This past week marked an important celebration and no, I don’t mean Valentine’s Day. Tuesday, February 11th was International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The Scholarly Kitchen brought this interesting topic to our attention in their article, “Inspiring the Next Generation of Women in Science.”
According to the World Economics Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap report, around twice as many men as women enroll in higher education in Ethiopia. Statistics from within the country also show that a higher proportion of males than females drop out of university once they are there. Could part of the challenge be a lack of female role models? Of the 140 vice president positions within Ethiopia, only 18 are women – and there are zero female university presidents.
The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) strongly asserts that gender equity is critical to the advancement of science and to the achievement of global scientific literacy. Gender equity means ensuring all students of any sex, gender identity, expression, or sexual orientation—regardless of racial or ethnic background or ability—are empowered, challenged, supported, and provided full access to become successful science learners.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.
