STEM initiative empowers teenage girls across Kingdom

AMMAN — A nationwide initiative aiming to empower girls by providing them with scientific knowledge and skills recently celebrated its 1,500th beneficiary on the occasion of the International Day of the Girl Child.

Launched in 2015 with a mission to empower young girls aged 12 years old and above by encouraging scientific thinking as a life skill, “Go Girls” is based on the belief that early teenage years are "crucial for girls who are about to make life changing decisions regarding their lives and their careers", initiative founder Hadeel Anabtawi told The Jordan Times on Monday.

"We initiate them through a variety of hands-on training workshops that introduce the process of asking the question, researching, building a solution and/or a model as well as testing and optimising their solution," Anabtawi explained, stressing "we believe that good education is about training the mind to think and not memorising data and we believe that these workshops encourage problem solving and creativity in addition to encouraging interest towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics [STEM]."

Focusing on girls from public schools located in less urban areas and refugee camps, Go Girls seeks to "fill the gap" these teenage girls face in accessing skills building trainings, as compared to girls in Amman and private schools.  

"In most cases, the workshops start with a resistance according to which science is complicated and boring and that they don’t like it," Anabtawi highlighted, noting that, at the end, "their idea about STEM is very different". 

One of the young participants in the workshop recalled: "This was the first time I saw science as a fun topic. I had never done an experiment and my school doesn’t have a lab. But, now, I am considering changing my studies and career options.”

"In every cycle, we have extended our programme to empower young girls to lead a change in their schools and communities," Anabtawi pointed out, noting that "this contributes to turning involved students from passive girls complaining about what their school lacks to leaders motivated to be part of the solution".

After one of the finale competitions asking them to solve a problem using the technique they were trained on, participants of one of the winning teams voiced their desire to be included in all programmes to upgrade their school. 

"We can help in design and implementation of after-school programmes that can upgrade our students’ skills,” they rejoiced with optimism.

Anabtawi said that the project's focus on girls came naturally from her previously established organisation “The Alchemist Lab”, which worked with over 25,000 boys and girls across the Kingdom.

"Through our experience, we became confident that there is no performance difference between both genders related to STEM streams. On the contrary, I think that young girls outscore boys at certain ages and in many situations," the Jordanian engineer underlined, referring to UNESCO reports indicating that girls at grades 4 and higher perform better than boys in the Arab region. 

She claimed that the lack of women role model constitutes "a major shortcoming" for teenage girls, as it deprives them from seeing examples of working women successfully balancing STEM careers and personal life.

"I remember in one of the sessions I was handling, one girl was arguing saying that since I was an engineer, with a Master’s Degree, owning a business and being married, then it was doable for them," Anabtawi recounted, stressing "we have to help these girls not only by making opportunities for studies and jobs available for them but also with facilities for them being wives and mothers."

However, she stressed the importance of unity between men and women, stating “there can be no empowerment for girls without empowerment for boys. An empowered girl is surrounded by fathers, brothers and potential husbands”.

Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2011, the International Day of the Girl Child aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls' empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights, according to the UN website.