August is Women’s Month in South Africa and to commemorate that, Global Citizen wrote about the wonderful career of Senamile Masango. Masango is a nuclear physicist and the first African woman to be part of an African-led experiment at CERN. She is also the chair and founder of the Senamile Masango Foundation, an initiative that provides a more inclusive future for women in STEM and addresses the challenges they face.
Masango also sees science and engineering as tools for women’s economic freedom and empowerment.
She adds: “I believe that growth in the areas of science, engineering, and technology could speed up job creation, and social upliftment. Increasing the number of women in science and engineering within any company is a competitive advantage. An increase in the number of female scientists and engineers will result in an increase in critical skills, better access to basic services, and the creation of products.”
Black women who are scientists are still few and far between in South Africa. This means women like Masango “have to work twice as hard” to prove their worth.
Diversity in STEM related: ProjectFunction creates pathways for marginalised groups in tech and Dominic-Madori Davis on the true need for diverse voices in tech reporting