Inclusive education and research through African Network of Women in Astronomy and STEM for GIRLS in Ethiopia initiatives
Mirjana Povi?, Vanessa McBride, Priscilla Muheki, Carolina ?dman-Govender, Somaya Saad, Nana Ama Brown Klutse, Aster Tsegaye, Tigist Getachew, Melody Kelemu, Hanna Kibret, Jerusalem Tamirat, Deborah Telahun-Teka, Beza Tesfaye, Feven Tigistu-Sahle
aa r X i v : . [ phy s i c s . e d - ph ] F e b Education and Heritage in the era of Big Data in AstronomyProceedings IAU Symposium No. 367, 2021R.M. Ros, B. Garcia, S. Gullberg, J. Moldon & P. Rojo, eds. © Inclusive education and research throughAfrican Network of Women in Astronomyand STEM for GIRLS in Ethiopia initiatives
Mirjana Povi´c , , Vanessa McBride , Priscilla Muheki , Carolina¨Odman-Govender , Somaya Saad , Nana Ama Brown Klutse , AsterTsegaye , Tigist Getachew , Melody Kelemu , Hanna Kibret ,Jerusalem Tamirat , Deborah Telahun-Teka , Beza Tesfaye , andFeven Tigistu-Sahle Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute, Ethiopia, email: [email protected] . Institutode Astrof´ısica de Andaluc´ıa (CSIC), Spain. Office of Astronomy for Development-IAU, SouthAfrica. Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda. Inter-University Institute forData Intensive Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. National ResearchInstitute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Egypt. University of Ghana, Ghana. Addis AbabaUniversity, Ethiopia. Ethiopian Biotechnology Institute, Ethiopia. International Institutefor Primary Health Care, Ethiopia. Ethiopian Space Science Society, Ethiopia.
Abstract.
The African Network of Women in Astronomy and STEM for GIRLS in Ethiopiainitiatives have been established with aim to strengthen the participation of girls and women inastronomy and science in Africa and Ethiopia. We will not be able to achieve the UN SustainableDevelopment Goals without full participation of women and girls in all aspects of our society andwithout giving in future the same opportunity to all children to access education independentlyon their socio-economical status. In this paper both initiatives are briefly introduced.
Keywords.
Astronomy; women and girls in science
1. African Network of Women in Astronomy- AfNWA
Considering the latest report of the UNESCO and UN-WOMEN, the number of femaleresearchers in the world (both part- and full-time) is on average <
30% (UNESCO, 2019).For most of countries this number becomes even lower when STEM (Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics) fields are considered. Therefore, globally we are facingsignificant gender gap in science. In Africa, most of countries have a number of femalescientists below 25%. Many factors may be responsible for the low number of femalescientists (e.g., poverty and lack of access to education, social constraints, cultural biasesand beliefs, lack of female mentors and role models, etc.), but the final result is that thesedifficulties mean we are losing huge potential that could benefit our society. We will neverbe able to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) without giving our bestin empowering girls and women who make ∼
50% of world population. Astronomy andspace sciences are currently experiencing significant growth in Africa (Povi´c et al., 2018).For the benefit of all society we would like to guarantee future participation of girls andwomen at all levels in astronomy and science developments in Africa.The African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA) † is an initiative establishedin September 2020 under the African Astronomical Society (AfAS) ‡ that aims to con-nect women working in astronomy and related fields in Africa. Our main objectives are † ‡
2. STEM for GIRLS in Ethiopia
In the last Ethiopian Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) II (2016 - 2020) ithas been raised that women in Ethiopia face multiple challenges, including illiteracyand inequality in education, unequal division of labour, unequal power relationships,and limited participation in leadership and decision-making (GTP II, 2016). In addition,participation of young girls in STEM and women in science is still far from reachinggender balance due to different social and economical challenges. STEM for GIRLS inEthiopia initiative was established in 2019 in collaboration with the Society of EthiopianWomen in Science and Technology (SEWiST) with aim to help to achieve the goals ofthe GTP II and to improve in future the participation of women and girls in STEM. It isbased on creating a strong connection between SEWiST members and the rest of society,in particular grade 9 and 10 girls and their teachers, and use SEWiST’s strength and longexperience to promote women in science and technology as role models. Beside inspiringand encouraging more girls to do STEM, we also aim in understanding what are the mainfactors responsible for the lack of girls and women in STEM in Ethiopia and how can weimprove it in future. To reach proposed objectives, we organised different activities withgirls along 2019 and beginning of 2020. Almost all activities were carried out in AddisAbaba, in average once per month. We organised interactions between girls and womenscientists, so that women can share their professional experiences together with their lifestory on how they became scientists and therefore serve as role models, and that girlscan share their life stories as well, their future plans, challenges they are facing, etc. Upto now the interaction has been made with almost 1000 girls, with many activities beingfocused on astronomy. We also developed a questionnaire that girls can feel voluntarily,for understanding better the reality and main factors behind the lack of girls in STEM,seeing clearly the tendency of girls to continue with care-type professions (up to 70%).In addition, in 2019 we organised the very first workshop for teachers to discuss whyit is important to bring more girls into STEM. Our activities were interrupted during2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and closure of schools in Ethiopia, but we are nowre-starting the activities.
Acknowledgements
AfNWA and STEM for GIRLS in Ethiopia have been supported by the Nature Research andEst´ee Lauder through the MP 2018 Inspiring Science Award. Support of the South African DSIto AfAS-AfNWA is also highly acknowledged.