By Shani Fakii, DevReporter, Mombasa County
Key Highlights
- Societal stereotypes hinder girls from pursuing STEM courses.
- Girls I Save motivates more girls to venture into STEM.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects and courses have for ages been shunned by girls and stereotyped as a reserve for perceived intelligent men in society.
Parents have yearned to see their girls excel in STEM and pursue courses in medicine and in different areas of engineering like mechatronics engineering.
Curse of Age Old Stereotype
However, these dreams of girls pursuing courses in STEM cannot be achieved if the curse of age old stereotype is not broken, according to Miss Gamar Adnan, a Mombasa Aviation College student.
She argues: “Girls are discouraged from pursuing science courses because most of the time society has been made to see women as less valuable compared to men. This perception perpetuates gender bias, and as such, men and women do not have equal rights”.
Miss Gamar reiterates that fewer women in high positions in STEM fields may not provide enough examples of role models for young girls to break the stereotype that boys fit much better in science courses than women.
Miss Shukrani Nuru, who comes from a humble family, narrates how societal stereotyping has negatively impacted Muslim girls. In her class of 70 students, there are only two girls;
“My uncle recommended an Actuarial Science course, math having been my favourite subject in high school. At first, I thought it was fun but during my first semester our lecturer jokingly said that despite our excitement, we were all going to regret choosing the course, especially ladies, as it is not an easy one. The lecturer event predicted that by the fourth year, the course would not have the same number of students.”
Easy Target
Since Miss Shukrani was the only Muslim lady pursuing a STEM course, she was an easy target for stereotyping.
When she failed one of the continuous assessment tests, she was told to drop out of school and focus on marriage.
Miss Shukrani laments; “many people from our community engage in actions and conversations that lower our self-esteem and underestimate our capabilities only because we are women.”
She added: “I decided not to give up on my studies despite the stereotyping. After the semester results were out, I was among the best with 8 As out of 11 units, which led to me to get sponsorship for my second and third semesters.”
Skills Gap
According to the Center of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA), despite Kenya being a developing and industrialising nation that needs to bridge its skills gap to be competitive in the 21st century, only 22 percent of students undertaking university education pursue courses in STEM compared to 70 percent of students in Asian countries such as South Korea and Singapore.
The African Development Bank further reports that in Africa, less than 25 percent of students in higher education are in STEM fields.
Mentorship for Girls
A Radio Baraza spoke to a group of ladies who have been mentoring and encouraging young girls in Mombasa to pursue STEM courses.
The group believes that their efforts will bridge the wide gender gap in Mombasa by mentoring and encouraging girls to pursue courses in STEM.
Tech Start-Up
Miss Gheida Abdallah, a second-year student at Technical University of Mombasa pursuing Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology, is the founder of Girls I Save, a foundation that empowers young girls to pursue STEM courses in Mombasa.
Miss Gheida, who also runs a tech start-up, shared with Radio Baraza that she draws her inspiration from her experience while in Form Two when her best friend dropped out of school because of forced marriage. She was unable to step in and intervene at the time, because her friend’s family was involved.
She aims to encourage girls to not only stay in school but also pursue courses in STEM.
Miss Gheida was the winner of the Young Scientist Kenya Awards in Sciences 2021 where Girls I Save became the best project in Social and Behavioural in Kenya. She was also ranked as the best presenter, and later won the Pwani Women’s Award in 2023.
