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This article was originally published in The News International, and has been only slightly modified here.  If your answer was, “Gender gap doesn’t exist! Don’t you see how many women are present in medical colleges in Pakistan?,” then you’re half correct – and only painfully so. The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated on February 11th. Unfortunately, for Pakistan the gender parity ranking in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (also referred to as S.T.E.M.) fields is at rock bottom. While it seems like there isn’t much to celebrate in that fact, one can look at it as a gigantic window of colossal opportunity. Weeding out the causes of this dearth of females in S.T.E.M. can give an insight into what can be changed to tip the scales. Yes, it starts from childhood. Very early on, almost before birth, the girl child is ostensibly pushed towards dolls and plastic cooking sets, while the boy is gifted with toy cars, building blocks, board games, and fascinating robots that stimulate his spatial and analytical faculties way before the parents set their children out to gain formal education. As it happens, children are incredibly attached to their toys, and have been observed to grasp creativity as well as social skills from the games they play. A research by the Association of Psychological Science [i] in January 2015 found that children who frequently play with puzzles, construction, and board games tend to have better cognitive abilities. For the girl child, on the other hand, no conscious effort is made to cultivate interest towards toys that focus on math, science, and construction activities. Recurrently, this disinterest is conveniently attributed to biology and shrugged off. According to an American Society for Engineering Education investigation of Amazon.com datasets, physics and engineering toys were each purchased at a rate of only about 8.5% for girls [ii]. Maybe in Pakistan there is some variation to the trend of buying toys based on a child’s gender. As to the question of how much, the answer is currently open to disdainful speculation. What’s interesting to note here though, is that in Pakistan, 8th grade girls outperformed boys in all subjects by quite a large margin [iii]! If indeed it was the case that a girl’s mind is naturally and inherently not built for technological conquests, the girls would not have scored more in the educational assessments. The question remains then, what changes after 8th grade? Why do girls lose interest in fields relating to engineering, technology, math, physics etc.? In Pakistan, more girls can comfortably choose to study in a medical university simply because these institutes already have an significant number of girls studying there already. Also, the abundant representation of women as doctors and pediatricians in TV serials and commercials have – to some limit – successfully normalized the presence of a female medical practitioner. But there is severe lack of relatable role models for Pakistani girls within science and tech, and particularly within engineering. It’s not that exceptional Pakistani women in S.T.E.M. don’t exist, it’s just that we have failed to amplify their presence and have neglected their tremendous achievements. Pakistani women are pilots, engineers, and pioneers! But how much of their trailblazing triumphs is common knowledge? Recently, at the Lahore Science Mela the Women Engineers Pakistan booth received pronounced attention from school-going girls and their parents. What personally struck me was when one lady mentioned how just having seen female representation at the science fair gave her courage, and boosted her morale about her own intellectual and academic abilities. Inspired by the upward spike in her confidence, Women Engineers Pakistan is now running a month-long campaign to highlight Pakistani women role models, in hopes to encourage future generations of engineers, technologists, and scientists. Personally, I have received hundreds of emails from young girls asking which engineering field is the most “suitable for girls”. Every time I get this question, I die a little bit inside. Upon further inquisition, I often find that the family elders are not sure if the particular field will be safe for their girl child to navigate. Truth be told, I do not blame them. I would be just as concerned knowing what I know about workplace harassment within the tech sectors. The argument remains though, that while most S.T.E.M. occupations are dependent only on mental aptitudes, I have met some awe-inspiring female engineers who work on site. The only difference was that their organizations actually made direct efforts to keenly foster welcoming climates with dignity. Organizations that take an active stand for making their workplaces safer, and more accommodating have been seen to retain more women in S.T.E.M. fields. Other than this, there exist One Million Micro-aggressions! While workplace and sexual harassment laws [iv] are already in place in Pakistan, there is a lot of ground between when a discomfiting event occurs and when the law comes in action. These distressing events can range from measly lewd stares to sneering remarks. But micro-aggressions come in all sizes. Stereotyping, making snap judgements of capabilities based on gender, assuming good fit / bad fit for promotion based on the boss’s assumption of whether or not the woman employee would be culturally at ease. For example, I was recently told by a male professor that female faculty are not so commonly hired in engineering because they cannot stay back late, do not want to take outdoor sessions, and do not want physical