Women in Nuclear Nigeria (WiN Nigeria) celebrated its inaugural launch on 30 September. WINS spoke with Pamela West, Interim Vice President of the chapter, and WINS Academy Ambassador Comfort Offornedu about the goals of the chapter and how they plan to support women in the nuclear industry in Nigeria.
Pamela is a Research Officer in the Directorate of Policy and Strategy, Office of the National Security Adviser. She is also the Desk Officer, Nuclear Security and the POC, EU CBRNE RISK Mitigation Initiative for Nigeria. Comfort is Assistant Superintendent I and Head of the Radiological and Nuclear Unit in the CBRNE Department at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. She is also the Interim Welfare Secretary of Women in Nuclear Nigeria.
WINS: What is the current status of women working in the nuclear field in Nigeria? Are they well represented?
Pamela West: Women in the nuclear sector in Nigeria are grossly underrepresented. They may make up over 50% of the total population in the country, yet they have less than 10% representation in seats of power. This presents its own challenge: Where the power is, the women are not. Only 5% of the workforce in the nuclear sector in Nigeria is female.
WINS: What opportunities does Women in Nuclear Nigeria see to advance and support women working in the industry in the country?
PW: Women in Nuclear Global is a forum for exchanging information and raising awareness of the benefits of nuclear and radiation applications and of safety measures to ensure protection of the public and the environment. Women in Nuclear Nigeria intends to carry out the same responsibilities as well as creating solutions by:
- Organising speaker series in schools to encourage girls to study STEM courses
- Provide a variety of role models from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, not only for young students but also new entrants into the sector
- Peer-to-peer support/community/networks
- Visibility
- Promoting a diverse, inclusive and competent workforce
- Partnerships to provide more training opportunities, scholarships for women
- Promoting female experts and opinion leaders on WiN platforms
- Providing information on career and training opportunities
- Take advantage of staffing categories in the United Nations system
- Promote the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology and non-proliferation
- Change the narrative of fear associated with nuclear technology
WINS: Comfort, how does your WINS Academy Ambassador role help you to promote Women in Nuclear?
Comfort Offornedu: Since becoming WINS Academy Ambassador, I have actively devised workable strategies for mainstreaming highly placed women in Nigeria in line with the aims of WINS. One of the steps is aggressive door-to-door engagements with them.
I have ensured Women in Nuclear Nigeria gathered the required momentum through regular meetings with a well-couched and robust agenda on better ways to interface and engage relevant stakeholders in the sector.
Everywhere I am able to visit, women are encouraged to enrol in the WINS certification programme and pass the required tests so they can be an active part of driving development in the nuclear sector. In my official capacity, I have also encouraged colleagues to participate in the process and enrol for the WINS certification programmes. I have continued to ensure that more Women in Nuclear are given scholarships with the position I received from WINS a few months ago.
My organisation sees my appointment as WINS Academy Ambassador a value addition to its public service delivery in Nigeria’s nuclear sector. Also, my official commendation letter serves as an incentive to my colleagues, and this development has further boosted their interest in nuclear security activities. Importantly, given that the top management pledged support and encouragement for this cause, professionalism is taking centre stage in service delivery, especially within the Corps’ CRBNE [Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear] Unit.
As WINS Academy Ambassador, my presentation on WINS’ Gender Champion and Certification programmes at the inaugural launch of Women in Nuclear Nigeria further represents part of the needed sensitisation campaign to boost awareness about the WINS certification programme in the country.
“Professionalism is taking centre stage in service delivery.”
WINS: How does WiN Nigeria collaborate with WiN Africa?
PW: WiN Nigeria collaborates with WiN Africa and the Presidents of both forums constantly keep in touch and share information. WiN Nigeria recently posted the link on the platform for members to register on the WiN Africa platform just as they are members on the WiN Global platform. We had a good number of members register, and we will keep reposting this information. We also look forward to more collaboration in future.
WINS: How can outside organisations such as WINS help to promote the goals of Women in Nuclear Nigeria?
CO: WINS and other outside organisations can facilitate programmes through partnership and provision of logistics for constructive advocacies. In context, these outside organisations are critical stakeholders because their intervention and robust partnership have a positive impact by engendering sustainable development in the nation’s nuclear security sector.
Outside organisations like WINS can also provide support through capacity building for more women as well as granting scholarships to Women in Nuclear Nigeria for their certification. This will not only boost their confidence but also enable Women in Nuclear Nigeria to demonstrate competence on the job and be better positioned for higher responsibilities in the nuclear sector, both locally and internationally.
