Women and science education in Cameroon: Some critical reflections

Ten Cameroonian women were interviewed in order to find out how they had managed to become scientists and science educators. We talked to them about the kinds of support they had been given by their families, how science was taught in schools both in the past and at present, and whether or not they thought it possible to integrated science and African traditional thought in schools and universities. We used a framework incorporating the concepts of gender and social class in order to interpret their views. On this basis, we understood why these women tended to underestimate the importance of institutional discrimination in science and to conceive of the norms of professionalism as unsurpassable. In contrast, we suggest that women in Cameroon will only be able to participate fully when their own experience and ways of knowing are incorporated into the teaching and structures of science.