A Brave New World: International Day of Women and Girls in Science Statement by Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif
https://www.educationcannotwait.org/news-stories/directors-corner/brave-new-world
NEW YORK , Feb. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The future of the human race hangs in the balance. With science and technology far outpacing the capacity of most humans to keep up, we must arm our future scientists and future leaders with the knowledge, skills and critical thinking abilities they need to survive and thrive in the brave new world of the 21st century.
To achieve these goals, we must empower an entire generation of girls in crises to receive the education, training and resources they need to improve their knowledge and skills base in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).
Today, we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and recognize the groundbreaking work of leading women scientists throughout history such as Marie Curie, who pioneered research on radioactivity and was awarded two Nobel Prizes in Science.
Today, we also recognize the power and potential of an entire generation of future scientists. Brave leaders such as ECW Global Champion Somaya Faruqi, who led the Afghan Girls' Robotics Team in Kabul and built a ventilator out of car parts.
Together with ECW and our strategic partners, strong visionaries like them inspire our global charge to ensure girls have access to STEM education from an early age, and women can break through the glass ceiling to find their rightful place in universities, labs and research facilities across the globe.
It is not an easy road. For girls living on the frontlines of armed conflict, climate change and forced displacement, the thought of even attending school is elusive at best. In all, there are now nearly a quarter of a billion crisis-affected girls and boys whose right to a quality education fit for the 21st century is interrupted by these preventable protracted crises. Girls are among the most vulnerable. Rather than studying science or learning about technology, they are exposed to forced child marriage and unwanted pregnancies without their potentials ever being achieved.
It is possible to change all that. In Chad, through ECW investments delivered by UNICEF and partners, Khadidja is learning about science, math and mechanics in a classroom designed to provide non-formal education to children that have been impacted by the various crises facing the nation. Nadejda, a Ukrainian refugee in Moldova, is building up her digital skills and even learning to develop a website thanks to support at an ECW-funded EDUTech lab in her new school.
Technology, artificial intelligence and breakthroughs in science have the potential to save humanity from our collision course with our own demise. We need to train the young women – and young men – who will guide us through this technological transformation.
Our best investment is to ensure that every girl and boy on planet earth is able to access the quality education they need to bravely thrive in a world undergoing rapid transformation, and face it head on!
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