Columnist and lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi (JOSTUM), Sewuese Shaakaa has called for support for inclusive growth, learning, and innovation for women and girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
She made the call while writing on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The day was sanctioned by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 to promote equal participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
To commemorate this year’s observance, Sewuese invites all and sundry to join the “Bioinformatics Group” to support inclusive growth, learning, and innovation in STEM.”
She writes: “Every February 11, the world celebrates Women and Girls in Science, a day to remind us that talent has no gender, yet opportunity often does.
“STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics – is not just a school subject; it is the engine of discovery, the spark that builds nations, and the path to the future.
“The periodic table does not recognise gender. Equations do not bend toward patriarchy. Molecules do not discriminate. Scientific truth is neutral. Access to it is not.
“From childhood, girls are often praised for neatness rather than curiosity, for compliance rather than experimentation.
“A boy dismantles a device and is called brilliant. A girl does the same and is cautioned about being troublesome.
“These small signals accumulate. By the time subject choices are made, the boundaries have already been drawn. Physics becomes intimidating. Engineering becomes “too hard.” Technology becomes male territory long before talent has a chance to speak.
“I wasn’t pushed into chemistry by chance. I deliberately chose it. My secondary school teacher once told me that if you don’t read chemistry, I will shake in my grave. That stuck. My results were excellent. My best friend, then Engr Mnena Anakaa, kept trying to persuade me to go for chemical engineering, as that was her choice, but my mind was made up. She went that way, and I stayed with Industrial Chemistry. At sixteen, I already knew what I wanted: stubborn, firm, and unshakable in my beliefs.
“I first stepped into a university lab at sixteen. Acetone in the air, glassware clinking, and a final year student telling me, ‘Most girls don’t stay past their first year here.’ I stayed. Many didn’t.
“Today, we celebrate, yes. But let’s also fund, mentor, and open doors because a nation that sidelines its daughters in science is a nation negotiating against its own future.
“Join our Bioinformatics Group to support inclusive growth, learning, and innovation in STEM. For Women and Girls only.”
