“When I was at my school, the boys used to call us ‘half-men,’” says Rebecca, a recent graduate of The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program at BRAC, in Uganda.  “Because if you’re a lady and you go for sciences, you’re a half-man.”

Like Rebecca, I am also a MasterCard Foundation Scholar and a girl who loves math and science. And, like many other girls, I wish I had more people who believed in me. I wish my professors in middle school had pushed me to pursue my studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Instead I was encouraged to go into literature and languages, the most common path for girls. Fortunately, my grades in math and physics were so high that I was sent in the scientific track in high school.

We African girls and women deserve to study science.  Science needs us. Africa is at a crossroads in its development where it will need innovators, inventors, scientists and engineers to face challenges like climate change, food insecurity and the spread of disease, issues which so often have a greater impact on women. We cannot think about development, especially in today’s world, without considering how we can leverage science and technology for progress.