As a young woman I have not made it a secret that I did not like mathematics and science when I was in secondary school. Saying I did not like science is like describing how I feel about drinking water first thing in the morning.
I don’t like it but it is good for the body so I try to drink it every morning.
I am not alone. In Ghana and globally the number of females pursuing science is nothing to write home about although the story is changing slowly.
April 26 was “Girls in ICT Day,” and it is refreshing to note that it is a global celebration.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Girls in ICT Day is a global initiative to encourage girls and young women to consider studies and careers in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of April and since 2011, hundreds of thousands of girls and young women have taken part in the celebrations in 160 plus countries.
This year’s edition was held on April 27th and I had the privilege of participating in a session, which was organized by the MTN Ghana Foundation and Soronko Academy somewhere in East legon. I made a few remarks at the event but just before I did, the organizer of the event, Regina Honu did a quick survey by asking the girls what they wanted to do in future.
She said, “What would you like to be when you grow up?”Many tiny and medium sized hands sprang up.
The responses would not have amazed me 20 or 30 years ago but I was surprised that out of the 50 girls only one mentioned a science related career. Almost all the girls said they wanted to be journalists, teachers, nurses, air hostesses, lawyers, nurses etc. Indeed only one girl said she wanted to be in the army and one said she wanted to be a doctor. It appears journalists tend to have the most admirers at this age. I also wanted to be a journalist or a lawyer when I was a child.
As a trained journalist and communications person, I should smile knowing that my profession is very well admired because journalists get the most attention and visibility.
What I found surprising though was that no girl even wanted to be an engineer, developer or a technician. Indeed when the organizer asked the girls if they knew who a software developer was none of the girls raised their hands. Amazingly, when she asked how many of them had access to laptops, computers or phones, all the girls lifted their hands and when she asked how many used or had parents who used MTN almost all the girls raised their hands. It was very obvious that almost all the girls used technology but none of them wanted a career in that field.
Thanks to the organizers, they had arranged for female engineers from MTN to come and speak to the girls. The ladies who were four network engineers and one computer scientist spoke to them about how and why they chose an ICT or Technology career.
They also spoke about how fulfilling their career was and encouraged the girls to consider any career they wanted including technology related ones.
I know most of these beautiful courageous ladies but I didn’t know some of them were engineers. As they spoke I sat back and watched them with admiration.
As I listened, I realized I could easily have been an engineer or a scientist if I had a little push or if I had put my mind to it. Although I was selected to do Science back in my school days I chose to read Arts because I couldn’t visualize what kind of person a female scientist will be and of course I thought Arts was something I could easily excel in. I hated science and never made the effort to like it and worse still my teachers made it so easy for me to hate the course. All they did was to bombard us with all these words that I couldn’t relate to. Back then nothing in mathematics, physics and chemistry made sense to me. And the word I hated most was photosynthesis.
Today you can find scores of videos on you tube explaining what photosynthesis and other science terminologies are. I must confess I liked Health Science and Home Science and I still love to read a lot about science now.
So today, as I look back I just wish I had made a little effort to love science and that is what I told the 50 girls who attended the “Girls in ICT Day’’ programme.
If all girls can be inspired to love science I am sure the story will change in a decade or two and beyond. We just need to get them to step out of their comfort zone. Again, the Girls in ICT Day should not be a one-day ceremony.
It should be an ongoing activity and I am glad at least one of my daughters has already decided on a science related career. As much as I love my job, I will still be happy to see some female scientists in my home. Congratulations to all Girls in ICT. You rock!
From Georgina Asare Fiagbenu