The government has called for increased gender inclusion in the engineering profession, saying women have a critical role to play in shaping Africa’s transformation.
The call was made by Engineer Irene Bateebe, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development during the 8th African Women Engineers Forum held on the sidelines of the on-going 11th UNESCO Africa Engineering Week and 9th African Engineering Conference in Kampala
Bateebe said, by 2030 Africa’s population will reach 1.7 billion people with a growing demand for sustainable solutions and therefore, there is need to have more women engineers with resilience and ethical leadership abilities to deliver the economic transformation that is needed on the African continent .
Dr. Patricia Litho, the Head Corporate Affairs and Communication at the Ministry of Energy participated on a panel discussing women engineers related issues in Africa
“We need more designing solutions for clean energy, sustainable infrastructure, climate resilience, mining, oil and gas infrastructure, and digital innovations”. Eng. Bateebe said, adding that the government is committed to ensuring that gender inclusion isn’t just a slogan, but a strategy.
“We are scaling up opportunities for women to enter technical fields, expanding scholarships and integrating gender responsive approaches across national projects”.
She further noted that women represent about 16.7% at the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers membership with the highest percentage, 25% being in student membership compared to the rest of Africa’s universities enrolment which stands at about 47% of females who take up science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses .
She cited the African women engineers forum as one of the programs equipping women with skills and access to impactful platforms. “We need to think of ways to retain female student members to progress to the other categories of membership when they finish their tertiary education,” she stressed..
Bateebe said that the government of Uganda has taken deliberate policy interventions to ensure that women are not just participants but take the lead in all aspects of energy and mineral development.
Dr Anne Nakajri, a lecturer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Kyambogo University encouraged female engineer students s who finish their studies to stay and practice in the profession.
“We have had challenges transferring research into industry but policies have been put in place to change this scenario,” she stated .
The side event held under the theme, “Inclusive Engineering, Women Leading Innovation for Africa’s Sustainable Future attracted participants from different countries across Africa and the diaspora.
