As we bring to you feat after feat of Engineering beyond every single day; there’s hard work that goes into the genius behind all things engineering, the least of which is not Education. It is, by all standards the most important aspect of continuously improving the world around us. For a privileged few basic education and counseling is available to pursue Engineering if they possess the mettle. For others, not so much.
Gender gap is another mainstream issue that keeps a better half of the population from pursuing STEM related education and career. Typical stereotypes keep women from venturing into STEM, or sticking to it. The #distractinglysexy hiatus is a recent example of the issues women come across when they take these roads. As women in the developed countries face a profound struggle to make their place in the STEM industry, women in under developed nations face a different kind of issue.
The first among these is the lack of information, and the second, an absolute lack of motivation. In Pakistan alone, a large number of women forgo opportunities in STEM because, “it’s a man’s job,” as the common saying goes.
There’s a problem, and there’s a solution. As campaigns for Women in STEM take root world over, Pakistan has found its very own angel, struggling to help women find their niche in STEM fields in Pakistan. The Women Engineers Pakistan is a not for profit organization taking up the enormous task of bringing women face to face with their ever present STEM capabilities.
“In Pakistan, women make up over half of the population. This ratio should ideally equate to fifty percent more engineers, designers, technologists, scientists and inventors. Unfortunately, our country faces a humongous gender gap,” says Ramla Qureshi, founder and CEO of Women Engineer’s Pakistan (WEP).
According to The World Economic Forum Gender Gap Survey, out of 142 countries, Pakistan’s progress is ranked the second last. The Women Engineer’s Pakistan believes that this gap can be alleviated. Their team has taken to arranging seminars , workshops, info sessions and career counseling across Pakistani Universities and high schools to educate and motivate women to pursue STEM as a career. As they officially put it, there agenda is to:
- Increase representation of women in engineering by encouraging the notion of diversity.
2. Educate about career choices in engineering
3. Promote liaison between Industry and student-bodies.
4. Inspire younger generations about engineering by highlighting success of women in Engineering & Technology.
5. Determine & advocate for the essential needs of women engineers in Pakistan
6. Feature scholarships and awards pertinent to engineering on regular basis and
7. Engage and activate Alumni connections to facilitate smoother graduate-to-employer correspondence.
The WEP team embodies the spirit and has so far reached a number of Pakistani Students through its endeavors, panning across the seven seas by a collaborative team based in Pakistan and North America. The organization, however needs your help to register as an international NGO to continue its ground breaking work. Their LaunchGood crowdfunding campaign closes in 10 hours. Extend your support through a minimum contribution of $15 to help them reach their $1800 target, which they can use as registration and processing fee to name Women Engineers Pakistan an internationally recognized non-profit organization working towards STEM and Women empowerment. Sponsors go to another good cause too: you could sponsor science competitions for an entire class, or a software training session, or aid the purchase of books for a student’s entire year of education.
Be a part of this revolutionary cause to take STEM to a new level, and to keep delving in feats of Wonderful Engineering.