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On 8 March, International Women鈥檚 Day, St Jude鈥檚 Girls鈥� Secondary School celebrated with a special assembly, where students gave joyous performances and inspiring speeches.

However, gender equality is year-round work. For the last two years, St Jude鈥檚 has been making a concerted effort to reach an equal ratio of male and female academic staff in order to empower students and staff alike.

鈥淏ack in 2020 at Smith Campus, the number of male teachers was 93%,鈥� begins Mr Mcharo, St Jude鈥檚 Academic Manager. 鈥淎t our girls鈥� school when we first opened it was 85.7% and in primary school it was 82%,鈥� he continues.

This imbalance is not isolated to St Jude鈥檚, but is seen in many Tanzanian schools. There is a particular disparity in mathematics and science subjects.

鈥淭his can disadvantage girls, it can make them think perhaps to be a teacher or to teach certain subjects, you have to be male, which is not true,鈥� Mr Mcharo explains.

After two years of work, St Jude鈥檚 hard work is beginning to pay off, particularly at St Jude鈥檚 Girls鈥� Secondary School, where 42% of teachers are now female. Recently, Mr Mcharo was proud to hire a female Mathematics Teacher and the school鈥檚 very first female Physics Teacher.

These teachers are Madam Rehema, who teaches mathematics, and Madam Jackline, who teaches physics.

鈥淭here is an ideology in society that mathematics is difficult for women, so less women become mathematics teachers,鈥� says Madam Rehema, who holds a Master of Mathematics. 鈥淓ven if there is one, other people won鈥檛 believe she can teach mathematics, so then she has to convince people, convince society. You have to prove yourself.鈥�

Madam Jackline says there is a similar perception in physics.

鈥淢any people say that physics is hard for girls, but it鈥檚 a matter of having passion and putting your effort into it. I love it and I love teaching physics,鈥� says Madam Jackline.

Both new teachers are working hard to challenge these perceptions with their students.

鈥淔irst, I try to remove that ideology that mathematics is too hard. I try to encourage the girls to keep up.  I tell them that mathematics has broad applications. Computer systems are all about mathematics. Business is the application of mathematics. You can apply mathematics as a doctor or engineer,鈥� says Madam Rehema of her approach.

Madam Jackline is particularly excited to become a role model for her students, despite not having one herself. 鈥淚n my whole school and university journey, I鈥檝e never had a female physics teacher, she explains. 鈥淎t university in my class, there were five women and 30 men.鈥�

With such a small numbers of female teachers, hiring can be difficult, but St Jude鈥檚 Human Resources (HR) team is up for the challenge.

Happy, the school鈥檚 HR Manager, has devised a number of ways to attract high quality female teachers.

鈥淎ll our adverts now say that we highly recommend female candidates apply. We do a lot of headhunting as HR and we also ask current female teachers for their recommendations,鈥� she describes.

The school has also introduced a referral process, where staff can receive a small financial bonus for recommending a successful candidate for an open position at St Jude鈥檚.

鈥淵ou can see in interviews, female candidates are often less confident than male candidates,鈥� says Happy. 鈥淏ut once they are employed, they grow in confidence in their roles.鈥�

With a larger number of female staff, the school has also had to bring a greater focus to its maternity leave program. In accordance with Tanzanian labour laws, women receive 84 days of maternity leave after the birth of their children, followed by six months of reduced hours to allow continued breastfeeding.

鈥淒uring that time, we schedule all their classes in the morning as they will go home early in the afternoon to breastfeed, so we support them. For female boarding staff, we might move them into the day school so they don鈥檛 need to be at school overnight,鈥� Mr Mcharo says.

While organising maternity leave for teaching staff can be a challenge, it鈥檚 a challenge St Jude鈥檚 is ready to meet in order to reach a balanced number of female staff.

鈥淲e want to empower women, because women can teach too, and we want our students to see that,鈥� says Happy.