The changing face of women in physics in Ghana

Abstract

Ghana is said to be the first independent sub-Saharan African country outside South Africa to promote science education and the application of science in industrial and social development. It has long been recognized that many schools' science curricula extend the extracurricular activities of boys more than those of girls. In order to bridge this gap, efforts have been made to give girls extra assistance in the learning of science by exposing them to science activities through specific camps, road shows, exhibitions, and so on. The best known of such efforts is the Science, Technology, and Mathematics Education (STME) camps and clinics for girls, which started in Ghana 23 years ago. Since our attendance at the Third International Conference on Women in Physics in Seoul, Korea, a lot has been achieved to further improve female science education, and this credit goes to STME. The first female nuclear engineer from Ghana graduated from the University of Ghana in March 2010.© 2013 American Institute of Physics.