The first in a series, from Samia Melhem, on women's access to careers in science and technology. The discussion starts with a look at the core cultural issues that globally create barriers to girls interested in a career in science and technology.
Why is it that so many young girls, even if gifted and talented in S&T, would nevertheless decide to study political sciences, sociology, or English literature?
Why is it that the image of sciences, engineering and technology is often belittled in our modern OECD cultures today?
In a recent Zack and Cody episode, one of the most popular pre-teen programs running on the ubiquitous Disney channel, a sanitation engineer’s career was equated to that of a garbage collector by one of the two star brothers. At the same time our kids were absorbing that observation and processing it into a fact; some valiant engineering professors in the US were taking their sanitation and water engineer’s third and fourth year students to countries such as Thailand and Vietnam. Once there, they will build water sanitation systems in rural areas and will teach the villagers how to operate and maintain the structures. To the local villagers, the water sanitation candidates are heroes. To the economists, the students contributed to sustainable development. Guess which of the two pictures will prevail in young children’s mind today? Bet you the Disney verdict will prevail!
Anecdotes on stigmas such as these abound. Very little is acknowledged , or advertised, on the amazing achievements engineering, sciences and technologies have helped us accomplish. At a time where a sleeping media forgot its role of objective reporter and is bombarding its audience with banalities, and a time when religious fanaticism and integrism seems to dominate the world wide scene, the image of sciences and technologies is taking a backseat which is reflected by absence from the teachings in primary schools, to graduate enrollments, to Research and Development investments. Sadly, and as anyone who considered the epistemology of scientific discoveries would conclude, OECD countries could not have ever reached their current economic or military superpower status, without earlier on, the advent of the industrial and manufacturing revolution and, and now, that of the information revolution. The foundation of most these revolutions is sciences and technologies. Principally, engineering sciences and then, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
One can go on and on. The issue is the shrinking base of global citizens actually knowledgeable in Sciences and Technology – compared to the global needs, and pent-up demand. Where to start, other than at the school level? The negative connotations associated with students of Sciences and Engineering in Modern America, which I am familiar with, abound: Labels such as nerds, geeks, etc. It is even worse when it comes to female engineers or computer scientists, almost always depicted as ugly lonely females with oversize glasses and facial acne; competing in social handicaps with their male counterparts. They are almost always opposed to the other cultural archetype: The hip Barbie-type class mate, with her belly button showing in a top model body, who talks in giggles with her clique members, and seems to fit all possible stereotypes associated with beauty, brains and behavior. Worst, she and her enlightened clique despise mathematics and sciences and make no secret of it. All of these young girls want to be movie stars or famous singers. They obsess collectively on American Idol; as the parents and teachers complacently collaborate to the bubble building. That all would still be all right – if there was no bashing of the “other” model; and if there was an alternative model: a hip, smart and socially well integrated female young scientist. The reality is that it is very rare to have young women portrayed in the media as having a role in ICTs or engineering. They are usually doctors, nurses, lawyers or reporters. When was the last SITCOM where the female leading role was a computer scientist, an engineer, or a webmaster?
After setting the context as I see it today, I thought I’d describe an event where policy makers, engineers, scientists and academicians world-wide assembled, to talk about some of the problems outlined above, and to brainstorm on some solutions at the global and local levels. I attended recently a Colloquium on “Empowering women in Engineering and Technology”. The colloquium was sponsored, amongst others, by the Word Federation of Engineering Organization (WFEO), of which Tunisia had the presidency this year; Tunisia’s Ministry of ICT, UNESCO, European Commission, Center of Women in Information Technology (CWIT) World Wide association of women engineers and scientists, and several related professional associations from the Sciences, Technologies, Engineering and ICT universe. Also present were NGOs, academia, research labs, and private sector Fortune50 sponsors, mostly ICT companies (HP, Cisco, IBM, Texas Instruments, etc.). The colloquium was opened by Tunisia’s Prime Minister and closed by Tunisia’s Minister of Higher Education, Sciences and Research with several high level interventions from Tunisia’s ICT ministry and universities all through the conferences. The Tunisian representatives emphasized on the key role of women, and that of sciences, for human development, progress and overall improvement of the human condition.
In the next part of the series, to be published next week, Samia explores the discourse at the Colloquium at Tunisia.
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Disclaimer: The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of executive directors of the World Bank or the governments it represents. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work"
For more information, or comments, email: smelhem@worldbank.org