“Women and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics for Benin’s Development”. This is the theme developed during the inaugural conference marking the opening of the academic year 2021-2022 at the National University of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (UNSTIM-Abomey) on Thursday 25 November 2021 in Abomey. This presentation by Mrs. Clotilde Tognon GUIDI (Full Professor/CAMES) describes the status of this issue.
«Discuss science with your children, especially with girls» . This is an appeal from Mrs. Clotilde Tognon GUIDI Professor / CAMES delivered during the 2021-2022 academic year ceremony at the Thematic University of Abomey in central Benin. Indeed, Benin’s Universities have fewer girls in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) though women represent more than 51% of the population, 40% of the global workforce including 43% in agriculture. Can we do without women to build a strong nation where digital, technology, engineering and even mathematics have become essential in the development process of great nations? asks the speaker.
STEM and academic orientations in Benin
Students avoid science fields, especially STEM, for other academic choices. The last 2017 Statistical Yearbook of the Ministry of Higher Education points out that 16.85% of degrees are obtained in STEM versus 83.15% in Social Sciences, Economics, Commerce, Law etc…. The phenomenon is less dramatic for boys but very much in evidence for girls in our colleges and universities. As an illustration, “during the 2016-2017 academic year, only 15.02% of girls are enrolled in the Science and Technology fields at the National University of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (UNSTIM-Abomey) versus a rate of 84% for boys” in a national university yet dedicated to STEM. Same reality observed at the National Institute of Preparatory Classes for Engineering Studies (INSPEI) where out of 46 students enrolled in 2016, there were only four (04) girls or a rate of 8.69%, versus 91.61% boys made known the professor before the authorities and the Rector. The consequence of this phenomenon is already visible by the low representation of women in the academic world in Benin. Indeed, in the Yearbook of Women Scientists in Benin, 2013, the rate of representation of women in Higher Educationturns around 10% including STEM specifies Ms. Tognon. This challenge must therefore be urgently overcome. For this mission, she invites the Rector to organize sensitization sessions in colleges to encourage future students, especially young girls, to be interested in the scientific fields without fear.
Women and STEM in Africa and the world.
Benin is not the only country in the world to experience a decline in science in terms of women’s representation. All over the world, “there is a marked segregation of disciplines because engineering, technological and industrial research are dominated by men”. In Sub-Saharan Africa, only30% of researchers are women. In STEM, these women are paid less and publish less according to a UNESCO report. But in Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Cameroon and Ethiopia there is a significant increase in number of women researchers. On this list, Cape Verde provides more effort and records more than 52% of women in the world of scientific research followed by Tunisia with 47%.
In the countries of the European Union more than 75% of the students in engineering, architecture, science and computer science are men, that justifies men’s domination in this sector. In North America, university enrolment in STEM fields is estimated to have decreased by 13% among women between 1999 and 2005 (Savigny and Deschenes, 2007).
Eventual sources of the phenomenon in Benin and in Africa
The causes of the phenomenon are multiple and vary from one country to another. But specifically, if there are fewer women in these fields in Benin and in Africa, it is due to the weight of tradition which reduces women to second rank in society. Parents also say that STEM fields are hard and reserved for men.
We will tell them today that “digitalization, ICT and STEM are easier options for women” says the speaker. The lack of information and the stereotypes conveyed in society prevent the evolution of women in these specialties. Affirmations like ”girls would be less talented in mathematics. Girls are not made for mathematics nor for long studies. They are made to build a family and not for science”. These illusions are not to the taste of the researcher who declares : « No and no ! We are no more accepting to found only a family. We also want to evolve like men because the development of Benin and Africa is also our responsibility», so there is no need to question gender in STEM because there is no difference between girls and boys».
Benefits & Recommendations
STEM degree holders have higher incomes and are less likely to lose their jobs and can earn up to 26% more money on average according to the US Department of Commerce, 2011.
STEM education can therefore prove to be a means of sustainably raising women’s economic and financial potential. It also gives people the knowledge, empowerment, and economic freedom to shape their daily lives as they wish. Recommendations are therefore made to the academics, the actors of the educational system and the government. These advantages should be translated into “actions that will guarantee that women do not assume a disproportionate share of unpaid work, namely parental, domestic and educational tasks, but that they have enough time and energy to leave their mark on the sciences and innovations of tomorrow in order to meet the great challenges of Benin and Africa’s development. Raise awareness” in the family and school environment. To reduce educational segregation for gender equality according to the OCEDE. Encourage STEM learning from kindergarten through high school. Work with businesses, universities and community organizations to promote internship mentoring and co-op programming initiatives that attract women.” Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) she concludes.
English translation of ”Faible représentativité des femmes dans les filières scientifiques au Bénin : Le Professeur Clotilde Tognon Guidi lance un appel ”, Bertrand-Gabriel Kpodonou, by Salima ALAGBE