“When the girls came back [from Washington] there was a huge movement — the leaders, the communities, the families, everyone was changing their views on women in science and technology. They became an example of hope, happiness, and a sense of pride for the Afghan community.” In 2018, these were the words of Roya Mahboob, the first female CEO of a tech company in Afghanistan, as she spoke of an Afghan all-girls robotics team (which she had sponsored as its founder and leader).
The girls became symbols of hope and national and feminist pride after winning a silver medal for their ball-sorting robot, built to distinguish between contaminated and clean water, in an international robotics competition held in Washington D.C. in 2017. Since the end of Taliban rule in 2001, more and more girls had been able to get educations and access opportunities for growth where they had previously been confined to the house and otherwise oppressed. It was far from easy or perfect, but real progress was made over two decades.
Now, however, among the chaos of the Taliban’s more recent Afghanistan takeover, fears over what comes next for Afghan women and girls in STEM fields have rapidly taken root.
Women Are Underrepresented in STEM
It’s a well known fact that women are underrepresented in STEM fields worldwide—in developed and developing countries both.
For example, in Australia, women accounted for just 27% of workers in STEM-qualified industries in 2019. Furthermore, Australian women in STEM made an average of $35,000 CAD less than their male counterparts.
In Canada, meanwhile, women are less likely to enter and more likely to leave STEM fields than men—and despite the fact that more women are getting bachelor’s degrees than men, they are still underrepresented in STEM fields. Those who do make it through are far less likely to make top-earning positions, and even then they are paid less than men.
Society is taking strides in a positive direction, and increasingly so over the last few years. But given the pay gap, there’s clearly still a long way to go all over the world.
In Afghanistan
Following the Taliban takeover, there’s a distinct lack of trust for promises that women’s rights will be upheld and respected. Specifically regarding education, reports have been coming in across the country of women burning their diplomas and certificates to avoid persecution by Taliban soldiers. Meanwhile, Taliban spokespeople have been urging women to stay home as their soldiers are “not trained to respect them.”
None of this bodes particularly well for the continued access of women to the education they should be entitled to. Educating women in all fields not only contributes to breaking the cycle for impoverished women and raising individual income and quality of life. It also contributes to social development, gender and socioeconomic equality, and raising a country’s GDP.
The Girls’ Robotics Team
Hearing of the impending fall of Kabul, the Afghan girls’ robotics team (originally from the city of Herat) managed to secure travel visas from the Qatari foreign ministry. After touching down a few days ago, they are now safe to continue their educations—in fact, several universities across the globe have offered them scholarships to do so. But what of the countless girls left behind? The education of women is more important now than ever.
The girls of the robotics team recently spoke out about the Taliban takeover in an interview with Al Jazeera. They want to return to serve their people and their country and expressed their desire that all girls in Afghanistan must continue their education.
Mahboob said in the same interview that there must be communication with the Taliban to ensure that this is possible.
“We have to make sure that our younger generation has access to the tools and guidance to making a better Afghanistan—to become the next scientist, entrepreneur, and technologist. This is what we needed for Afghanistan and this is our wish for Afghanistan.”