Nigerian Women in S

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Nigerian Women in ST Education and Practice

• Helen Aderemi, Wunmi Hassan, Willy O. Siyanbola
  and Kehinde Taiwo
• Of the
• National Centre for Technology Management
  (NACETEM),
• And
• Department of Food Science and Technology,
• Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria

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Introduction

• Scientific literacy promotes
• the development of a capable work force for
  modern industries
• Also necessary for informed public involvement in
  public policies.
• The demand for scientists and engineers in the
  technology-driven global economy is ever
  increasing

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• ST is often not considered an appropriate
  occupation for girls and women
• Women trained in ST constitute an under
  recognized but important potential resource
• While there are common trends determining women's
  participation in science and technology, there
  are important variances from culture to culture
  and region to region.

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• In Africa, while the overall enrollment of women
  in higher education is still much lower than
  mens, enrollment in science courses is lower
  still.
• At the University of ST in Ghana in 1986/87,
  women made up
• 16 of students in the natural sciences,
• 2.1 in engineering,
• 21.9 in the medical sciences,
• 10.2 in the Faculty of Agriculture, and
• 10.9 in the Faculty of Architecture.
• A 1992 study showed that less than 10 of the
  total enrollment in science and engineering
  courses in Nigerian Universities are female

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• Although there is little data available on
  women's participation in ST, sweeping
  generalizations based on identified trends will
  be of little value in increasing women's
  participation in national ST.
• Quantitative and qualitative information is
  needed to shed light on the gendered implications
  of ST policy, and in this way to serve as tools
  for policy makers.
• Several conventions have called for the
  collection of gender-disaggregated data
  reflecting womens economic contributions to
  science and technology

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Thus, the main aim of this work is to study the
post graduation occupational activities of female
ST graduates

• The specific objectives are to
• -study the enrollment and graduation pattern of
  female in ST tertiary institutions
• -identify types of employment female ST
  graduates engage in and
• -make recommendations that would enhance women
  participation in ST.

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Theoretical Framework

• A diverse workforce is a more creative workforce
  capable of challenging old attitudes and
  practices and bringing fresh thinking and greater
  innovation to product development.
• If women are excluded, other viewpoints and
  perspectives are lost and the profession is the
  poorer

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• Employers who insist on recruiting men only do so
  from a shrinking recruitment pool due to brain
  drain.
• In order to engender national and international
  data collection, it is necessary to understand
  how womens roles differ from those of men.
• The Nigerian financial sector prefer to employ
  graduates of ST on the grounds that these
  graduates perform better with mathematical
  computations

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• Women are just beginning to penetrate the ranks
  of technical management. The limited number of
  women in senior positions contributes to
  continued discrimination in the workplace
• unfair appraisal system,
• favoring males,
• inequitable remuneration,
• Lack of consideration for family and personal
  life,
• lack of old boys network

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• Role models continue to be important especially
  on the campus
• Mentors benefit as much from mentoring as the
  mentees.
• The ability to mentor students, giving them
  encouragement and academic advice, give the staff
  strength to continue, and having a faculty mentor
  give the students encouragement not to give up.

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• Womens reproductive responsibilities clash with
  their professional responsibilities.
• The child bearing and intensive childrearing
  years collide with important years for gaining
  tenure. For this reason
• women tend to be older than their male
  colleagues at the same level
• If women take a break, to either have children or
  to look after the family, returning to the world
  of ST can be difficult.
• Time away from the laboratory leads to
  unfamiliarity with novel technologies and state
  of the art equipment.
• Staff retraining is an expensive and
  time-consuming affair.
• Retaining skilled female employees has become an
  economic necessity.

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Methodology

• A survey was conducted in July 2006 across the
  six geo-political zones of the country
• Structured questionnaires(4 sets) and interviews
  were used to solicit information from female ST
  graduates employed in ST organizations, Auditing
  firms, Banks, Insurance Companies
• Questionnaires were administered to ST graduates
  excluding the medical and pharmaceutical
  sciences.
• Enrollment and graduation data were obtained from
  Universities, polytechnics and Colleges of
  Education

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Purposive sampling technique was used to select

• 25 engineering firms each in the six zones
• 600 employed females graduates in each zones,
• 60 Heads of Department in tertiary Institutions
  in each zone, and
• 5 Exams and records units of tertiary
  institutions in each of the zones.

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Acronyms

• ST Science and Technology
• FSTG Female Science and Technology Graduate

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The Nigerian Educational System

• Primary school - six years,
• Junior Secondary School (JSS) for three years
• Senior Secondary School (SSS) for another three
  years
• Post secondary education/Tertiary institution.
• University 4-5 years
• The Polytechnics offer
• Ordinary National Diploma (OND) certificates 2
  years
• a mandatory one year internship
• Higher National Diploma (HND) program 2 years
• College of Education - 3 years NCE
• Technical Schools and Colleges
• Vocational Training Centers

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Results Discussion

• Enrollment increased over the ten-year period in
  ST courses by
• 63-81 - male and
• 77-110 -female

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• Enrollment varied across the regions
• Northwest zone has least female participation in
  ST
• 15-40 in Sciences
• 1-5 in Engineering
• Southwest has highest female enrollment in
  Science courses with 60-77
• National average of female enrollment in ST is
  32- 40

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• In the sciences - the highest number of female
  students were admitted into Biochemistry,
  Geology, Physics and Microbiology in that order.
• In Technology, higher number of female students
  was admitted into Computer Science and
  Mathematics, Electrical Engineering and Chemical
  Engineering departments while Mechanical
  Engineering had the least number of female
  students.

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• Percentage of enrolled female PG students lt than
  that of undergraduate female students
• Percentage of female students in Science lt than
  Engineering
• Female academic staff in ST between 11.4 and 19
  of male

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Female enrollment in Sciences 15-40

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Engineering graduation 1- 44
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Female academic staff in ST between 11.4 and 19
of male
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Age of Respondents

• - 42.5 - 20 -30 years
• - 39.2 - 31-40 years
• - 5.5 - 41 - 50 years
• - 2.8 gt 50 years.
• This result suggests that most of the
  respondents were young with about 81.7 less than
  40 years old.

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Educational accomplishment

• 68.5 are graduates of universities
• 23.4 are graduates of Polytechnics
• 8 finished from Colleges of Education

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• Among the University FSTG about
• 10.4 - First Class Honors degree,
• 49 - Second Class Upper Division,
• 35.8 - Second Class Lower Division
• 4.8 - Third Class.
• Amongst the FSTG of Polytechnics
• 53.5 graduated with Upper Credit,
• 44.8 had Lower Credit and only
• 1.7 graduated with a Pass certificate.

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Higher Degrees
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Course of study

• 61.4 Science courses
• 23.5 studied engineering courses.
• 6.2 - EDM - Environmental Design
  Management
• 7.4 - Agriculture 7.4
• 1.5 - Education

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Did FSTG have role models?

• 50.4 - No
• 49.6 - yes
• 36.5 of the role models were male
• 63 had female role models.
• There is need to publicize the successes of
  female achievers to encourage the younger
  generation to emulate them.

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Post graduation actions

• 23 went for higher degrees on graduation
• 36.8 indicated there was lack of suitable
  positions where they lived.
• 15.5 - class of degree was a limiting factor
• 21.8 - got employment

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Employment in ST sector

• 3.6 in manufacturing,
• 8.1 in Quality Control and
• 34.7 in Administration (including Planning and
  documentation).
• 47.7 in RD.
• 9 - academics in tertiary institutions.

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Employment in Non-ST sector

• 46.2 work in Administration,
• 20 in Accounts,
• 9.5 in Audit and
• 22.9 in Public Relations Units.
• This result indicates that about 30 of ST
  graduates are employed in financial institutions

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Positions of women in the work place

• 16.4 - managerial post,
• 27.3 - Supervisors,
• 51.3 - middle level
• 5 - junior cadre positions.

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Why FSTG engage in Non-ST jobs

• 40 - no alternative offers
• 19 - wanted a change in career
• 19.3 - career in ST was too demanding.
• 22.7 - greener pastures or more attractive
  opportunities

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Organizational policies on reproductive activities

• 50 of FSTG enjoyed maternity leave with pay
• 22.9 are given time to pick kids from school
• 15.4 - Work half day for three months after the
  maternity leave
• 11.8 - went on maternity leave without pay -
  mainly in the private sector

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Conclusions Recommendations

• Female enrollment increased over the ten-year
  period in ST courses with national average of
  32- 40
• Female enrollment varied across the regions
• Need for affirmative action to ensure increased
  enrollment across the zones
• Female enrollment in sciences gt engineering
• Female enrollment in ST _at_ undergraduate level gt
  PG
• Female academic staff in ST between 11.4 and 19
  of male

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• There is gross underutilization of human resource
  
• most FSTGs work in Administration, Finance or RD
  departments
• a high proportion take less paying non-ST jobs
  for domestic reasons and lack of suitable
  vacancies.
• Creation of more jobs through industrial
  development would provide more employment
  opportunities
• Need for affirmative actions to employ more women
  in the ST sector as in South Africa, Britain,
  etc.

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• Child bearing and rearing years should be
  recognized as positive contributions to the
  nation and should therefore not be a limiting
  factor in the advancement of women.
• Work environment/policies - to be more conducive
  to the reproductive years of the female ST
  workforce.
• Working conditions should be improved to
• -elongate maternity leave
• - flexible working hours
• - Both the government and professional ST
  bodies need to pay closer attention to the
  working conditions of women in the private
• sector.

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Measures to promote the participation of women in
ST

• Purposive recruitment and retaining policies
• - better maternity benefits,
• - phasing in women returning from career breaks,
• - flexible working hours for parents,
• - paid leave for unexpected family emergencies
• - child care and holiday pay schemes,
• - networks for women managers,
• - dual career planning and
• - experience (not age) recruitment criteria

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Other measures include

• Networks of/for women with careers in ST
• Mentors, role models and internal networks
• - promote education, training and practice of
  ST among women
• - raise the profile and effectiveness of women
  engineers and scientists
• -form links and networking with other
  organization
• Professional women organizations such as
  Association of Professional Women Engineers in
  Nigeria (APWEN), Third World Organization for
  Women in Science (TWOWS) etc can help in this
  regard

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• Thank you