Intervention can also come through striking robust collaboration and sharing experiences and responsibilities for creating safe environments to address vulnerability in the sector. Also, support can come from giving more subject matter experts from Women in Nuclear Nigeria the opportunity to share experiences at their events. That way, our women will be more grounded in their field and we will have more instructors and role models.
“[Certification] will not only boost their confidence but also enable Women in Nuclear Nigeria to demonstrate competence on the job and be better positioned for higher responsibilities in the nuclear sector.”
WINS: What do you find rewarding about your involvement with this organisation?
PW: What I find most rewarding so far is the unity of purpose regarding more opportunities for women in the nuclear sector, in nuclear security as well as promoting the peaceful uses of atomic energy in Nigeria. Who better to do this than women? Historically, nuclear energy the world over has negative connotations resulting from unfortunate incidents globally.
There is also a perception that this is a male-dominated field due to the underrepresentation of female role models and gender champions, not only in nuclear security but the nuclear sector as a whole. Here comes this army of women from different backgrounds – STEM, law, policy, security, regulators, promoters, academia – and they are promoting not just each other but creating a pathway and incentives for themselves and for those who will follow to have opportunities available to them to become leaders and experts in their field. This is a great opportunity; all this whilst promoting the peaceful uses of atomic energy. More women are likely to join the sector if there are identifiable female role models, especially when they have risen to management positions or become subject matter experts. Women, even in the nuclear sector, are perceived as being reliable and trustworthy even though disadvantaged, which is key for performance in that sector. We are also known to be relational and look for opportunities, therefore I am hopeful that this chapter will provide mentorship opportunities while creating visibility for women through prizes, fellowships and recognition for exceptional service to the sector.
I am hopeful that this community will help improve participation of women, measure progress and provide much-needed data on gender parity in the nuclear sector, thereby creating awareness of the issues and stimulating change. We are very excited to have launched WiN Nigeria on 30 September 2020. It has been a long time coming, and this success will motivate us to achieve all our goals in partnership with like-minded organisations in the near future.
“Here comes this army of women from different backgrounds – STEM, law, policy, security, regulators, promoters, academia – and they are promoting not just each other but creating a pathway and incentives for themselves and for those who will follow to have opportunities available to them to become leaders and experts in their field.”
WINS: What challenges do women in the sector face in Nigeria?
PW: The challenges faced by women in the workplace vary from one sector to another. However, there are some common threads such as criteria for recruitment. In Nigeria, we are fortunate to have a federal character system [to ensure fairness and equity in the distribution of public posts], but more often than not, recruitment is based on ethnicity, age and years of experience.
The low number of girls studying STEM courses in secondary school leads to a low number in university and inevitably the workforce, naturally limiting available opportunities where ethnicity is added to the mix. The few who scale these levels have to be exceptionally qualified or have someone put in a word or two on their behalf, which could sometimes lead to late entry into the workforce (impacting years of experience) or leave females vulnerable to sexual harassment or bullying.
“What I find most rewarding so far is the unity of purpose regarding more opportunities for women in the nuclear sector, in nuclear security as well as promoting the peaceful uses of atomic energy in Nigeria. Who better to do this than women?”
Implied socio-cultural standards also constrain a woman’s capacity to be assertive in work settings or in leadership roles. A woman is most often viewed as bossy, pushy or aggressive, words which are less likely to be associated with a male in the same position. Women would rather be viewed as calm and cooperative. Another such socio-cultural constraint is the inability of women to cope with the rigours of leadership, which has clearly impacted the numbers of women in seats of power in the country. Currently, less than 10% of women are part of the Federal Executive, and this is the same in all major sectors in the country including the security sector. This underrepresentation makes it difficult to push forward gender parity policies to support women in the workplace. In addition, it is also necessary to shelve myths that women who work in the nuclear sector are unable to bear children and where they do, the children are likely to deformed.
The dearth of women in seats of power and in the applications of nuclear energy leaves little or no role models or mentors for young girls and women to want to emulate and/or look up to. In the area of nuclear medicine, there are very few women in the sector. Most diseases affecting women such as breast and cervical cancer could best be understood and treated by fellow women, but this is not the case. This inadequate availability of reciprocal and collaborative at-will relationships/mentorships hinders growth, learning and career development. Girls who know women working in STEM/security sector are more likely to feel empowered when they engage in STEM/security activities.
It has also been observed that in the academic sector, women’s publications receive less attention and they are paid less than male counterparts for research work, while being made to feel like they are not smart enough. Yet, women keep producing ground-breaking research in the science field.
One other challenge that comes to mind is training opportunities. The workforce is largely dominated by men and when limited opportunities for training or professional development are available, preference is most often given to the male who is in leadership or a more senior role.
