29th October, 2018
The Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) on Monday called for the elimination of all education and career stereotypes against girls.
The W.TEC, Communications Officer, Mr. Yemi Odutola, made the call in Lagos.
According to him, the stereotype is still there, that engineering and sciences are mostly for men and a lot of people still stand on such notion.
“The best way in solving this problem is to let girls know that a lot of women are actually succeeding in this profession by citing examples to them.
“There is also the need to let them know that such women have their own families, husband and children and are able to manage all successfully, ‘’ he said.
Odutola added that the W.TEC workshop was an avenue where the center dispelled all education and career stereotypes against girls.
He said that to curb these ills against the girl child, there was need to start from an early stage in schools to introduce science and technology subjects to them.
The communications officer said that mentorship, scholarships and encouraging programmes in such fields would help in motivating the girls to have an interest in the field.
Odutola called on organizations to make available slots for women to work so as to ease the burden for them when they graduated from school.
He also urged parents to train both girls and boys together, adding that gone were the days that girls would be relegated to the kitchen, while boys were left to read.
“Dolls and toys should not be pushed solely to girls, there is need to buy tools that will push them to develop their minds at home toward technology.
“It is good to let them know that they are girls but they should be made to understand that they have full capabilities like boys, ‘’ Odutola said.
He noted the gains of the global campaign against gender inequality and the right of the girl child, saying that such should be adopted in the country for the development of the girl child.
Odutola said that the global coordinated efforts against gender inequality and female empowerment would lift the spirit of the girls, who should be convinced of the many opportunities that exist for their future.