Did you know that only 5% of the world’s commercial pilots are women? Does it mean women are not competent enough or the educational opportunities are not accessible to them?

Science and gender evenness are both important for the success of the internationally agreed development goals but despite a lot of effort in inspiring and engaging women and girls in science, they continue to be left out.

There has been a stereotype about girls and women succeeding in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM]. A profession in STEM was historically perceived as practical for only boys and men, Girls and women were systematically tracked away from science and math throughout their education, limiting their access, preparation and chances to go into these fields as adults. Recent statistics show that men immensely outnumber women majoring in most STEM fields in college, while women make up only 28% of the labor force in science, technology, engineering and math. These gender spaces are mainly extreme in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid jobs of the future, like computer science and engineering.

This definitely presents a vast problem and also a great challenge not only for ensuring the supply of much-needed STEM quality workforce, but also for delivering many great career development opportunities in STEM that girls and women also deserve.

At the Innercity Mission, through our network of primary schools, we are giving equal opportunities to girls and boys alike, in a bid to achieve gender equality. This school offers free early childhood education as well as uninterrupted access to 6-year formal primary education for indigent children irrespective of gender, race, religion and ethnicity.

From the foundation of their education, we give girls equal opportunities to pursue their dreams in careers of their choice even STEM.  

This is Janet, a beneficiary at the InnerCity Mission School, she dreams of becoming a pilot one day and with the support of partners like you she is few steps closer to achieving this dream. Janet represents the statistics of children particularly girls living below the poverty line whose dreams are daily drowned by the effects of poverty, to them education is a distraction as they have more pressing concerns such as hunger, poor sanitation and abuse, yet they have dreams.

The ongoing S.P.A.C.E Campaign, gives many girls like Janet in Nigeria and thousands of others around the world, an opportunity to dream of a better life, access free education and the resources they require to make their dreams a reality.  But to achieve all this, they need you to sponsor their dreams.

To sponsor a child, click HERE – icm.ngo/donation