University of Pretoria breaking barriers to empower women – SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader.

The University of Pretoria is breaking down barriers that prevent girls from pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

The university’s “Girls in STEM”programme provides mentorship and training for those from underprivileged communities. The university’s Doctor Rakeshnie Ramoutar-Prieschl says, “These are what we call social barriers and prejudices linked to science, and mathematics in particular. Execution-wise, girls are just given the path of ‘Stay at home. You should do banking, be a teacher, a nurse – don’t go into these difficult subjects. I think this is where the discourse and the narrative is skewed, because society taught that. Not just our mothers, our grandmothers, our aunts and uncles at dinner tables. However, we are seeing a shift over the last ten years. We’ve seen some great things happen.”

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