“When I was at my school, the boys used to call us ‘half- men,’” says Rebecca, a recent graduate of The MasterCard
Foundation Scholars Program at BRAC, in Uganda. “Because
if you’re a lady and you go for sciences, you’re a half-man.”
Like Rebecca, I am also a MasterCard Foundation Scholar
and a girl who loves math and science. And, like many other
girls, I wish I had more people who believed in me. I wish
my professors in middle school had pushed me to pursue
my studies in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM). Instead I was encouraged to go into
literature and languages, the most common path for girls.
Fortunately, my grades in math and physics were so high
that I was sent in the scientific track in high school.
Armanda Kouassi, Scholar at the University of California,
Berkeley (graduated 2014) .
I went on to study mechanical and industrial engineering,
but my path did not get any easier. Being one of the few girls
in engineering school – like in most STEM majors – can feel
like a lonely fight. I had to prove that I was just as smart at
the boys and that I had worked just as hard to get into
engineering school. Some boys hinted that I didn’t belong in
science, saying, “Actually, you’re here because they just want
to increase the quota of girls.”
As a girl in science you learn to overcome hostility from your
male counterparts and to earn their respect. I wish I had
more positive female role models in science who had
overcome the same barriers in pursuing their passion and
to whom I could relate. Although I was highly inspired by the
successful stories of many women in STEM like Mae Jemison
or Marie Curie, none of these women were African.
We African girls and women deserve to study science.
Science needs us. Africa is at a crossroads in its
development where it will need innovators, inventors,
scientists and engineers to face challenges like climate
change, food insecurity and the spread of disease, issues
which so often have a greater impact on women. We cannot
think about development, especially in today’s world,
without considering how we can leverage science and
technology for progress.
“It was cool being a science student,” says Rebecca, Scholar
at BRAC in Uganda (graduated 2014).
Women have a critical role to play in that process. We have
a different way of looking at the world. We better
understand the realities of women, like those who walk
thousands of miles per day to get clean water for their
household. With different ideas and perspectives come
better solutions and thinking that can move scientific
innovation forward and benefit the whole of Africa. Our
contribution is needed.
These are some of the reasons why I founded Fillenscience,
which translates to “Girls in Science”, a network that
encourages girls to engage in STEM by providing them with
positive role models and mentors. My hope is to inspire
girls, not only to enter STEM fields, but to build careers in
these fields and to use science and technology as a catalyst
in the transformation of the continent.
I want to give girls like Rebecca what I wish I had for myself:
positive role models in STEM who are women and who are
African. I want to inspire and encourage girls to hold on to
their ambitions, pursue their dreams and make a positive
contribution to society.
“Since childhood I’ve loved mathematics. I want to be a
mathematician,” says Saeda, a secondary School Scholar at
the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) in
Ethiopia.
It is precisely because of its support to girls and young
women that I am proud to be part of The MasterCard
Foundation’s rising trend of young women scientists, one
that will continue to emerge with the Foundation’s new
partnership with the African Institute of Mathematical
Sciences (AIMS).
This collaboration, announced today at the World Economic
Forum in Africa, will specifically target young women
interested in science. It will also include an annual event
that will bring together female scientists to not only promote
women’s contributions to science, but to show how science
can make a difference to our lives.
I believe that math and science are at the forefront of the
search for new innovations and inventions to help drive
Africa’s economy.
“I believe that math and science is at the forefront of that
progression,” says Miranda Nyathi, Akwanya Program –
University of Cape Town.
I am proud to stand with my fellow Scholars. Young women
like Rebecca, who has faced challenges as a girl studying
science, but still holds on to her passion and believes that
being a science student is “cool;” with Saeda, a grade nine
student in the Scholars Program at the Forum for African
Women Educationalists (FAWE) in Ethiopia, who dreams of
becoming a mathematician; with Miranda Nyathi, a Scholar
in the Akwanya Program at the University of Cape Town, who
also believes that math and science will be at the forefront
of progress in Africa; with my fellow Berkeley alumna
Patricie Uwase who is working to inspire girls in her native
Rwanda to pursue STEM fields. I am also proud of all the
young women who will participate in the Scholars Program
at AIMS.
The wealth of our nations, of the continent is its people. As
Africa rises, let’s ensure that we carve out a place for girls
and women scientists. Source: Mastercard Foundation
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