Promoting Congolese women in science
While women represent half of all students in life sciences, there is only one in four professors according to data from 500 scientific institutions around the world. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, you will not find any women in the position of Director or Senior Scientist (Statistics 2015).
The main problem is the retention and promotion of women in positions of influence. Women are less likely to participate in committees or to speak at scientific meetings. Other factors include prejudice, difficulty to run jointly work and family life, funding, low wages and lack of networking opportunities.
A database
As an answer to this situation, the non-profit association Investing In People that I lead launched in January 2019 a database of women in STEMs in the DRC and, with Sultani Makutano led by Nicole Sulu, launched on Saturday, 7th September at Makutano 5, a scholarship for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Three kind of scholarships are available:
- Studies: the scholarships help to finance Bachelor, Master and PhD studies in STEMs in Congolese or foreign institutions;
- Event: an endowment is available to attend in to international symposium or meeting in STEMs;
- Research: a research fund is granted to support a STEM research project carried out in the DRC.
The technical management of the scholarships is entrusted to the BRINGMANN Excellence Scholarship System at the Congolese Universities "BEBUC" coordinated by Professor Karine Ndjoko Loset.
Need for financial support
As I showed in one of my books, women have contributed a lot to science throughout history, but they have always been under-represented at all levels. Together, we can change this, although according to a recent study, at the current rate, it will take hundreds of years to reduce the gender gap in physics, for example. We must therefore intensify our efforts.
Like MKF Consulting and Sodeico, we invite you to contribute to these scholarships. To do so, fill in the form.
The first fellows will be presented at the 7th edition of Science and Technology Week, which will take place from 18th to 22nd April 2020.
Together, we can change the status quo.
Science is fun, join us!😊
P.S.: To be eligible for research grants, if you have not already done so, register now in the Database of Women in STEM DRC and join the Amazons of Science DRC. 😉
Tis post has first been published on LinkedIn. It has been translated in English by Afriscitech.