It is no news that there is still a gross underrepresentation of women and girls in the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). As the table below shows, the share of females graduating from tertiary education in these is below 30% for many SSA countries.
Consequently, scientific work and technological innovation are missing women’s invaluable perspectives and critical contributions. This also means that most women will remain in jobs that are likely to be replaced by technology, lower-paying or less economically impactful in an increasingly technology-driven world.
Share of Female Tertiary Graduates in Engineering
Why aren’t there enough women in STEM-related jobs in Southern Africa?
Existing data shows that globally, there is a “leaky pipeline” leading to few women in STEM careers and Southern Africa is no different. In the case of Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia and South Africa, while girls’ secondary education enrollment is higher than for boys, many of them drop out before completing their secondary education.
Of those who complete secondary education, many lack the required proficiencies in numeracy, science and the digital skills required to enrol and/or excel in STEM-related programs at the tertiary education level.
In South Africa, 50.3% of girls compared to 58.6% of boys achieved 30% or higher in Mathematics in the National Senior Certificate Examination. In the Eswatini General Certificate of Secondary Education, 22% of girls achieved a passing grade in Mathematics compared to 35% of boys, while the corresponding figures in Science were 24% for girls and 31% for boys.
In addition, in The Equality Equation Report, gender norms, stereotypes, biases, and sexual harassment emerged as key drivers of low representation of women in male-dominated STEM fields.
Gender biases and expectations for different genders, set by families, society, culture, and the media tend to propagate stereotypes, discriminatory practices and policies which deter girls from pursuing STEM careers and also lead to women leaving STEM careers.
These challenges limit the chances of girls’ exposure to these fields, which in turn discourages more girls from pursuing STEM careers; creating a vicious circle that must be disrupted.
What can be done to disrupt the status quo?
The good news is that some of these key drivers of gender disparities in STEM fields are known and are solvable. Moreover, there is no lack of innovative initiatives across Africa targeting some of these root causes.
There is the need to scale up interventions that have proven to be game-changers. Some of these interventions focus on improving access to and quality of pre-tertiary education to ensure students, both girls and boys, are learning and acquiring the expected competencies in math, science, literacy and digital skills.
These interventions focus on incorporating gender-responsive and integrated STEM education in the pre-tertiary education curricula; providing mentorship and hands-on training opportunities for girls and young women in collaboration with STEM industries; and promoting flexible and family-friendly workplace policies.
In Lesotho, the World Bank currently supports the Government to strengthen teaching and learning in Mathematics and Science in junior secondary education through an innovative, technology-driven largely open-source solution, that provides access to high quality, interactive and fun materials for students to learn these subjects.
Students are more likely to appreciate science and mathematics if they are taught in an engaging environment filled with lively debate and collaborative problem-solving.
With the proliferation of technology and a rapidly growing global digital economy, it is imperative that deliberate policies are put in place to ensure all students in the region have equal opportunities to acquire STEM-related competencies from early childhood through higher education.
Going forward, it will be crucial for all educational stakeholders to work together towards shattering the long-standing barriers and ensure that girls and young women in both rural and urban communities across (Sub-Saharan) Africa are empowered and inspired to explore future careers in existing and new frontiers of science, technology and innovation.
The original article was written by Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly, World Bank Country Director for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini, for World Economic Forum.
