How Women’s Involvement In STEM Is Key To Africa’s Sustainable Growth – By Project Management Experts

According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, the female out-of-school rate is 4.2 percentage points higher than the male rate in sub-Saharan Africa. This can be attributed to several factors, such as the entrenched cultural perception that STEM is a male domain and that boys and men are just ‘better’ at math and science, as pointed out by the Mastercard Foundation.

Sharing her personal journey as a minority in the industry at the recently held PMI Africa Conference organised by Project Management Institute, Senior Civil Engineer, SHEnginners, Innocentia Mahlangu said, “Growing up, I was well supported. I was encouraged to embark on projects. My family did not see or perceive me differently because I was a girl.”

L-R: Mary Phiri, Region Mentor, Project Management Institute; Taopheek Babayeju, CEO iCentra; Juzar Badami, Head, the SAP Centre of Excellence, Dangote Group; Samuel Pownall, Insight Consultant, PwC Research.

How we raise girls matters, and this is the bedrock of gender inclusion. She added that we no longer live in an era where the intellectual contributions of women and girls can be ignored or understated.

Although it feels like the narratives are changing in some parts of Africa, with the recent increase in female professionals over the years, gender discrimination is still holding women back, according to the Harvard Business Review.

The United Nations opines that “gender equality is a right. Fulfilling this right is the best chance we have to meet some of the most pressing challenges of our time—from the economic crisis and lack of healthcare to climate change, violence against women, and escalating conflicts”.

The African Business indicates that “only between 3% and 7% of females who attend higher education go on to study STEM-related courses, resulting in the underrepresentation of women, lack of innovation and creativity, and decreases in productivity across Africa’s oil and gas sector.”

L-R: Jonathan Oluranti, Cordinator Covenant Center for Information Technology; Olopade Ademola Elijah, Senior eLearning Administrator, Covenant University; Emeka Unachukwu, Sales & Marketing Associate, Project Management Institute.

Mahlangu said, “I started playing supporting roles in projects when I was in the workplace, and opportunities opened up for me. Some opportunities where women were not even present or could take up. I was supported through that and well integrated into that. I benefited from mentorship, sponsorship, and advocating for champions. People advocated for me when I was not in the room; sometimes, it takes the people in the room to change their mindset. As decision-makers, we need to drive better inclusion in our workplace that helps change the narratives.”

She added that “providing women and girls with inequitable access and representation in political, technical economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanities at large.”

“African society will thrive if women and men contribute to the project economy; if we want to build an inclusive world and thrive in the fourth industrial revolution, we need women.”