Gender/ Women in Science and Technology in Bayelsa State: Its Goals and Challenges for the New Millennium Development

Abstract

The gender dimension of science and technology (S&T) has become an increasingly important and topical
issue worldwide. For over thirty years now, the United Nation General Assembly and the UN Economy and
Social Commission have emphasized the inequalities and disparities in the educational opportunities open
to women and girls, and in women access to training and the labour market (Ligia, 2007; Walter, 2007). In
Bayelsa state many women and girls are excluded from participation in science and technology (S&T)
activities by poverty and lack of education (at all levels), and by aspects of their legal, Institutional,
political and Cultural environments. On primary education the state achieves gender parity. However
gender parity decreases in secondary education and the gap widens even more in tertiary education. The
situation of educational system in the past sixteen years whereby women and girls were directed to the
farm to do farm work while the men and boys were given the opportunity to go to school even though they
were not fully committed. Presently this state has achieved overall progress in gender equality and female
empowerment according to the latest 2007 data due to continuous establishment of schools from primary
to tertiary levels of which Niger Delta University is one. This institution offers many courses in science and
technology and has produced a lot of female graduates both in pure and applied sciences such as
pharmacy, medicine, engineering etc. Women face a lot of challenges in Science and Technology career for
their work are underrated and are less considered for any grants in Bayelsa state even in Nigeria at large. If
this erroneous attitude is checked and our women are given equal opportunities like their male
counterparts, this will help increase the pool of women in this field.