Empowering girls narrows sciences gender gap

By Evance Ng’ingo                    

THOUGH a considerable number of women are defying the odds by invading the once male dominated sectors such as engineering, medicine, mechanics and so on, the gender gap in science related works in Tanzania remains worrying.

With all the odds heavily stacked against them, women have to battle male chauvinism, poverty and outdated social and traditional norms for them to make it to the top, especially in rural areas.

In many societies, girls face a lot of hurdles in their educational journeys such as pregnancies, early marriages and above all they are responsible for all the domestic chores, which consumes much of their time at home hence they get little time for studying.

This has seen many girls shunning sciences due to the myth that they need more time and attention and they are difficult to study.

This is besides that fact that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number five emphasises the availability of quality education for girls and women at large.

But, girls seem to face a barrage of challenges that hinder them from performing well in science subjects.

The Co-founder of Shule Direct, an Institution that offers technical support through online services to secondary school students, Iku Lazaro, said that it is possible to promote science subjects among girls and there are several factors that may attract female students to tackle science subjects

She said that the family is one of the important factors, adding that members of the family have the ability to plant the seeds for girls to like science subjects.

She said once parents and other relatives convince their children to tackle sciences, demystifying it, then it will make them develop an interest in sciences.  

She said that in families that value educating boys, then it is obvious that male children will be highly encouraged to go for science subjects while girls are deprived of such encouragement.

She added, “In my experience, I discovered that once girls are encouraged and given the necessary support, they perform well in sciences, but due to cultural and traditional norms in some societies, girls find themselves consuming more of their time doing domestic chores unlike boys who will get enough time to study”

“Science subjects unlike others need time and boys get this time, while some girls don’t get it. Through Shule Direct I have observed that girls develop interest and love to study sciences; so it is the matter of enabling them to perform better.”

In order to unravel reality on the ground, Woman Magazine visited several schools in Dar es Salaam and talked to some students on their experiences and expectations when it comes to science subjects.

Temeke Secondary School student, Joana John Joana loved sciences from the time she was a child and her had ambition was to become a medical doctor; when she was in primary school, she used to tell her friends of her dreams.

But, when she enrolled for her secondary education, the dream started to disappear into thin air due to the fact that she made new friends who had a negative perception about science subjects and told her how difficult the subjects were.

She said that she fail to get enough time to attend extra lessons and as a result she found herself shifting her focus to arts subjects as they were not difficult and challenging.

Joana added that at home she is mainly responsible for washing dishes, cooking and other girl-related chores and she does them until late at night, depriving her of enough time to study.

“Science subjects need more time and attention; I find them difficult and I have no option but to study arts and I am learning History, Geography and Language, though I could be doing Physics, Biology and Chemistry. But, I am still in love with sciences,” she said.

Joana still believes that despite time constraints that hinder girls from performing better in sciences, she still warns her friends to be careful with study groups, urging them to stay away from friends that threaten them against science subjects.

According to the Benjamin Mkapa Secondary School Mathematics teacher, Juma, society has a role to play in making girl students develop interest in science subjects.

 He said early preparations start from home, pointing out that his experience revealed that there are some girls who are better in science subjects compared to boys in Forms One and Two.

But as time goes on, some girls lose focus and among the reasons being family.

He said that some students fail to get enough time due to domestic chores, while others are discouraged by relatives and friends.

“Girls are bright and very good in sciences once they are enabled to do study well, this can be done through conducive studying environment where teachers and members of the society support them,” he said, adding, teachers have started helping students by offering advice and there are positive results.

The Minister of Education, Professor Joyce Ndalichako has been encouraging girls to tackle science subjects, and teachers to be creative to cultivate interest in girls for sciences.  

The initiatives have started bearing fruit, and there is light at the end of the tunnel in ensuring gender equality by 2030.

In this year’s National Form Six Examinations results, according to the National Examination Council, girl students shined in science subjects with 98.29 percent compared to boys with 97.12.

The performance reveals that once a girl gets effective support, she will do better.

This has spilled to university level as enrolment at the University of Dar es Salaam, UDSM in the year 2017/18 increased to 30 percent compared to the past three years where it ranged around 16 to 17 per cent.

Carolyne Erakyisima is a successful woman owning an organization known as Apps and Girls that offers science subjects to girls aged between 10 to 19 years and teach them IT technology.

She said, “Among the 2,000 girls I have supported, some managed to get sponsorship to different parts of the world; this gives a picture that when girls get support they deliver.”

Doctor, Esther Mwaikambo was the first woman doctor in Tanzania around 1965 after she was admitted to the Friendship University, Moscow, and in 1969 she completed her medical studies and awarded a degree in medicine.

She said that girls are naturally bright and are able to do better in sciences and added that society should stop any harmful and bad treatment to them; instead they should empower them to conquer the world.

“Once society supports these girls, it is obviously that they will do better. Members of the society, teachers and students should work together in enabling girls to perform better in science subjects,” she said.

Arnold Ndumbaro currently owns an engineering company and employs 12 engineers of which five of them are female. He told this newspaper that during his study at Forodhani Secondary in the late 1980s, girls were doing better in science subjects and even at university and he confessed that girls can be best engineers, doctors and even pilots.

According to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, both gender needs to work together in attaining the 2030 goals that insist of gender equality in ensuring no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, and clean water and sanitation.

Also affordable and clean water, decent works and economic growth, industry, innovative and infrastructure, reduced inequality, sustainable cities and communities.

With the light shining for the girl child as stakeholders are joining hands to empower and address hurdles, it is imperative that more concerted efforts are made for the world to achieve SDGs and make it a better place for women.