The South African Women in Science Awards (SAWiSA), an annual celebration of women in science and technology, coordinated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) took place on the 23rd of August, 2018 in Limpopo. The awards profile women scientists and researchers who serve as role models for younger women, and encourage and reward younger women who have begun their careers as researchers and scientists.
Research has proven that most women who have successfully navigated to the top in a patriarchal dominated system have suffered an endless struggle with confidence no matter how intellectually sound they might be. In S.T.E.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), women’s confidence has long been under assault from implications and overt insults that women are less likely to succeed, and even suggestions that “innate” differences between men and women make women less suited for S.T.E.M careers. Could this account for the reason why fewer than 2 in 10 women in S.T.E.M who have achieved success, have a report of being extremely confident in their abilities? For any level of success to be attained in life, the role of confidence as a key ingredient cannot be overemphasized. Since confidence has been discovered as the best weapon every woman in STEM must be armed with, it is of great importance to note…
Everyone has a story but the stories that are never forgotten are those ones that have an impact on people and societies. In recent times, philanthropy has proven to be a sure way of making an impact because it goes beyond helping people and as far as advancing a society and building a nation. Very few persons have come to understand this and they are running with this vision. While others still see it as giving to the poor, these ones are looking forward to a future where the world will be rated very low in terms of poverty. These great personalities are represented in diverse ethnic groups, tribes, nations, and regions, and the inspiring tales written about them can make anyone want to go the extra mile. One of such kinds is the story of Jillian Haslam, a British entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker, and philanthropist, who was born and…
Flossie Wong-Staal is a woman who has made tremendous strides in the fight against AIDS. She is a Chinese-American virologist and molecular biologist. She was the first scientist to clone HIV and determine the function of its genes, a major step in proving that HIV is the cause of AIDS. From 1990 to 2002, she held the Florence Riford Chair in AIDS Research at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She was co-founder and, after retiring from UCSD, Chief Scientific Officer of Immusol, which was renamed iTherX Pharmaceuticals in 2007 when it transitioned to a drug development company focused on hepatitis C, and where she remains Chief Scientific Officer. Her early life Flossie Wong-Staal was born originally as Wong Yee Ching on August 27th, 1947 in Guangzhou, China. Wong-Staal was among many Chinese citizens to flee to Hong Kong after the Communist revolution in the late 1940s. During her…
Sleep is imperative for every human, especially for women. So what do you think will happen when disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea or recent ones like tight schedule cause you to lose sleep? Well, the implication is very simple; it affects your healthy life, particularly your heart. The importance of sleep can never be overemphasized, the 8-hour sentence in a useless void, the research is pretty clear on this point: sleep is sacrosanct for healthy living. It helps the brain, mood, keeps you sharp, strengthens your immune system, fights inflammation, and keeps your heart and blood vessels in tip-top shape. Shelby Freedman Harris, PsyD, Director of behavioral sleep medicine at Montefiore Medical Centers Sleep-Wake Disorders Center in New York City asserted that, “When you’re sleeping you’re regulating hormone levels, you’re regulating insulin levels, your blood pressure is being kept under control, there are a lot of things going on, and…
I find it really intriguing that there is a systematic campaign to get more women into global politics and leadership positions across the world by women but the question rattling my mind is how ready they are to handle what comes with leadership and global politics. Angela Merkel the Chancellor of Germany and an eight-time winner of Forbes’ most powerful women once said “it seems to me that the fact that I am a woman is a bigger issue than the fact that I’m from the East. For me, it isn’t really important. I’ve only ever known myself as a woman.” While she was on a state visit to the United Kingdom; expressing these concerns about women in global politics. We could have seen an unprecedented shift in the dynamics of global leadership, if Secretary Clinton, the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party had won the US 2015 election and…
The role and contributions of women in the affairs of their nation, especially developing countries, for several years, have been neglected and relegated to the background. However, the tide is changing and the mountains are giving ground. Singapore is a good example of one of such countries where women are participating actively in the position of governance and leadership. It can be positively argued that it is not just a significant progress that has been made by women in the Singaporean politics but dominance has been ensured considering the fact that it is a developing country. The Peak: Women in Singapore have served in lots of high positions but on the 13th of September 2017, they set a milestone in the politics of Singapore when Halima Binti Yacob became the first female president of the country. A feat she achieved without opposition. In a statement posited by Professor Tan,” this…
