Estudios de la Agitación en Laboratorio:

According to the Department of Women (2015:5), before the dawn of the democratic government in South Africa, most women were subjected to ‘triple oppression’ in the form of gender, race and class inequalities, e.g. most black women were in low-skill jobs as domestic workers. On the other hand, the labour market had been dominated by men. Those who were traditionalists and believed in a patriarchal society were encouraging that situation; hence in some communities it was not important for girls to attend school. This situation was made worse by the apartheid system which excluded blacks in general from educational opportunities, including freedom to choose certain subjects, in an effort to use them as a pool of unskilled labour (ibid.:

33).

To correct this situation, the democratic South Africa ratified a number of legal instruments that were advocating the promotion and protection of women’s rights, to ensure that women, including young women, are developed and empowered politically, socially and economically. Instruments such as the National Education Policy Act (NEPA), Act 27 of 1996, the South African Schools Act (SASA), Act 84 of

1996 etc., were meant to assist the country to transform the education system and enable access to education by all. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,

Act 108 of 1996 itself was developed to ensure that all citizens receive among others, education of their choice, irrespective of their gender, race and class (Department of Women, 2015:33). Based on this, my conclusion is that South Africa needs a youth community that is well balanced in terms of socioeconomic skills, to ensure a smooth take-up of the future by young women and men who are fully empowered and ready to take the country to the next economic level.

On the other hand, the government has also proposed programmes and initiatives such as Techno Girl (by the Departments of Basic Education and Women and UWESO Consulting) as well as those that are based in the Department of Science and Technology, i.e. Academy of Science in South Africa (ASSAF), The Science, Engineering and Technology for Women and the National Advisory Council on Innovation, to ensure that girls and young women are not only encouraged but also assisted to take up subjects and careers in the STEM fields.

There is a demand for STEM graduates in workplaces in South Africa since a science- based innovation is regarded as a big economic driver in the country. Unfortunately, many women are not choosing these fields. In 2012 women constituted 79.3%, 73.8% and 73.7% in the education, health and welfare fields, respectively which are referred to as gender-defined fields. Even in the health sector, women graduate in large numbers as nurses and health care workers, not in the higher degree specialisation areas (Department of Women, 2015:43). The low percentages of women STEM graduates (28,5%) in engineering, manufacturing and construction has prompted the government to set guidelines to improve the distribution of bursaries and scholarships, targeting a proportion of 55% support for women pursuing postgraduate studies. These bursaries have increased the enrolment of STEM postgraduates from 50% enrolment in 2011/2012 to 53% in 2012 (ibid.:43).

A recommendation on this report was that the number of women in formal sector employment should be increased, with the aim to encourage women to study in the STEM fields. That would also assist women to take an interest in financial literacy, which is a requirement for them to access finances (ibid.:147).

This scenario is an indication that a lot still needs to be done to turn the situation around. Strategies such as an awareness programme developed out of the findings and recommendations of this study are necessary, in addition to other initiatives that are already there, to consolidate and strengthen the situation. One such strategy that has achieved good results in trying to improve the low numbers of girls in the STEM fields in South African high schools is the Techno-girl programme. It was established in 2005. The Techno-girl programme identifies girls from previously disadvantaged communities through the Department of Basic Education and places them in structured job shadowing programmes at various organisations during school holidays. The ultimate goal of Techno-girl is to expose girls to the world of work, in the STEM fields in order to enable them to make informed career choices beyond schooling. The other embedded aim is for the workplaces where the girls are placed to ultimately take them up as employees or/and even provide them with bursaries for their tertiary studies if possible (Techno-girl, 2015:2).

As a result of this programme, of the 1391 girls who completed the job shadowing phase of Techno-girl for the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate examinations in 2015, only 1280 (92%) were contactable. It was then found that for Grade 12 results, 824 (64%) achieved a Bachelor pass, 272 (21%) a Diploma pass and 66 (0.05%) a Higher Certificate (Techno-girl, 2015:3). For a developing country, this scenario is proof that South Africa can succeed but not much has been done so far to develop girls and young women to join the STEM fields in larger numbers. This study therefore identified this need; hence the investigation was followed by an awareness programme in that regard.

According to Shepherd (2017:2), many ‘high-paying’ and ‘high-skilled’ occupations in the developed countries are in the STEM fields. South Africa is still a developing country but the same scenario is already prevailing in her labour market. This is because science and technology have been emerging as the drivers of profound social change and economic growth. Thus, they can play a significant role in the economic empowerment of women.

Based on the above observations, I believe that science and technology, together with the rest of the STEM fields can indeed empower young women economically and

transform their lives in general. These conclusions will, however, need robust turn- around programmes. Shepherd (2017:2) reported that in 2012, women who enrolled for undergraduate degrees in the fields of engineering and computer science formed less than 30% of all students at the level of tertiary education in South Africa. This means a lot still has to be done.

Shepherd (2017) recommends one powerful programme for the achievement of motivation, named ‘Self-determination theory’ (SDT). It formed a foundation for contemporary research. It has proven to be effective by ‘giving rise to action’. SDT distinguishes between the intrinsic and extrinsic types of motivation. Intrinsic is the most basic one, where one is motivated to do something based on the inherent interest or because it is enjoyable to perform. It is also said to be ‘critical to cognitive and social development’. On the other hand, the extrinsic type is when one becomes motivated to do something because it will result in an independent outcome, such as performing well in a project. Motivational sessions, though not called the SDT or structured as above, are part of the designed awareness programme as an outcome of this study, since for young women to change the cultural perceptions and gender stereotypes attached to the STEM fields, there is a need for both intrinsic and extrinsic types of motivation. The discovery of the significance of the STEM fields and that they can be done by both men and women, forms part of motivation for young women to derive interest in choosing a career in these fields as well as performing well.