Honouring women in science

The L’Oréal Foundation, together with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, celebrated the success of its first ‘For Women in Science South African Young Talents’ programme at The Venue in Morningside. The programme is aimed at promoting and encouraging young women in science.

“Today, there are simply not enough women scientists in Africa to drive change at the scale at which it is needed. Science and technology are among the principle keys to addressing these challenges,” explains Gilles Antoine, country manager of L’Oreal South Africa.

The L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science programme was first launched in 1998 and it has since supported and raised the profile of more than 3 100 female scientists. “While women represent 28 per cent of researchers today, the glass ceiling remains particularly persistent in the field of research – 89 per cent of senior positions in research are held by men, and only 3 per cent of Nobel scientific prizes have been awarded to women since the creation of this award,” said Antoine.

With the vision of empowering more female minds in the stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) industry, the South African programme has awarded seven candidates with a substantial researched grant to further pursue their life-changing work.

PhD candidates Yogandree Ramsamy, Shantelle Claassen, Chelsea Tucker, Emma Platts and Sinenhlanhla Sikhosana were each awarded a research grant of R80 000. Post-doctorate candidates Melissa Nel and Busisiwa Ndaba were each awarded a research grant of R160 000.

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French ambassador to South Africa, Aurélien LeChevallier, commends the programme for changing the “way we look at women scientists now all around the world”. “Your commitment to bringing to light the work of female scientists is still much needed,” he said.

“While a growing number of women are enrolling in universities many opt-out at the highest levels required for a research career. This shows that much remains to be done to award women the consideration and role that is rightfully theirs,” LeChevalier added.

“The time we live in is characterised by a number of global challenges and all of these will require women like you to help us solve these problems,” concluded director-general Dr Phil Mjwara of the Department of Science & Innovation.

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