A giant leap for womankind is needed to close the gender gap in space exploration, experts say.
The World Space Forum on Wednesday heard women are accomplishing incredible feats in Earth but are missing out in space.
And the industry is also losing out by not harnessing their potential expertise.
“Women are doing amazing things here on Earth but are under represented in the space sector,” said Veronika Vashchenko, deputy representative for United Nations Children's Fund in Kazakhstan, who was speaking during the discussion. “To address it, we need to invest more in education for girls.”
Women are doing amazing things here on Earth but are under represented in the space sector
The panel, organised by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and hosted by the UAE Space Agency, said the challenge differed from country to country. The UAE was recognised for putting women at the forefront of its space exploration programme.
Just under half of the workforce at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre are women (42 per cent), while 70 per cent of those working on the country’s astronaut programme are female with women making up more than a third (34 per cent) of the team on the Mars Hope Mission. The representation extends to Cabinet level. Sarah Al Amiri is UAE Minister of State for Advanced Technology and chair of the UAE Space Agency.
Women also make up a third of the remaining 61 hopefuls who have been shortlisted for the programme to find the country’s next two astronauts, which is set to be announced next month.
However, that was not reflected elsewhere.
“One of the areas the UAE has focused on is female empowerment,” said Hamed Munther Odeh, vice president of UAE-based satellite company Yahsat, who was also speaking on the panel.
“We have been working with organisations in Zimbabwe to provide connectivity to the education sector and help empower young females.
“What you often see is if a family has a boy and girl there they will choose to send the boy to school but not the girl due to financial constraints.
“I think the focus has to come from governments to provide opportunities for women and not just in the space sector.”
Nasa astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir made history in 2019 when they completed the world's first all-female spacewalk on the International Space Station (ISS). This showed the potential but the coronavirus pandemic had made things even more difficult.
Zainab Azim, who was the youngest member of Virgin Atlantic’s Young Astronaut Programme, warned Covid-19 had worsened the problem for women.
“The education barriers in each country are different but you found, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic, that more girls were not being sent to school anymore because there was a rise in pregnancy rates."
During the Covid-19 lockdown there was a 40 per cent rise in the monthly average of unwanted teenage pregnancies in Kenya alone, according to the United Nations.
“They no longer had the protection that comes with a school environment," said Ms Azim.
Ms Azim, who is also the co-founder of the Global Initiative and Vision for Education, an organisation that promotes science-based learning, said that while the number of women training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics industries was encouraging there were still old problems that had to be overcame.
“Most decisions making positions are still held by men, if you look at most boards of companies they are mostly made up of men, even Nasa,” she said.
“[Lack of] education is a barrier but used properly it can be a tool to empower women.”
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Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
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SPECS
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Director: Karyn Kusama
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Sebastian Stan
Rating: 3/5
UAE release: January 31
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
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A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
