Environmental awareness and gender transformation are key imperatives that underpin the operations of most private and public entities in line with United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 5) of Gender Equality by 2030. One of those local outfits is the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), an environmental observation and research facility of the National Research Foundation. The latter is part of the department of science and innovation (DSI).
Perfect match for the job
To fulfil this objective, SAEON has appointed Dr Mary-Jane Morongwa Bopape, who is widely seen as the right fit for the job. Firstly, as a woman she understands and has experienced the gender equalities that exist within the STEMi. Secondly, she is well-versed in environmental issues having been a meteorologist for two decades at the South African Weather Services. Dr Bopape also commands respect within her academic circles and has held several leadership positions in several projects and organisations some of which collaborated with six SADC countries.
Advancing women’s careers
According to Dr Bopape, the environmental sciences faced transformation and gender equality challenges as is the case with virtually all STEMi disciplines. Her main brief, as the head of the SAEON, is to drive gender equality by, among others, facilitating the upliftment and advancement of women’s careers and to help establish them as researchers. She says it is common, within the STEMi sector, to find many females in the lower ranks, but they become fewer as one climbs the ladder. “For example, of the established coastal scientists using our research platforms, only 53% are from designated groups and of these only 48% are female scientists,” she adds.
SAEON launched programmes that support and promote gender transformation and these are the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR), and Women in Biodiesel. The projects are designed to support the establishment of 10 women-owned or managed biodiesel enterprises in South Africa.
Flagship programme
According to Dr Bopape SARIR is a high-level strategic programme set up to make sure it provides the necessary infrastructure support for the country’s researchers. She says currently they are hosting three of the 13 SARIR programme as part of the NRF-SAEON, adding these will make it possible for them to empower women researchers. Another flagship programme that Dr Bopape is driving is the Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure (SMCRI). This is considered to be the most mature of the three SAEON-SARIR infrastructure programmes at this stage and has sufficient number of women students.
On the right track
Dr Bopape says of the 173 students (Honours to postdoctoral) that used SMCRI platforms, 75% were from designated groups with more than 60% of the students being female. She says 2021/22 figures indicated that more than 92% of SMCRI students were from designated groups with 65% being female, adding this shows that their trajectory of student diversity is on the right track to transform the marine science community. The second SARIR’s infrastructure programme that falls under Dr Bopape’s portfolio is the Expanded Freshwater and Terrestrial Environmental Observation Network, which is still in the initial stages of recruitment. And so is the South African Polar Research Institute.
Leverage waste stream
Dr Bopape says NRF-SAEON has just finalised the functionality modelling for the Women in Biodiesel project, which will enable 10 women-owned or managed entry biodiesel groups to collect used oil from major restaurants and convert it into biodiesel, says Dr Bopape. “The Women in Biodiesel project aims to leverage the waste stream that results from the food industry and establish decentralised black women-owned biodiesel enterprises to increase (renewable) energy access and gender transformation in South Africa,” she says.
Spatial logistical information
The information gleaned from the Women in BioDiesel case study has been disseminated to franchise owners, according to Dr Bopape. “The next stage is for the franchise owners to use the spatial logistical information to develop partnerships and off take agreements with used cooking oil producers within their target regions,” she says. Dr Bopape says the NRF seeks to transform the National System of Innovation by transforming the student numbers. However, says Dr Bopape, there is more that still needs to be done to increase the number of women in science and in leadership positions. She says this can be achieved by setting transformation targets in the Annual Performance Plans. This will allows us to track change, and where there is no progress corrective measures need to be put in place, says Dr Bopape.
