Women in Science

Celebrating Women in Science

On National Women’s Day, Tuesday 9 August, SAEON presented a programme in celebration of Women in Science to girl learners, their educators, women’s organisations and civil society in Ba-Phalaborwa, the municipal area in which the SAEON Ndlovu Node is located.

The aim of the programme was to raise awareness of the myriad opportunities available to women in the field of science and technology, and to encourage young girl learners to pursue careers in this vastly challenging field.

In partnership with the Palabora Foundation, Sibongile Mokoena, SAEON’s Education and Communication officer, invited girl learners in grades 11 to 12 from all the secondary schools in the region to participate, providing transport for learners and educators from outlying areas.

The day’s programme was a surprise package: The keynote speech was delivered by Regina Mapanga, a young PhD student in Physics at the University of Limpopo. Regina acquainted the young girls with the role of physics in everyday life, and highlighted the contribution by women scientists in past and present times.

“As a lecturer to first-year students at the University of Limpopo, she really understands how to talk to a young, non-scientist audience,” says Sibongile, “and the girls were both entranced and encouraged by her.” To these young girls Regina is a superb role model. Not only has she covered vast ground at the tender age of 26 years as an exceptional student, but she is also an excellent speaker who has been selected to present papers at national and international conferences in far-flung places such as Poland and the University of Latvia, Riga.

Regina is not only a pioneer in her field, but also in her province. In South Africa there are currently only 23 women with PhD degrees in Physics. Regina will be the first woman to obtain this degree in the Limpopo Province.

Another brilliant speaker was a woman who has fought the odds to become a successful potter whose unique range of products grace residences throughout South Africa. In her ethnic Tsonga outfit, Bekisa Zitha told the young learners how she, who has “never seen the door of a school”, has made the most of traditional wisdom and her own creative talents to source the right type of clay and stoke the fire to the right temperature to produce her unique range of clay vessels.

The learners themselves participated in the programme by means of a series of short speeches acknowledging the struggle of their mothers and countless other women before them, and the opportunities and choices that they now have due to the role these women played - opportunities and choices that their predecessors never had. They challenged their fellow learners to make the most of their opportunities to be able to lead a successful and worthwhile life, like Regina Mapanga and Bekisa Zitha.

Vuxeni High, the school adopted by National Research Foundation (NRF) at the launch of SAEON last year, gave a drama performance highlighting the history and plight of the domestic worker, and learners from Mhalamhala Primary delighted the audience with their rendition of a poem specially written for the occasion by a talented teacher.

Ample time was built into the programme to view the Women in Science exhibition, which included a Women in Physics stand by the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA), 15 Science Expo projects by girl learners and arts and crafts by local women.

Having received marvellous feedback from learners, educators and other attendees, Sibongile said that the event was well worth the effort, and that she wanted to acknowledge the generous funding by SAASTA, as well as the role played by the Palabora Foundation in the planning, administration and coordination of the event.

“Together we’ve opened up new worlds for these girl learners,” she said. “Already they are setting their sights on challenging and ‘different’ careers, exactly what we’ve set out to accomplish.”