Committee Chairperson on Higher Education, Science and Innovation, honours International Day on Women and Girls in Science
On 22 December 2015, in recognition of the critical role that women and girls have in science, technology and innovation and that their participation should be strengthened, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 11 February of each year the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
Women and girls represent half of the global population and, therefore, half of its potential. Science, technology and innovation are crucial to addressing the major challenges of the world, yet only one in three scientists is a woman. Gender equality in the sciences, and in society, is crucial if we are to achieve our full potential and find meaningful, inclusive solutions to our common challenges.
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation has prioritised the importance of transformation and gender equality in the science and innovation domain. In so doing, the committee routinely and expressly interrogates the initiatives and targets of the Department of Science and Innovation; and its entities that relate to the provision of support and the creation and inclusivity of opportunities for black and women scientists, academics, technologists, engineers, business owners and innovators.
The committee strongly advocates for increased resources to expand successful initiatives like the National Research Foundation’s Research Chairs Initiative, Centres of Excellence, grants for early career researchers and its new Postgraduate Funding Policy, which all seek to ensure that 90% of the recipients of this support are black and 55% are women.
These initiatives have been instrumental in increasing the participation of women in the South African scientific workforce to 46%. In addition, on a recent oversight visit to the South African Astronomical Observatory in Sutherland, in the Northern Cape Province, the committee learned that due to considered intentional action by the Observatory, half of the staff and half of the doctoral students under its supervision, are women.
Women also constitute 33% of the management group, whereas in 2005 there were none. However, it is not enough to have women represented in the general scientific workforce. Women should be part of the governance and management structures and forums across the spectrum of science and innovation institutions, leading and shaping the scientific agenda and discourse hence the committee routinely monitors the constitution of the Boards and Executive Management of science councils and entities that it oversees.
In recognition of the need to promote and strengthen the inclusion and participation of women in the sciences across all levels of employment, the Academy of Science of South Africa - an entity of the Department of Science and Innovation - hosts Gender in science, innovation, technology and engineering, which is an international initiative to promote the role of women in science, innovation, technology and engineering (SITE), and to demonstrate how applying a gender lens to SITE can provide deeper insights, more effective programmes and more sustainable outcomes in the context of development.
The Academy also hosts the South African National Chapter of the Organisation for Women in Science in the Developing World (OWSD), which aims to increase and promote female participation in science and technology professions, in scientific leadership, and in decision-making processes at national level.
An initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation, the annual South African Women in Science Awards, showcases and honours the achievements of women who are leaders and distinguished scholars in their fields. The awards create awareness of the role of women in the sciences and serve to encourage girls to consider careers in science. Previous winners of this award include:
- Dr Sibongiseni Thotsejane – winner of the Distinguished Young Woman Researchers: Research and Innovation award. Dr Thotsejane developed an award-winning business process model in big data analytics that was tested in Finland, Canada, the USA, UK, Philippines and South Africa. In 2018, she was appointed as a Commissioner on the South African Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Dr Thotsejane's research focuses on the impact of the 4IR on marginalised communities and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Her findings contributed to the development of South Africa's first national 4IR strategy and the creation of jobs for 16 young people from an unemployed graduate programme she started in 2012.
- Prof Michèle Ramsay - winner of the Distinguished Women Researchers: Natural (Physical and Life) and Engineering Sciences award. Prof. Ramsay holds the DST-NRF Research Chair in Genomics and Bioinformatics of African Populations. She is a Professor of Human Genetics and Director of the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of the Witwatersrand. Prof Ramsay's current research interests include the role of genomics variation in African populations in the context of rapidly changing environmental and demographic conditions, and bioinformatics approaches to the identification of genetic variants that contribute to disease in Africa.
The committee commends the Department of Science and Innovation and its entities for implementing programmes that have tangibly increased and strengthened the participation of women and girls in science. However, more needs to be done, especially in the mathematical, engineering, physical and computing sciences fields.
These fields form the core of the digital revolution and the jobs of the future hence the committee will continue to ensure, through its oversight and accountability programme, that these initiatives are enhanced and prioritised and that the need for more and adequate resources for science and innovation remains at the forefront of its agenda.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Sibongile Maputi (Mr)
Parliamentary Communication Services
Cell: 081 052 6060
E-mail: smaputi@parliament.gov.za
