per cent).
Men, women, boys and girls must be seen to be an equal gender with no bias to either.
During the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the United Nations used the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic as having clearly demonstrated the critical role of women researchers in different stages of the fight against pandemic, from advancing the knowledge on the virus, to developing techniques for testing, and finally to creating the vaccine against the virus.
At the same time, the UN said, the COVID-19 pandemic also had a significant negative impact on women scientists, particularly affecting those at the early stages of their career, and thus contributing to widening the existing gender gap in science, and revealing the gender disparities in the scientific system, which need to be addressed by new policies, initiatives and mechanisms to support women and girls in science.
Against this backdrop, this year’s celebration of the Day at the UN Headquarters sought to address the theme, “Women Scientists at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19” and gathered together experts working in fields related to the pandemic from different parts of the world.
The UN has said it is advancing momentum and interest to accelerate progress in achieving the 2030 Development Agenda and its 17 Global Goals.
With this, the 6th International Day of Women and Girls in Science Assembly theme will be Beyond the Borders: Equality in Science for Society, with a special focus on the value of the social aspects and cultural dimensions in Science, Technology and Innovation to enhance sustainable development programmes.
“Science and gender equality are both vital for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” the UN said.
In order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/70/212 declaring 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
