Africa-Press – Namibia. WOMEN in Engineering (WomEng), in partnership with the De Beers Group and the Debmarine–Namdeb Foundation, recently hosted a girl in engineering workshop to encourage girls to take up engineering as a career.
The programme strives to train high school pupils and university of technology students across Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
About 240 high school girls from various schools in Khomas region attended the workship, which aimed to inspire and empower them to learn about future careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The ministry of education’s deputy executive director, Edda Bohn, stressed the importance of strengthening girl participation in STEM subjects at primary and secondary school levels.
“I view this workshop as very essential because of the platform it creates for women in engineering not only to share ideas, and create awareness but also to promote career opportunities available for girls in STEM,” she said.
Bohn added that, “Despite efforts being made to increase the number of females working in STEM fields, less than 20% of all professionals working in engineering in Africa are women.”
She added that although schoolgirls are already developing ideas about future career paths, very few want to study engineering at university. They are heavily influenced by the career paths of females in their lives, like teaching, nursing and blue collar jobs.
“School-going children see the engineering profession as being confined to jobs in construction, transport and manufacturing. However, engineering can also be about developing computing, healthcare, medical and environmental protection products, catering for the diversification of talents and interest for engineering aspirants like you,” she highlighted.
The workshop was also attended by engineers from Debmarine Namibia, professionals from the Namibia University of Science and Technology and the University of Namibia, and young female engineers from the Southern Africa Fellowship.
Daniel Kali, the country representative of the De Beers Group, said, “De Beers Group is delighted to continue its partnership with WomEng to help unlock the interest and participation of girls in STEM careers. As the global leader in diamonds, we know that the world’s sparkle can only be fully illuminated when all members of society have equal and unhindered access to opportunities.”
Brent Eiseb, the chairperson of the Debmarine-Namdeb Foundation, said, “As a foundation, our vision is to accelerate economic inclusion and support diverse voices to help shape the future of our business, communities and society. Through strategic partnerships, we will continually strengthen our programmes to support equal opportunities across all forms of diversity, including gender, race, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.”
Naadiya Moosajee, the co-founder of WomHub said, “We are ecstatic to continue building on the work we have done through our partnership with De Beers. It takes an ecosystem approach to support diversity, equity and inclusion within the engineering industry. It’s incredible to work with a partner who understands this, and who supports us in developing women and girls for bright futures in the sector.”
More workshops are planned in other parts of Namibia, with a target to equip and support 600 girls to pursue engineering and technology careers over three years.
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