The Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Ms Lulu Xingwana, will, on Friday 4 November, launch the Techno Girl project at the Sandton Convention Centre. The project seeks to empower young girls with scarce and critical skills such as Mathematics, Science, Engineering and Technology. It exposes them to the world of work and gives them skills that are desperately required by the economy.
The Techno-Girl project is an investment in the future of young girls as well as the future of our economy. Children living in poverty, orphaned or vulnerable, remain at the margins of social transformation. The gender analysis and Evaluation of Girls’ Education study also revealed that girls perform poorly compared to boys in Maths, Science and Technology.
It is noted that fewer girls study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at both secondary and tertiary levels. This has major implications later in the girls’ lives, as they have fewer career opportunities, and get relatively lower paying jobs.
The department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities believes that redressing gender inequality in South Africa is an economic imperative. This means that gender bias directly affects economic growth. This is because the majority of South Africa’s population is women. By implication, gender stereotyping therefore translates to limitations on the income of a large part of the population.
The department’s view is that expanding choices for people and creating equal opportunities are essential ingredients for sustainable human development. This applies in particular to the women and girls in our society. For a large majority of girls the fast‐paced, modern work environment contrasts starkly with their daily experiences.
The Techno-Girl project is an important intervention that seeks to reverse this unfortunate situation, by providing girls with the opportunity and skills to become productive participants in the economy and to empower them to make positive decisions that affect their lives. It gives young girls the skills, confidence and power to create a better life for themselves and their communities.
The programme, which is a partnership between government and the private sector, exposes girls, through job shadowing, to the world of work during school holidays. The focus is exclusively on careers in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields. During their tenure at organisations during the school holidays, the girls are exposed to various career paths and options through job shadowing of role models.
The programme aims to place 4000 disadvantaged girls in a structured job‐shadowing programme in the participating provinces and expose them to the world of work so that they can make informed career choices. This is particularly necessary for the girl child who is not traditionally exposed to these scarce careers and women in influential positions.
Girls are therefore placed in organisations whose core business activities are focused on scarce career fields and/or occupations where women are under‐represented such as engineering, construction, forensic sciences, etc.
Members of the media are invited to join Minister Lulu Xingwana at the launch of Techno Girls project, which takes place as follows:
Venue: Sandton Convention Centre
Time: 7h00
Date: Friday, 4 November 2011
Enquiries:
Cornelius Tanana Monama
Tel: 012 359 0208
Cell: 082 578 4063
