Why "Bilim Kızı"?
The Science Girl (Bilim Kızı) Project, initiated by Müjgan ÇETİN in 2016, exemplifies a dedicated effort to support young women aged 18 to 28 pursuing studies in fundamental sciences such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and astronomy, as well as postgraduate studies in life sciences including biotechnology, nanotechnology, and bioinformatics.
Our Strategic Goal ; Supporting 100 Bilim Kızı and at least one Nobel Prize in 10 years is to gain.
Our Mission: Our girls who experience financial impossibility, inequality of opportunity, vision deviation and confusion of direction; undergraduate in basic sciences, graduate in life sciences and during their doctoral studies , To support, encourage and contribute to their scientific careers in the education and training processes at a level that can carry out scientific activities and achieve success.
Through its comprehensive programme, the initiative has provided 81 young women with 830 hours of mentorship from 53 accomplished female scientists, while 43 participants have received scholarships and financial support up to 2024.
The programme since 2016 up to 2024, further emphasizes skill development, offering 256 hours of English language training and 502 hours of education in various fields such as artificial intelligence and TUBITAK project preparation. To support career readiness and academic engagement, the initiative provides young women with internship and job opportunities, simulations in preparation for master’s programmes, and chances to publish their scientific articles in the Bilim Kızı magazine.
With the support of 43 institutional partners, the initiative has facilitated R&D and lab visits for 31 young women, establishing a robust scientific network through 33 collaborations with universities, R&D centres, and NGOs. Furthermore, outreach efforts have reached 345 event participants, raising awareness of the role of women in science. The Bilim Kızı calendar, showcasing 48 contemporary women scientists, further amplifies the visibility of successful women in Turkish science.
Our reasons:
Although Turkey is a young country, our educational success is declining rapidly.
As of the end of 2019, the young population in the 15-24 age group made up 15.6% of the total population. 51.3% of the young population was male and 48.7% was female. ] Our young population of 12.6 million is more than the total population of 20 of the European Union countries. Source: https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Istatistiklere-Genclik-2019-33731
Our country was again below the OECD average in the PISA 2018 results of the "International Evaluation Programme", which is organized every 3 years with the participation of 3 million students aged 15, organized by the OECD since 2000. According to these results, ' Turkey ranked 31st among 37 OECD countries that participated in the PISA test in 3 different categories (mathematical literacy in its own language, science literacy and reading skills). While girls outperformed boys in all tests in Turkey, poor students underperformed.'
Source: OECD page
The number of women scientists among scientists is very low .
'Out of 962 people awarded between 1901-2020 Only '58 times have women won the NOBEL Prize. ONE WOMAN ONLY Marie Curie has won the award twice (in 1903 for Physics, 1911 for Chemistry.)
Source: NOBEL page
PLOS Biology In the study, which is published in the scientific journal named , a ranking was created based on scientific criteria such as the number, effect, number and rate of citations of scientific articles published by academics worldwide in 2020. 161.442 scientists were listed. Among the 857 scientists working in Turkey, 92 women were included in the list of the most influential scientists.
Source: PLOS Biology journal and Data set
There are heartbreaking results in 2019 results in the Women's Perception Report, which has been renewed every year since 2016 by Kadir Has University. While the employment status of women was 35% in 2016, it decreased to 22% in 2019.
Source: Kadir Has University Women's Perception Report
In Turkey, especially in rural areas, our girls' level of education and quality of adding value to life is very low.
'Lack of education or lack of education has been seen as the biggest factor hindering rural women's poverty and participation in labor force employment.
Source: Savaş Karagöz, N. Işıl Karagöz, General View of Rural Women in Terms of Poverty, Education and Employment Between 2010-2016, Hak-İş International Journal of Labor and Society © Volume: 7 Years: 7 Issue:17