work. Such ease of generalization by expert opinion of a narrative that is not one’s own only goes to show the abundant existence of implicit bias, or more correctly put, unexamined bias. (As an additional note; no employee – male or female – should be staying back late. If an employee is routinely working after hours, it only indicates that they’re not organized enough to do the work within the time that was initially allotted to them!) Equal pay based on gender is not mandated by the Government of Pakistan, or any law within the country [v]. Also, while Article 27 of the Constitution of Pakistan states that, “No citizen otherwise qualified for appointment in the service of Pakistan shall be discriminated against in respect of any such appointment on the ground only of race, religion, caste, sex, residence or place of birth”, this law is only applicable to the public sector. No such provisions exist for private sector. This law also is also providing leeway to gender-based occupational segregation, as it goes on to say, “Provided further that, in the interest of the said service, specified posts or services may be reserved for members of either sex if such posts or services entail the performance of duties and functions which cannot be adequately performed by members of the other sex,” leaving one wondering that who gets to decide what can be adequately performed by whom. From a birds-eye view, Pakistan is moving forward to gender parity (albeit on an extremely slow rate). There are many efforts going on to highlight the gender gap, and organizations are taking fresh strides to recruit and retain more skilled women. One thing that is repeatedly coming to front is the concept of diversity. Diversity includes the many different social identities that give meaning to us, and the social groups that we belong to. Often social identity can make us appear different from others. Diversity is the “who and what”. It’s the headcount of who is at the table. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, involving one woman speaker at the panel of a tech conference, or having six female employees in a company of 10,000 workers is considered enough to be called a diverse atmosphere. What needs to be focused upon much more now is the concept of inclusion. Inclusion encircles the “how”. How is a S.T.E.M. organization embracing whatever diversity it has? Are the female employees provided with female toilets? Is there a day-care system available for working mothers? Are female bosses attentively listened to just as much as the male ones? Are female employees of the same rank being paid equal to their male counterparts? It’s often said, “without inclusion, there’s a diversity backlash.” In my experience of working directly with women in S.T.E.M., most women opt out of these male-dominated fields because of prevalent marginalizing cultures. Women in Pakistan make more than 48% of the population. Of these, only 44.3% are literate. As per the Pakistan Council for Science & Technology, less than 10% of engineers and technologists are women.[vi] For other S.T.E.M. fields, women make up around 18% of the manpower. It’s unfortunate that exact data does not exist for this disparity, as many schools and S.T.E.M. institutes are hesitant to share the true figures. But rhetoric and facts alone can’t change the status quo. A lot more needs to be done to encourage more girls in science and math-relevant fields. This gap can needs to be seen as an opportunity and a focus area for the entire country to move forward. The time to act is now. -------------------- For your reference: [i] https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/playing-with-puzzles-and-blocks-may-build-childrens-spatial-skills.html [ii] https://www.asee.org/public/conferences/56/papers/14121/download [iii] National Education Assessment Test Report 2016 [iv] Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act of 2010 [v] http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2017/dataexplorer/#economy=PAK [vi] https://www.pcst.org.pk/wst/wst_wemp.php Ramla QureshiThe author is a Structural and Earthquake Engineer by day, PhD researcher for structural fire-hazard resilience, and is the Founder & CEO of Women Engineers Pakistan, where she works on equipping more women towards STEM fields.
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Zainab is from Lahore. She completed her high school (O-levels) from Beaconhouse School System, Defence Campus in 2008. Then she moved to the USA with her family, where she studied ‘Engineering Science’ at Hudson Valley Community College, from where she got Associate of Science degree in Engineering science with a stellar 4.0 GPA. Later, she got her Bachelor of Science degree and Master of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is a member of the Pi Tau Sigma (International Mechanical engineering honor society). In her junior year, she interned at an Automotive company "Honda R&D America's", in their Interior Design department, and following two summers she did internship at their Materials Research department. As she graduated, the firm offered her a full-time job at their Materials Research department. Now, as a Material Research Engineer, she works on new material technologies, concept cars, and materials strategy. Zainab has been a friend of WEP and an avid supporter for a very long time. Her constant push towards betterment, not just of herself but of others around her, makes her an amazing role model and mentor for many young girls. Here is an excerpt from an interview with Zainab:  The Interview: Women Engineers Pakistan: What were your favorite subjects in school? Did these subjects help you do the job that you do today?
