SADC’s charter aimed at women in STEM is eventually active
THE charter that establishes the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Women in Science, Engineering, and Technology Organisation has come into force to pave the way for more girls and women to study and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the region.
This was revealed by SADC representative and part of the Secretariat Reya Morakabi during the Ministry of Information Communications and Technology (ICT) Forum for Women in Science event held at Royal Villas in Ezulwini on Monday. Murakami said while more women are now accessing tertiary education globally, fewer are pursuing STEM programs, and the SADC region is no exception.
According to the United Nations’ 2019 Global Sustainable Development Report, only 35% of students in STEM disciplines worldwide are women. (The 2023 report is under development.)
“The SADC charter acts as a strategy to increase the number of women in STEM subjects for regional countries. It aims to develop a regional database of women in STEM, as well as facilitate the establishment of fully functional networks; lobby for more women representation in decision- and policy-making bodies and positions relating to STEM; and build stronger partnerships between women scientists, engineers, technologists, and their communities,” he said.
In addition, he said the charter also requires all SADC member states to establish national women in science, engineering, and technology (WISET) chapters.
“Further functions are to promote gender mainstreaming in science, engineering, technology, and innovation; commission research on key issues relevant to the improvement of women’s participation in science, technology, and innovation (STI) in the SADC region and organize conferences, seminars and workshops on research and research skills for women and girls in STI and SADC women entrepreneurs,” he said.
Worth mentioning is that the SADC’s WISET organisation, established under Article 3 of the charter, was approved in 2017, a decade after the idea was first mooted.
It comes into force after the required twothirds of states have ratified it, according to a statement issued on 28 June 2023 after a meeting of the SADC ministers responsible for education and training and science and technology held in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.