Addis Ababa, 27 November 2025 – The Secretary-General of the Organisation of Southern Cooperation (OSC), Manssour Bin Mussallam, has called for a systemic transformation of education as a means of empowering women in science across the Greater South. Presenting a keynote address during the Continental Virtual Dialogue “Empowering Women in Science (WiS)” – a high-level forum jointly organised by UNESCO, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT), and the African Union, the Secretary-General called for “leadership and vision for women in science. The event aimed to mobilise political commitment and high-impact partnerships to accelerate gender equity in science, technology, and innovation across the continent.
The panel, moderated by Mr Hambani Masheleni, Acting Director of the Department of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation of the African Union Commission, also featured, the State Minister of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Ethiopia Dr Bayissa Bedada.
In his intervention, the Secretary-General underscored the historical and structural nature of gender inequities in STEM fields and called for systemic transformation rather than isolated initiatives. He stressed the need for balanced and inclusive education systems, the reintegration of suppressed historical and scientific contributions of women, and the embedding of gender within all institutional and developmental structures.
“The question before us is not to reinvent the wheel. The issue has been acknowledged countless times. The only question that matters is whether we shall finally act with strategic clarity and long-term commitment,” stated the Secretary-General.
He further emphasised the importance of challenging Eurocentric epistemologies that have marginalised knowledge systems from the Greater South, noting that many of these systems—preserved and transmitted by women—remain undervalued. “A history that excludes half of humanity is not history at all; it is mythology in the service of exclusion,” he emphasised.
The Secretary-General called for the participants and different organisations to take part in two upcoming OSC initiatives in 2026: the Greater South Fair for Endogenous Technologies (GreSFET) and the Fatima El-Fihri Award, both aimed at strengthening women’s visibility and leadership in science, technology, and innovation.
The Dialogue provided a timely platform to reaffirm the collective responsibility of institutions across Africa and the Greater South to build an inclusive, just, and representative scientific ecosystem capable of shaping the continent’s future.
