Young, African women scientists inspiring next peer group of innovators
NEF women fellows with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Senegal’s President Mackay Sall in Dakar. The women are (from left) Amanda Weltman, Ghada Bassioni, Evelyn Gitau, Alta Schutte, Tolu Oni, Sherien Elagroudy. PHOTO | NEF
In 859 AD in Fez, Morocco, the University of Al-Qarawiyin was founded by a woman named Fatima al-Fihri. Al-Qarawiyin is believed to be the world’s first university, and it still exists today, more than 1,100 years later.
Al-Fihri may have made history for spearheading a model of higher learning, yet less than a third of researchers in Africa today are female, according to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
