Managers of Ghana’s educational system have been admonished to consider the needs of girls when planning educational activities.
According to a Senior Research Scientist at the Ghana Space Science Technology Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Dr. Nana Ama Brown Klutse, taking cognizance of the biological makeup of women at the planning stages of educational activities will encourage more women to take up careers in science and technology.
[contextly_sidebar id=”igYo93X8CWEsZ8objSstyCoQOsiNoDvH”]Dr. Nana Ama Brown Klutse was speaking at a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics workshop for Junior High School girls in Tarkwa in the Tarkwa-Nsueam Municipality in the Western Region, organized by Turning Point Advocacy, a non-governmental organization that focuses on child literacy, STEM education for girls, and women economic empowerment.
Dr. Klutse listed a number of challenges that confronts women to take up careers in science and technology.
She said, “the problem starts from the basic level where there is stereotyping in our schools, homes, in our communities. That aside, the biological makeup of women also distracts their academic work and their careers. We have the women supposed to be home kind of mentality among us especially when they are married, and are supposed to be taking care of the children, the home, the husband and all that. Combining that with career is not easy” she said.
She continued that “we have seen examples even in politics that there are more men in there than women. It’s not easy for a woman to be moving from town to town, city to city, village to village to campaign whilst leaving the children and husband at home and all that behind, it’s not an easy thing to do”.
To address these challenges, Dr. Nana Ama believes Ghana’s educational system must be developed with the biological makeup and contributions of women in mind.
She believes “planning examinations, planning quizzes, time to go to school and all that should be tailored towards the biological makeup of women. If during just one week examination or BECE, a girl or woman is having menstrual pain, it can be so painful that the child cannot write a paper or two. That can affect her future maybe for a lifetime” she lamented.
She concluded that “moving forward our job places should allow convenient time for women to go to work. It shouldn’t be strictly 8:30am to 4:30pm because the men are going to work at this time. Women should be given flexible time to work. It can still be the 8 hours but probably I can only go at 10:00am and close at 5:00pm or something”.
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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana