Women in engineering, science and technology in sub-Saharan Africa: cultural attitudes, challenges, and gaps affecting clinical engineering and medical devices maintenance practices

Abstract

Abstract Purpose From previous studies, we had observed that the number of biomedical engineers and technicians (BMETs) skilled in the maintenance of medical devices (MDs) were limited in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and that a likely parallelism existed between BME maintenance-related tasks and house chores mainly carried out by women in daily life. Our objective in carrying out this study was to understand underlying local cultural and social factors and domestic traditions interfering with the inclusion of women in the field of clinical and biomedical engineering (BME), and to identify existing gaps in opportunities for women in Engineering, Science and Technology (EST) in this region. Methods We carried out an online survey involving 51 respondents (70.6% women, 29.4% men), to investigate gender-biased and cultural perceptions of maintenance-related tasks among engineers/technologists/technicians in BME and other allied professions in SSA​. The survey was refined through focus groups and pilot tests to assess its validity, and then shared among specific associations of women in engineering and other bodies in EST, as well as some hospital communities and institutions. Results The survey brought to light evidence of prejudices against women in the society and workplace and showed that the adoption of our parallelism hypothesis has potential for increasing medical device maintenance practices in SSA hospitals. Conclusions There is an apparent need to further study the possible effects of this sociological model through leveraging local culture and domestic traditions in ways that could ultimately increase the leadership and numbers of women BMETs in SSA.