Female Role Models: Women Empowerment in STEAM Fields

Publication

AGYA is dedicated to empowering women and contesting gender inequality in Arab countries and Germany. This project adds to AGYA’s roster of women’s empowerment efforts by addressing and counteracting the disadvantages faced by female scholars and students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and arts (STEAM) in three different countries. AGYA members Dr. Nadia Bahra and Prof. Dr. Sascha Hein, together with Alumni Prof. Dr. Laith Al-Shawaf and Dr. Olfa Khelifi, present this project as an effort to empower, represent, and encourage women in STEAM fields to share their stories of success despite facing disadvantages.

Storytelling as a Form of Empowerment

One of the main objectives of the project is to get to know the actual situation of women in STEAM in Algeria, Lebanon, and Tunisia. The project focuses on storytelling as a form of empowerment. By interviewing exceptional women with different life experiences and showcasing their career trajectories, strengths, and mastered hurdles, this project aims at increasing the number of women studying in STEAM fields. Therefore, the project developed booklets with stories in English, French, and Arabic to ensure the stories reach a wide audience in the corresponding regions and languages.  

Empowerment through Education

This project bridges education and women’s empowerment and tries to help both areas make positive steps of progress. It seeks to improve strategies and mechanisms for attracting, accessing, and guiding women in the Arab region in STEAM higher education programs. The project contributes to increasing opportunities for women to enroll and persist in STEAM programs offered by higher education institutions.