Zainab Imtiaz: Math and Physics. Basically, what we learn from school is to develop problem solving skills. It is the most important skill for engineering professionals! WEP: What motivated you to choose the career that you have today? What were the biggest barriers? ZI: My father was an entrepreneur, he had small gloves factory in the basement of our house. So we grew up playing with tools, watching dad fixing machines, and not shying away from dirty hands. This was the main motivation for me for choosing engineering as my career, specifically mechanical engineering. Another reason was that I was good in math and science (common for most engineers). I didn't have as many barriers in pursuing my career, as I have been lucky that I always got good mentors in school, college, and in my current company. WEP: Did you have any role models growing up? What was the one important character trait in them that inspired you? ZI: Yes, I had role models while growing up. Initially, my father was my role model as I learnt perseverance and math skills from him. During college years, my engineering professor Prof. Ernest was my role model. I learnt how being female is not an obstacle in any STEM career. I learnt to be strong in men majority fields from her, as well as self confidence, and believing in one's career goals. She always encouraged me. At my workplace, my role model is my chief engineer, as he has a trait of having a challenging spirit, as well as dedication towards his dreams for the company and for himself. WEP: How do you handle barriers towards progress now that you are in the professional field? What would you like to see newcomer girls excel at? ZI: Perseverance is THE major tool for me for my progression. I remember, while looking for an internship, I gave 12 interviews in the same semester and only one company offered me an internship. In work field also, there are many challenges. Key is to be flexible, and to be open to learn any new technologies, tactics, skills etc. Don't be afraid of failure. For newcomer girls my advice is to work hard and keep your GPA high, in competitive market it is important. Also it paves the path for further education like MS and PhD. Do internships no matter if they are paid or unpaid in your field. Internships are a very powerful tool, which give you insight of the real world. And lastly, develop soft skills like networking, communication, management etc. while developing STEM skills. Interview with Sadaf Ahmed, Director at Robotics Club Pakistan - Female Role Model in STEM21/2/2018  Sadaf grew up in the small city of Sheikhupura. Earlier in her life, she was told to confine her education towards English Literature as a core subject (as this is considered as a predominantly feminine subject in the country), but her passion was always directed towards science and computers. She had to fight for her passion, and only after a struggle was she able to join computer science. Barriers for women in I.T. are very common. Pakistan has few universities that offer CS graduation. It's even more difficult for girls not coming from urban areas, as they were often not allowed to stay in hostels. But Sadaf kept raising herself and her family, and ultimately she achieved her dream of STEM education. Reminiscing about 1996, she says, "I don't know how, but computers always fascinate me. I bought my first computer from family friends and learned how to use a mouse from them. I explored every single thing in the computer myself." Now, Sadaf runs her own Robotics Club in Lahore, Pakistan. Women Engineers Pakistan find Sadaf immensely inspiring. We feel that many young girls in Pakistan go through what Sadaf did, and her example of unrelenting passion sets her apart as a role model for many. So we sat down for an interview with her, and we're sure her answers will encourage many young girls towards tech fields. The InterviewWomen Engineers Pakistan: What were your favorite subjects in school? Did these subjects help you do the job that you do today? Sadaf Ahmed: In school days I had one favorite subject, and that was Math. Yes, mathematics helped me a lot in becoming what I am today. Math skills helped me in CS, Programming and Analysis. I consider myself as a "self-made learner". I learned Visual Basic programming by using tutorials. It helped me a lot in understanding logic behind every code. WEP: What motivated you to choose the career that you have today? What were the biggest barriers? SA: Motivation, hmm... "STEM" was a new word for me when I heard about it in 2012 during my visit to Sydney. There, I explored many institutes and learned how I can use my education and training and be helpful for next generation. Throughout my career, I have worked in different organizations, like Warid, Wateen and Shaukat Khanum, and I believe that STEM fields are magical. They provide deep-learning and hands-on training, and so I stuck with it. When I started my endeavor towards establishing "The Robotics Club Pakistan" in 2017, I faced many difficulties especially as a female entrepreneur. But I believe I am successful as I am able to show I CAN DO it! It's never easy, learning process stays in every step of one's life; so I am still a learner :) WEP: Did you have any role models growing up? What was the one important character trait in them that