Meet the Somali researcher taking on gender disparity in academia
Image Credit: Sahra Ahmed Koshin
Author: Naliaka Odera
Sahra Ahmed Koshin is a passionate advocate of increasing the number of Somali women in research and academia. For 15 years, she has worked in the education sector in Somalia, creating at every step, more opportunities and access for women in research. A 2020 UNESCO report showed that only 38% of students taking the Form 4 end of secondary school exam in Somalia was female. But the same report indicated that the pass rate in 2020 had achieved gender parity. This means that, even though girls and boys do equally as well in exams, fewer girls are sitting for the exams than boys.
When Sahra initially began working with the Ministry of Higher Education as a Senior Gender Advisor, she immediately realised women voices were lacking in every aspect of the research and knowledge production space. Inspired by her work and experiences as a poet and creative writer, she embarked on creating a community of women writers from all walks of life, including academic writers. In her work with the ministry over the years, she has become well aware of how severe the case of gender disparity in academia in Somalia is.
Image Credit: Sahra Koshin
“Every research report on Somalia that you read would be written by foreigners, often male, often grey haired,” she laments. Furthermore, the reports would be inaccessible to institutions in Somalia, hidden behind restrictive and geo blocked paywalls, and therefore inaccessible to Somali researchers. To make matters worse, any knowledge production that involved Somali participation, would rarely feature the work of a Somali woman researcher. “Women were predominantly knowledge users and not producers,” she noted.
This frustration led to her founding the Somalia Gender Hub, a Somali based organisation that aims to advance research on the status of women in Somalia, besides amplifying the work of women researchers in and from Somalia. The Hub has been her most significant means to address fundamental gaps in the support Somali women receive in higher education. Her current work focuses on supporting women in research through mentorship, capacity strengthening, and providing resources for skill development.
Image Credit: Sahra Koshin
In 2021, Sahra became Mawazo’s first Policy Fellow and she is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Nairobi researching the role of Somali women in providing aid during humanitarian disasters. She applauds Mawazo for the training and mentorship she received during the Fellowship Programme, which she calls invaluable. But even more significant, has been the support, and continued access to opportunities and funding, that she has received as an alumnus of the Fellowship.
In 2023, Sahra successfully applied for funding from the Mawazo Connects Fund and hosted an inaugural conference for Somali women researchers both in the diaspora and in Somalia. The event brought together close to 100 Somali researchers, gender researchers, and women researchers, both virtually and in person, to share their experiences, network, and set in motion plans for a more inclusive future.
The conference meant a lot to Sahra, who reflected on the growth in the community building that has happened, not least in part due to her work, in the 15 years that she has been in the sector. “Mawazo supporting us in putting together the conference was huge. We actualised something that we had spoken about for a long time, and have since seen our mailing list, and community, grow as a result of the direct support from Mawazo since 2021.”
Though her work with the Somali Gender Hub has moved the ball forward significantly, there are still a lot of problem areas within academia that Sahra is creating policy recommendations to address. “There is a huge problem with women dropping out of their programmes, and we are not doing enough to design programmes that are more flexible to women’s realities,” she explains. She highlights limitations of caring for children while having to travel to conferences or for research, accessing necessary funding opportunities to continue one’s research, being denied travel visas as Somali women, opportunities that are age restricted, and a lack of Fellowship Programmes for Somali women researchers as some of the biggest challenges. “We need a comprehensive, holistic approach when it comes to supporting women researchers,” she urges.
Image Credit: Sahra Koshin
For now, Sahra continues to pursue her PhD, with a year to go, while boldly taking on the systemic issues found within the higher education ecosystem for Somali women. “My goal is quite simple,” she declares, “it is to empower women in research, by enhancing their abilities to produce high quality and publishable work.”