STEM for Girls

In Uganda and world over, girls’ participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is much lower than that of boys. Uganda’s National Planning Authority launched the Uganda Vision 2040 in 2013, which emphasizes gender equality and stresses the importance of mainstreaming gender in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields. Despite these efforts, women and girls continue to be significantly underrepresented in STEM. According to UBOS (2017), women occupied only 33.8% of ICT-related jobs compared to 63.2% males. In Engineering, male occupied 81.4 of the jobs while women occupied 18.6%. Causes of this gender imbalance include lack of safe ‘spaces’ for getting hands-on skills, lack of female role models, negative perceptions, lower self-esteem, discouraging remarks from adults, and intimidation from boys who dominate the science classes; and Misconceptions that STEM is for men. Knowing that the causes for gender imbalances in STEM fields are multifaceted, we work to bridge this gap using various strategies aimed at encouraging girls to pursue STEM courses. In particular, with funding support from Education Partnership Africa, we reach girls and teachers in rural primary, and secondary schools, and institutions