inspired you? SA: The genius, Arfa Kareem always inspired me. At such a young age she achieved so much! I think we need to build this capability in other children as well. I believe I can be part of this change, and teach as many children as possible the many ways how they can learn skills that suit the progressive nature of the 21st century. We need more people like Arfa, and I am sure it's possible to do so! WEP: How do you handle barriers towards progress now that you are in the professional field? What would you like to see newcomer girls excel at? SA: Well, some or the other barriers will always be there. Personally, I never thought it's impossible to achieve what I want. With enough struggle, I crossed all barriers in my field, and learnt to take the right steps by taking a few wrong ones. I stuck to my plans and made sincere efforts. With that, Allah always helped me! What I see in newcomer girls is they are moving more towards science and math. The conceptual segregation that "girls can't code" or "girls can't do engineering" is changing. But we have to boost this positivity much more. We need to bring more girls into science and math. Few Words from the Nominator:Miss Zainab Amin nominated Sadaf for WEP "Nominate a Pakistani Female Role Model in STEM" Program. She says, "Sadaf aims to be the flag bearer in making STEM education a part of regular education in Pakistan, and equipping the new generation with 21st century skills. For the accomplishment of her passion, she has started her own robotics club in which multiple courses are being offered from robotics and related fields. I see her as a role model for so many who want to come forward & put their contribution." If you would like to hear more from your Role Model, let us know by nominating them here!
 Hibah Rahmani is an an Avionics and Flights Control Engineer at NASA, working on rockets such as the Pegasus XL and Falcon 9. She hails from Pakistan, and spent some part of her life in Kuwait. Previously, she worked for the Boeing Company at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) as a Systems Engineer working on International Space Station (ISS) processing.
At NASA, she provides technical expertise, follows launch vehicle testing, performs data reviews and provides technical assessments of engineering issues. She has also obtained a Graduate Certificate in Space Systems Engineering from Stevens Tech and participated in the 2012 Space Studies Program offered by the International Space University. Interview with Iba Masood, CEO and Co-Founder of TARA.ai. Pakistani Role Model in Technology7/2/2018 Iba Masood is the co-founder and CEO of TARA.ai, the Intelligent Product Builder. Iba is a YC Alum, and was part of YCombinator's Winter 2015 class. She was recently awarded Forbes 30 under 30, for the 2018 list, under the field of Enterprise Technology. In August 2017, Iba became a permanent resident of the United States, through the EB-1A award, which presents individuals of outstanding ability with the green card. She is also a past winner of the MIT Global Business Plan competition, and a recipient of the UN ITU Young Innovator's Award. Iba has been featured in TechCrunch, Wired and Huffington Post for her work in algorithmic pre-screening mechanisms for recruiting, and is passionate about machine learning in the world of work. She has spent the last seven years building mechanisms for pre-screening and project deployment in software, for hundreds of enterprise customers. Iba is the youngest winner of the Cartier Women's Initiative Award, and has an undergraduate degree in Finance from the American University of Sharjah, graduating magna cum laude at the age of 19. She has also previously worked at McKinsey & Co, and GE. Iba is originally from Karachi, Pakistan and was born in Sharjah, and brought up in the UAE. Women Engineers Pakistan asked Iba some questions as we are sure her answers will make young Pakistani girls relate to her story better, and hopefully, attempt STEM education themselves. The Interview:Women Engineers Pakistan: What were your favorite subjects in school? Did these subjects help you do the job that you do today? Iba Masood: Biology and Computer Science were one of my favorite subjects in school- however I think that learning is a continuous exercise. Several topics we learn in school become outdated fairly quickly (for example I learned a very early programming language in school- Visual Basic- which is irrelevant today) and it’s important that we continue to learn throughout our lives whether we are 12, 22 or 62 years old. WEP: What motivated you to choose the career that you have today? What were the biggest barriers? Iba: So, what motivated me to choose the career that I have today - (I mean) I would honestly say it started at the age of ten or eleven when I started coding at a very young age, when I was primarily was working with HTML and CSS, which were just pretty basic languages. I think my biggest barriers were that growing up my family didn’t think I really should study computer science and computer engineering, because they imagined that I'm just going to be sitting in front of my computer during my entire career. Which is pretty funny considering the fact that most careers now involve sitting in front of a computer. I actually ended up studying