STEM: OWSD Holds International Day for Women, Girls

Funmi Ogundare 

Three hundred participants, including students, staff, and members of the Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), will tomorrow, February 29, converge on the Faculty of Science Boardroom University of Lagos (UNILAG) for the ninth International Day of Women and Girls in Science, hosted by the institution’s chapter of OWSD.

It aims to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) among girls.

The programme with the theme, ‘Women and Girls in Science Leadership, a New Era for Sustainability: Think Science, Think Peace’, will witness lectures on ‘Cervical Cancer: All You Need to Know’, which will be delivered by a senior lecturer/Consultant Clinical Oncologist, College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL), Dr. Omolola Salako; and ‘Gender-based Violence: Vulnerability of the Girl-Child to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse’. It will be delivered by a gender and development expert, UNILAG, Dr. Idongesit Eshiet.

The Director of Public Relations, Adejoke Ibraheem, in a statement, explained that OWSD is a programme unit of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), founded in 1987 and operates from the offices of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), in Trieste, Italy.

“The UNILAG chapter of OWSD has successfully organised annual events to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education among female secondary school students in Lagos,” said the statement. “With the chapter’s target audience being girls in secondary schools, participation in these events has been drawn from several districts in Lagos state over time.”