© EWB UK
Engineering Workshop in UNN, Nigeria 2013

UNESCO and the International Gas Union will host a Workshop on Women in Engineering at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 10 December 2013. The objective of the workshop is to identify the socio-economic, cultural, and educational constraints for women in engineering in Africa and the Arab States.

The Director-General, Irina Bokova, will provide opening remarks followed by two roundtable sessions led by government, academic, industrial, and civil society experts from the African and Arab States regions, respectively.
The Roundtable on Women in Engineering in Africa will examine science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational policies, curricula, teacher training, and female participation. Panel experts include Dr. Esperança Laurinda Bias, the Mozambiquan Minister for Mineral Resources, Mrs. Anne Wangari Kirima-Muchoki, Chairperson of the Kenya Investment Authority, Dr. Tonya Blowers, Head of the Organization for Women in Science in the Developing World, and Ms. Martha Alade, the President of Women in Technology in Nigeria.

The Roundtable on Women in Engineering in the Arab States will discuss the factors preventing women from entering the workforce in greater numbers despite the large percentage of engineering students that are women. Panel experts include Dr. Laila Rashed Iskandar, the Egyptian Minister of State for Environmental Affairs, Dr. Amina Benkhadra, General Director of the Morocco National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines, Dr. Fareeha Zafar, Government College University of Pakistan, and Eng. Fadwa Abu Ghaida, President of the Committee of Arab Women Engineers.