Luanda – Angolan Vice-President, Esperança da Costa, highlighted Wednesday in Luanda the role played by women in the social, economic and political development of the country.
Speaking at the opening of the Forum for Dialogue between Women and Young Women in Science in Angola, Esperança da Costa said the government has developed actions to empower girls and women in science, highlighting, among others, the Science and Technology Development Project through scholarships.
The Vice-President added that under the project run by the Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, 55 percent of post-graduate scholarships and funding for the development of scientific research projects must be allocated to women, on the assumption that they meet the application criteria.
To Esperança da Costa, reflecting on women and science necessarily implies contextualizing undergraduate and post-graduate academic training, especially PhDs, as it is a degree that requires greater application in the search for more specialized knowledge.
"In Angola, the exponential increase in the university student population that has taken place, especially since 2009, has also been accompanied by a greater number of women attending higher education. In 2019, the percentage of women was 46%, and it is noteworthy that academic records show a slightly higher annual pass rate for women," Ms Costa said.
The politician added that the statistics show that in terms of post-graduate level there is a great decrease in the participation of women, who represent only 24% of the students at this level of training.
According to Esperança da Costa, despite the progress registered with the increase of the frequency of women in higher education, it doesn't translate into a greater presence of women in scientific research.
The politician added that the low percentage of women in post-graduate studies in Angola, around 24%, led to a "Diagnostic study on the inclusion and access to post-graduate training that is more sensitive to gender and vulnerable groups in Angola" carried out in 2021 and 2022, as part of the Higher Education Support Programme (UNI.AO).
This is, she went on to say, a study whose general objective is to understand the internal and external obstacles for a better social inclusion of vulnerable groups at the post-graduate level and the progression in the teaching career.
Esperança da Costa said that the study showed that among the various constraints identified by women in the continuation of their studies, besides financial and logistical issues, barriers were identified that are based on sociocultural and institutional aspects.
The study also serves to demonstrate the Executive's concern by identifying the barriers that maintain the gender disparity in science, for decision making, policy formulation and implementation of measures to overcome these barriers.
