Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) awards a GLAD^[1] to Saturday Star for its story that not only celebrates children’s achievements but also highlights the importance of breaking gender barriers.

The article, “UN warns against gender-based biases which could hinder girls and women from taking up a career in science” (Saturday Star, 06/02/2022) is written by Norman Cloete and reports on the need for girls and women to choose to study science. Several female sources are accessed such as former Executive Director of UN-Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Professor Karin-Therese Howell, a member of the South African Mathematics Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Mathematics. The article also profiles a high school girl who is “one of the country’s top young mathematicians”. The 17-year-old Juliette Roux was a runner-up in the Old Mutual South African Mathematics Olympiad (SAMO) and the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO). The article also reports, “In the University of Cape Town’s Mathematical Olympiad, Juliette scored 100% for both the second and final rounds. She also scored 100% in the Netwerk24 Wiskunde-kompetisie last year”.

A bright picture of the child accompanies the article.

The child is quoted in the article saying, “Sometimes one struggles to find a solution for a question for hours, and other times the inspiration hits early on. Although some competitions require teamwork, most mathematics contests require a personal approach. What I mean is that it is unlikely that anyone else will come up with an identical solution. It’s a very individual thought process applying your critical and logical thinking skills to solve the problems.”

The journalist highlights in the article how gender barriers can be broken by instilling confidence in female learners, inspiring other young children who read this story to be motivated and to see no boundary when it comes to participating in science and maths   

One of the aspects  that stands out about the article is the manner in which it is reported. The journalist writes the article from the perspective of the girls and women. This is important because it enriches the article.

The journalist giving a platform to the child to share her opinion is a good step towards creating an environment where young girls can be inspired and can be confident enough to speak their minds, take initiative, be active and challenge the entrenched stereotypes and misconceptions about them.

According to MMA’s Editorial Guidelines and Principles for Reporting on Children in the Media,^[2] “Children have a right to have their views heard on matters that affect them, so the media should try and include them.”

The journalist did this tremendously well. This and the fact that Saturday Star reported on one of the most neglected topics involving children makes us GLAD.

Written by Bantse Pelle Mokale

Edited by Lister Namumba

^[1] GLADs are awarded to media for reporting on children responsibly and for accessing them

^[2] http://54.217.43.239/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mma_editorial_guideline.pdf