Women are underrepresented in research and academia. A manifesto named More Women in Research has been launched in Arusha, Tanzania, to change the situation.
The launch on November 4, 2024, during the YouLead Africa 2024 Summit, followed eight months of documentation by a team of women researchers set up in March in Arusha during a workshop of 50 women researchers mostly from 12 African countries1.
That workshop primarily discussed how to involve and promote more women in research. It was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC), TCDC Tanzania and YouLead Africa.
The 30-page manifesto has three major objectives: 1) Create awareness of the inequalities and challenges women face in research; 2) Facilitate the process of breaking the glass ceiling for women in research; 3) Provide recommendations for different stakeholders.
The manifesto states that less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women, and in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) only 31% of graduates are women.
It adds: “Of Africa’s 97 top-ranked universities, only 21% have women as Chancellors and only 14% have women as Deputy Vice Chancellors. Across Universities south of the Sahara, women make up only 24% of academic staff.”
“We call upon women in research, government institutions, formal institutions of higher learning and research institutions, publishers, funders (local and international), private sector, civil society, media, among others, to also commit to adopting and implementing the recommendations of this,” the women researchers appeal through their Manifesto.
BSU Coordinator Dr. Agatha Alidri, who Chaired the initial stages of discussions and drafting of the Manifesto, said more women were needed in research to give women ‘lived experience’ to inform planning, budgeting, monitoring, decision-making and accountability in national development.
“We need more women in research so that women rise in leadership as research is one of the criteria for promotion [at academic institutions],” she said.
“More women in research will mitigate stereotypes and correct distortion and misrepresentation in non-women-led research,” she added.
You can access the More Women in Research manifesto through this link.
- Burkina Faso, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Somaliland, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and, Uganda