finance, because they thought banking would be a very stable field which was funny, because I graduated right in the middle of the economic crisis in 2010. The career that I chose, I think, was really out of the path of necessity. It was also something that I was obviously primarily interested in - specifically within computer science and computer engineering. Just by becoming someone essentially self-taught in coding; technically in my career; I didn’t pursue what I studied. But I don’t think that’s really relevant, I think a lot of people end up doing that. I think what is important is to continue to learn on an ongoing basis. WEP: Did you have any role models growing up? What was the one important character trait in them that inspired you? Iba: One of the things that I tended to gravitate towards was having a role model; just looking for role models within family. When I grew up, we were lower middle class in terms of income. What I found really inspiring was just seeing my mom - she was someone who actually studied Biology (Iba laughs) when she was younger and she got into the family business, and really tried to take reigns on the accounting and book-keeping fronts. I think that really inspired me; just seeing my mom, who didn’t have a career (or didn’t ever have a job in her entire life), just kind of take the reigns and try to grow the family business, I thought that was really inspiring for me! Of course there have been business role models that I have had when I was growing up, but I think today the role models that I have are really different from whoever I would have had when I was younger. For example Therese Tucker. She's currently running a billion dollar company specifically within IT. It's kind of inspiring to see female founders that have public companies within the same field that I'm in. We're seeing more and more female founders move forward, which I think is really important. What I want the girls to understand that in the school is that sky is the limit, and you should keep pushing and moving forward. I think the most important character trait would be grit and resilience overall. WEP: How do you handle barriers towards progress now that you are in the professional field? What would you like to see newcomer girls excel at? Iba: Honestly I think, being who I am, and where I am from, obviously there are barriers I see on a day to day basis. But I think one of the biggest barriers for me was to actually get my career started in the (Silicon) valley. Now that I’ve been here for three years, I think in terms of however many barriers toward progress, you try to take it in stride. For every 10 "No's" you will receive one "Yes". That was what happened with me, and I just kept going. My family wasn’t (happy initially), but now my family is incredibly happy about me being in the US, they are coming as well! But early on when I packed my bag and just left for Boston on a tourist visa they weren’t very happy about that! So I just kind of one against the grain in that regard. What I like to see girls excel at: I think one of the things that's really interesting is girls tend to be interested in math and science in young age, but they kind of get distanced over time, as they're told it's more of a masculine field. Which is completely ridiculous; because the earliest computer programmers were all women. So I think what I like to see girls excelling in is taking more interesting in math and science. At the end of the day, having a strong grasp of your numbers, and just being quantitative in general, is really important. Just having a strong grasp for math and science can set you up for any career!  Nominated by: Dr. Kendra Sharp (Oregon State University USA) What makes her a trail-blazer?Ms. Batool is currently a teaching fellow in the Department of Computer Science at the Information Technology University (ITU) and is also the Director of the Innovation for Poverty Alleviation Lab (IPAL) at ITU. She was a technical and research lead of a DFID funded project "Har Zindagi, Every Life Matters" that aims to improve kids' immunization coverage and retention across Punjab. Early results of the study demonstrate the value of incentives for and tracking of vaccinators; the results also demonstrate how ICT can be utilized to push positive social change. Ms. Batool also worked as an organizer for an International Development Design Summit in Lahore in 2016 where she served as a design mentor and community liaison. This summit brought together approximately 30 participants and 10 organizers from all over the world to apply the design process to co-create prototype ICT solutions for problems the "ahead" team (including Amna) identified with lady health workers, school teachers, artisans, and other community partners. Few Words from the Nominator:I have known Amna for several years and am seeing her mature into both a leader and a respected researcher/mentor in Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD).
While I am a professor in the U.S., I have been involved with several projects in Pakistan, including the Design Summit in Lahore. It was a joy to work with Amna and I am so pleased to hear of her growing professional success. She is an excellent role model for women in computer science in Pakistan! |
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