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APWEN seeks more females in engineering profession

By Gloria Ehiaghe 
31 July 2018   |   3:25 am
The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) has taken its advocacy to junior secondary schools, encouraging them to take up Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education to pursue a career in engineering as part of the efforts to increase the number of women Engineers. With less than 15 per cent of females…

[FIle] Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), in a project with young girls in Lagos. PHOTO: AYODELE ADENIRAN

The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) has taken its advocacy to junior secondary schools, encouraging them to take up Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education to pursue a career in engineering as part of the efforts to increase the number of women Engineers.

With less than 15 per cent of females studying STEM globally, the association noted that there was the need to increase the number of girls in STEM studies in schools and students within the junior classes as targets, as those in senior classes had already made up minds to either be in the sciences or other classes.

To encourage girl child in the junior secondary embrace science as a career choice with a target to lead them to the study of engineering, APWEN, last week flagged off the Mayen Adetiba technical boot camp for girls.

The President of APWEN, Engr Felicia Agubata told The Guardian that the three-day programme was to encourage the girls to start early, adding, “so that they will think about science as a career option. We need to catch them young while they are still in junior secondary school that is what boot camp is all about.”

She said the programme was named after one of the association’s courageous founders, Mayen Adetiba, who has soared in the engineering profession, saying, “we are using her as a role model and a pace setter to these young ones, so that they can dream to be like her.”

The special guest of honour, Dr Nike Akande who expressed worries over the global existing gender gap in the engineering profession over the years, however stated that with the increased advocacy, more girls are embracing STEM education.

While commending APWEN and Mayen Adetiba whom the programme was named after, he said: “This is a good initiative. There would be more women going into the engineering profession.

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