Equality in education, a step towards the future

Agriculture is an industry dominated by men. In the US, only 34% of the agricultural sector consists of women. This is not only true for agriculture, but also may stem fields. With many STEM industries requiring a university degree, the clearest path to gender equality in STEM fields is through education. Providing women with education is the basis of changing the industry of agriculture in terms of gender equality. In this blog post I am going to talk about the things I have learned about women in higher education.

 

I remember that one of the first statistics that I heard when we were touring Casablanca was that something like 42 percent of new engineers in Morocco are women. My first instinct was to wonder why this was something to celebrate as it was less than 50% which is what I would think. It was only later that I learned that this 42% statistic was remarkably higher than the U.S. which is 15.9%. After this, it was clear to me that I was ignorant about the issue of underrepresentation of women in stem.

 

Recently, the group visited two universities, AIU and ENA. At AIU, we were told that a majority of each graduating class are female. I think the percentage was in the sixties. This is surprising as many of AIU’s systems are modeled after the American college system. It was interesting to hear that part of the reason for this statistic is that many families choose to send their sons abroad while women stay in the country. Next, ENA is interesting in that their graduating class was roughly 48% women. I think that it's great that the ratio is so even as it shows that women are just as capable as men in the field of agriculture. The reason I say this is because of the rigorous admissions process that each student goes through seems to be a measure of merit. I also felt that the professors at AIU were proud that their students were the best in the country, and I feel that the idea of discrimination would be the antithesis of this pride. Morocco is at the forefront of agricultural gender equality, and it is extremely evident in their universities.

 

I have always thought that access to education was the best path towards positive change. My experiences thus far in Morocco have only further cemented this idea in me as there is a clear link between fair education and changing gender ratios in the entire sector. 

What percentage of Engineers are female? (n.d.). Zippia. https://www.zippia.com/answers/what-percentage-of-engineers-are-female/

Women Count in Agriculture. (n.d.). American Farm Bureau Federation. https://www.fb.org/focus-on-agriculture/women-count-in-agriculture#:~:text=Guest%20Author&text=The%20Agriculture%20Department%27s%20just-unveiled,least%20one%20female%20decision%20maker.