COVID-19 and gender equality
/The pandemic has exacerbated existing gender inequalities in almost all areas of life, and the hard-won achievements of past decades are at risk of being rolled back. During the pandemic, women’s unpaid workloads have risen, gender-based violence has increased, and access to sexual and reproductive health have become compromised. A recent UN report revealed that the pandemic will push 96 million people into extreme poverty by 2021, most of whom will be women and girls. The fight for gender equality is an ongoing struggle for men and women worldwide.
As an organisation with an engineering focus, our projects often concern construction, water access or energy availability. Through consciously selecting, planning, and implementing projects, we can advance gender equality. By engaging in projects that improve female education in areas where it has a low priority or by addressing work areas that are predominantly women's responsibility, we can contribute to advancements. As an organisation with equal gender distribution among volunteers and in the steering group, we can inspire other women to enter the male-dominated engineering sector. Diversity among engineers will result in a variety of identified engineering problems to solve and proposed engineering solutions.
Caroline Bastholm, Secretary-General Engineers Without Borders Sweden
Improving education for girls
One of EWB-SWE’s focus areas is education. In many of EWB-SWE’s international educational projects, there is a specific focus on girls' education. EWB-SWE has worked together with the Tanzanian aid organisation Mavuno Project for over ten years to improve the educational situation in Karagwe and Kyerwa. Currently, an extension of a girl's secondary school is being built. Some of the girls are orphans or come from impoverished families. The boarding school enables them to reach a high-level education and reduces the risk of being forced into early marriage.
"I got to know a girl whose father did not think it was worth to educate his 13-year-old daughter, and she was at risk of being forced into early marriage. Today, the girl is living at the boarding school and studies very hard with a dream to become a lawyer to help girls and women protect their rights", says Marianne Grauers, Vice President at Engineers Without Borders Sweden
Girls at the Mavuno secondary school Using the new computers
Bringing digitalisation to Mavuno Secondary School for Girls
Access to computers and technology is very limited among the population of north-western Tanzania, especially among girls. Computers and internet access provide access to knowledge and are a significant part of improving education. In January 2020, EWB-SWE implemented the project Computer for Schools at the Mavuno Secondary School for Girls. The aim was to increase the accessibility and interests in technology. The roughly 400 girls at the school can now gain computer literacy, access information, practice programming, and more.
"In the countries where EWB-SWE works, women and girls suffer from unequal access to technology. There is a clear global trend towards digitalisation, with everything from the job market and politics to media and news moving to digital platforms. Unequal access to those platforms will have devastating effects on the move towards gender equality", says Christian Naccache, Head of Digitalisation Competence Group at Engineers Without Borders Sweden
Sanitary facilities and Water access
EWB-SWE engage in the design and construction of sanitary facilities at schools. Apart from being a toilet and a place to wash your hands, these facilities provide a safe and hygienic place to change sanitary pads and thereby enable girls to attend school when having their menstruation.
By engaging in water access and cooking projects, we target work that is predominantly women’s responsibility. In Chonyonyo, women walk for several hours to reach natural water sources. By bringing clean water to Chonyonyo and Rukole, the women can avoid the long walk that sometimes puts them at risk.
Locally inspire girls to pursue a career in technology
Sweden currently has a shortage of engineers, a profession that historically has been a very male-dominated group. Inspire Youth is one of the EWB-SWEs initiatives that, through workshops, study aid and school visits, aim to inform and inspire children to seek an education in engineering or technology. During the autumn, Inspire Youth and the creative meeting place Agora in Skäggetorp, Linköping started holding coder dojos, where young girls could test programming. CoderDojos focus on improving the severe shortage of women in technology by engaging girls in tech-related activities to incite interest in technology. Furthermore, it challenges the social stigma among young women and computer sciences.
“By introducing programming in a fun and interactive way, we can show young girls that programming can be both powerful and creative”, says Alice Paulsen, Head of Inspire Youth at Engineers Without Borders Linköping
