AIMS South Africa hosted a regional workshop on the gender gap in science on Dec. 1 and 2.  The event, A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It? emphasized AIMS commitment to encouraging more women to pursue science as a career.

Gender equality and inclusion is an important part of AIMS efforts to transform Africa by developing leaders in science. More than 32 per cent of its graduates are women. AIMS believes that women can and will play a key role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if they are given equal access to a quality education in the STEM fields. Women constitute an important part of Africa’s intellectual capacity.

The objective of the workshop was to raise awareness about the project, connect with the people who are instrumental in change and get input to make it relevant to local circumstances. The 42 participants were people working in the various parts of Africa that were nominated by the unions and organization that are members of the project.

Dr. Igle Gledhill and Prof. Marie Francoise Ouedraogo organized the workshop. Gledhill is a principal researcher at the CSIR Aeronautic Systems research group, while Marie Ouedraogo is Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics of University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.