INTERNATIONAL
NIGERIA
T
he number of female students in Nigeria has risen almost seven-fold since independence in 1960 and women could soon outnumber their male counterparts in the country’s universities. Recently released statistics show the proportion of female students rose from 7.7% in 1960 to 45% in 2009. Male-to-female ratios are uneven in different parts of Nigeria. In the south-eastern region, the gap between male and female students has closed significantly. Rebecca Samuel, an academic in the sociology department at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, says: ‘Parents from the poor urban and rural zones encourage men to go into petty trading at a very early age to look after their extended families. They send
AFRICA
T
he African Union (AU) Commission has lived up to its commitment to support the popularisation of science and technology among Africans, and promote efforts to transform scientific research into sustainable development, with the awarding of Regional Scientific Awards to five women. The regional prize-giving, which took place on 9 September (African Union Day) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, saw the women laureates each receiving $20,000, a silver medal and the AU Science Certificate. The AU Scientific Award Program is designed to enhance the participation of African women in science and acknowledge their contribution to the use of science in addressing African challenges. This year’s program saw Kenya’s Murilla Grace Adira, principal investigator with a University of North Carolina-led consortium on developing drugs to treat parasitic diseases such as sleeping sickness, winning in the category Basic Science, Technology and Innovation. Abukutsa Mary Oyiela of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya, won in the category Earth and Life Science,for her research on the production of indigenous veg-
females to university while the boys’ dream is to become big-time businessmen.’ Yoruba areas have the highest number of universities of all ethnic groups in Africa. The liberal and egalitarian tradition of the Yoruba encourages the education of women at all levels. The picture is different in northern Nigeria. Universities in Muslim communities record a very high percentage of male students. Girls tend to be married off early by their parents, so both Koranic and Western-type tertiary institutions have a high number of male students. Michael Adedayo, a lecturer and educational psychologist at the University of Benin says: ‘One of the fundamental changes in Nigeria’s tertiary education is the rapid increase in the female population. If this trend continues we may witness a preponderance of female students.’ ‘Dramatic increase in female undergraduates’ by Tunde Fatunde, UWN, 5 September 2010
etables in poor countries and her work in promoting agricultural biodiversity. Hassina Mouri, an Algerian geology academic working at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, was also a winner in the Earth and Life Science category. ‘The money is less important than the forum the award provides as a role model for other women and girls,’ Mouri told VoaNews. ‘We have been discussing with the other sisters that it is one of the best ways to encourage the other females to follow the same paths, and to work hard,’ Mouri said. The first female mathematics professor at the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, information technology and numerical simulation expert Genevieve Barro Kabre, notched up a prize in the Science, Technology and Innovation category. Salimata Wade, a nutrition scientist from Senegal, was the fifth winner, also in the Earth and Life Science category. AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping said measures should be taken to promote women as scientists, engineers and technologists in Africa so they can be involved in all facets of the continent’s development. Ping said the under-representation of women in science and technology mirrors their exclusion from the mainstream economy. ‘AU honours leading women scientists’ by Munyaradzi Makoni, UWN, 19 September 2010
vol.18, September 2010
frontline
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