The Times article “Cogs mesh for girls at science weekend” (12/01/2016, p.6) by Philani Nombembe gives Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) a reason to be glad. The journalist not only reported on a child-specific issue, he accessed the children who are the main focus of the story.

The article reports on an initiative by Micro Enterprise Development Organisation (MEDO) which seeks to motivate girls and young women to choose to study science, technology, engineering and applied mathematics and encourage them to pursue careers in one of these fields.

As part of the initiative, the young girls had to build a satellite from scratch and launch it. To see young girls receiving coverage in the media for their innovative skills is quite refreshing.

It is a refreshing angle considering that most coverage of girls, especially teenage girls in the media, tends to overwhelmingly revolve around them as victims of incidents of crime and abuse.¹

What also stands out about the article is the manner in which it was reported. The journalist Philani Nombembe, writes the article from the perspective of the girls involved in the initiative. One of the girls is quoted as saying, “This programme has empowered me. I want to either make satellites or study chemical engineering.”

Extending the platform to young girls to have their opinions heard, especially in stories such as this one is a good step towards creating an environment where young girls can be inspired and confident enough to speak their minds, take initiative, be active and change the entrenched stereotypes and misconceptions about them.

In addition, that The Times considered this story newsworthy and made time to promote an initiative geared towards improving the lives of girl children and thereby shifting the often negative discourse surrounding young girls is commendable. We look forward to more stories such as this one.

By Kgalalelo Gaebee

^{1. Media Monitoring Africa’s 2015 report on the portrayal of children in the media shows that 66% of the media’s coverage portrayed girls as victims.}