APWEN advocates more women, girls’ enrollment in science

Science and gender equality have been said to be paramount for the achievement of the development goals, including the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

A statement issued to Business Day Media by the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) to commemorate 2022 International Day for Women and Girls in Science stressed the need for more women and girls to go into science, adding that such would help achieve gender equality and the empowerment of female folk.

According to the statement which was signed by the president of APWEN, Elizabeth Jumoke Eterigho, over the past thirty-nine years, APWEN had made significant strides in encouraging and engaging women and young girls in science.

The statement reads: “A significant gender gap is visible at all levels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines all over the world. Though women have made tremendous progress towards increasing their participation in higher education, they are still under-represented in these fields.

“In closing this gap, APWEN, a non-profit, non-governmental, educational, and service organisation in her thirty-nine years of existence, has been an advocate for inspiring young girls into science through her numerous programmes such as ‘invent it build it,’ a catch-them-young programme, “town and gown”, fashioned to increase the employability of the young graduates.”

On the International Day for Women and Girls in Science which comes every 11th February, the president in the statement said: “It was adopted by the United Nations in order to promote full and equal access and participation for women and girls in science.

“In order to achieve full and equal access to science and participation for women and girls, and also to further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations at the General Assembly in 2015, had to declare the 11th February, as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.”

On the theme of this years’ celebration, ‘Equity, diversity, and inclusion: water unites us,’ the statement further reads: “It is not surprising that this year’s theme is coiled around what is common to all of us; water, the SDG goal No 6: which is clean water and sanitation; aimed to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Read also: EMWF calls for involvement of more women, girls in science to bridge STEM gap

Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH) and ocean issues are at the core of sustainable development because they are closely connected to several key global challenges such as energy, food security, biodiversity, health, climate change, among others.

The United Nation recognised the role of women and girls in science, not only as beneficiaries but as key agents to effecting any change, including that of accelerating the achievement of “clean water and sanitation for all”. Water is the only thing that unites irrespective of gender, ethnic, socio-cultural and religious background. However, its availability is scarce.

“The UN reported that while substantial progress has been made in increasing access to clean drinking water and sanitation, billions of people in rural areas still lack these basic services.

“According to the report, one in three people do not have access to safe drinking water globally, two out of five people do not have a basic hand-washing facility with soap and water, and more than 673 million people still practice open defecation.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of sanitation, hygiene and adequate access to clean water in order to prevent diseases. The World Health Organisation, reported that hand washing is one of the most effective actions to reduce spread or prevent infections. Yet billions of people still lack safe water sanitation, couple with inadequate funding for water,” the statement added.