International Women’s Day - Girls advised to study architecture
FEMALE members of the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA), have advised young girls to pursue architecture as a discipline.
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That, they said, was because even though there was a popular notion and stereotype that the industry was mostly for men, women had the potential to be architects as well.
“We believe that it is time to change the mindset and dispel some of the incorrect stereotypes that surround women and architecture and encourage more ladies into the architectural industry", they said.
The Vice President of the GIA, Esi Adjorlolo, gave the advice at a workshop organised by the GIA to boost the interest of children in the country, particularly young girls in architecture to commemorate International Women's Day.
Workshop
The workshop was aimed at training young ones in architectural skills that would aid them in solving some of the problems in their respective communities.
It was held on the theme; “Digital innovation and technology for gender equality".
About 50 pupils from the Calvary Methodist 1 and 2, Gray Memorial School, Khairiyah Islamic Basic School, All Saint's Anglican Basic School and Nii Amugi Basic Schools participated in the workshop.
Initiative
Ms Adjorlolo stressed that architects needed to be recognised for their ideas and creativity and must be supported with continuous training.
"Architecture is one of the many professional fields that women are venturing into and so a lot more outward training like this would bring many more female architects", she said.
She said the workshop was also an opportunity to mentor young girls to come out and be bold enough to venture into engineering and architecture as a profession.
Ms Adjorlolo added that the workshop would help identify issues surrounding architecture and explore how it could be used as a tool in developing the nation.
"The future is very bright for these young women because there are many ladies into architecture they can look up to and we are looking at a future where there will be a high number of women instead of what we currently see.
“So for them, I say the future is so bright with us all here mentoring", she added.
She also called for the creation of an educational system that would provide young people a platform to express their creative ideas.
Commendation
The School Improvement Support Officer of the Adabraka Circuit (SISO), Brenda Benedicta Attuquayefio, commended the GIA for the initiative to pique the interest of young girls towards engineering and architecture.
“In fact, this is an eye opener, very insightful and informative for our girls and I am glad I availed my students for this workshop because looking at the atmosphere, it is a way of problem solving.
“Our children were able to identify some problems and then design a solution", she said.
She, therefore, encouraged more schools to make their pupils available for future workshops.