More Female Scientists Needed To Mentor Next Generation - Group

Chief Executive Officer of Soronko Academy, Regina Honu has expressed the need for more female scientists to mentor girls in the upcoming generation.

This call comes in observance and celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

The day is celebrated on February 11 every year to recognize the importance of women and girls in science.

Speaking to UniversNews, Regina Honu stated that, her journey as a female in science was a struggle due to the lack of female scientists in the country.

Hence, she believes that introducing more Ghanaian women to science is the best way to motivate young girls to achieve higher heights in the science-related fields in Ghana.

“Providing visible and mentor as role models is the work that I do. Because that was my struggle. I didn’t have any mentors. In fact the only people I knew that was in the tech space were the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Those were the people I knew and I can’t even relate to them. It was later on that I found out that, there were amazing tribe of women in tech and formed all these essential networks.

"But early on, I didn’t really have mentors. It took a lot of self-development not to give up, with all the hurdles that I faced. Had I had a mentor, I feel it would have been easier for me and this why I always encourage that, mentorship is essential. So I definitely think we need different perspectives to bring innovation in whatever industry.so when it comes to science we need the female perspective,” she said.

She also reiterated that, gender discrimination should be avoided in the science industry. According to her, exploring one’s capabilities should be the ideal criteria for promoting Ghanaian females in science.

“Just because I’m a female don’t put me in female titles. I’m not going to be the secretary of the group, I’m not going to serve coffee or tea. I’m not going to do all that. I’m also very clear that, we should all be equal participants and don’t assign certain roles just because of gender.

"I don’t know why gender has to do with it. It’s all about ability. So if we are all working in a team, you won’t say that may be because somebody is the tall person they must always reach for the highest thing. No, you can all share different roles .I wouldn’t say just because I’m a female, I only do the female type of roles or male type roles. All those things should be about ability and not about gender,” she added.

According to sources, only 35 percent of all students enrolled in fields pertaining to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) are women.

Recent studies also show that women in these fields are usually paid less than men.

Even though there may not be as many women in science and technology, their discoveries and research is just as important.

 

 

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