Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has encouraged young women to choose fields like research, science and technology and other currently male-dominated fields as their career disciplines.
This as to ensure full active participation of women in all fields of the economy.
“As government we will continue to support initiatives led by the women to ensure a total empowerment and emancipation of women," President Zuma said on Sunday, when congratulating the winners of the 2015 Women in Science Awards.
Hosted by the Department of Science and Technology, the awards profiled and recognised women scientists, and researchers, as role models for younger women.
This year’s awards were held last week in Johannesburg. Among the winners were - Professor Maureen Coetzee, who won the Distinguished Woman Scientist (Life Sciences) award for her outstanding work in the field of medical entomology.
Her research interests include insecticide resistance in the major African malaria vector mosquitoes, biodiversity within the genus Anopheles, novel methods for controlling malaria vectors, and vector-parasite interactions.
Professor Lindiwe Zungu took the Distinguished Woman Researcher award for her research outputs, which have contributed to workers’ health and safety, for instance, guidelines for the redesign of safety clothing for women in mining.
Her guidelines have been accepted as a national standard for the mining sector, and she continues to receive invitations to make presentations on the guidelines to stakeholders such as the Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee and other key stakeholders like the Chamber of Mines.
Another was Gina Ziervogel, who won the Distinguished Woman Researcher award for her contribution to Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7, which aims to ensure environmental sustainability.
Her work has focused on adaptation to the impacts of climate change, from household level up to village and municipal level.
President Zuma said South Africa is “very excited as a nation to witness women performing so well and displaying a high degree of excellence in the fields of science and technology as well as research”.
As the country continues to celebrate Women’s Month, the President said government will host various activities and awards to honour women who have performed outstandingly in various fields and industries.
“During the Women’s Day celebrations, we released the first Government Report on the Status of Women in the South African economy which identified some of the areas where society broadly has been successful in enabling women’s full participation in the economy, and others where there is a need for refocused efforts.”- SAnews.gov.za
