Colombian girls in tech: bridging the gender hole 

In Colombia, the share of girls working within the know-how sector isn’t any larger than 30%, in keeping with the latest research by the training know-how firm Crack The Code. Moreover, solely two of each ten girls select to pursue a science or technology-related profession.

Taking a deeper dive into the problem, we spoke with Sofia Caro, who shared her expertise on the scenario of girls in know-how in Colombia. We mentioned the probabilities of selling feminine participation in tech from a younger age, and the way eliminating gender stereotypes can broaden girls’s potentialities all through the sector.

Sofia Caro is an Account Supervisor. Her expertise with inbound communications and shopper administration has helped startups obtain desired PR outcomes. Her worldwide undergraduate expertise has allowed her to develop the adaptability, competitiveness, and communication abilities essential to handle quite a lot of accounts throughout industries together with inside design, synthetic intelligence, cybersecurity, healthcare know-how, hospitality, and extra. Sofia is a contributor to Pulzo, Social Geek, and Entrepreneur.

Primarily based on the above, what are your views on Colombian girls in know-how and that are some related position fashions to comply with and study from?

Colombian girls who enterprise into the world of know-how are girls who need to make a mark. In a rustic the place patriarchal tradition has prevailed for therefore lengthy, girls who resolve to enter this business are brokers of change and transformation. Due to this fact, I consider that they need to be acknowledged, highlighted, and applauded. On this manner, we are able to make them seen inside the business and likewise showcase them as examples for the remainder of the ladies in our nation.

One of many reference girls within the subject is Sandra Hinestroza, who presently serves as Basic Supervisor of HP Colombia.

What enhancements have you ever seen lately concerning the expansion of girls on this business?

To start with, the share of girls making use of for positions within the know-how business has elevated from 12% in 2015 to 51% in 2021. We are able to deduce that the probabilities and job choices for ladies have additionally elevated considerably.

Likewise, initiatives similar to Girls in Tech Colombia and WISE Latin America (a free program consisting of coaching workshops and mentoring, geared toward supporting the creation of female-led startups) contribute to the tutorial growth of girls within the sector.

Alternatively, the Ministry of Info Know-how and Communications has created areas that promote girls within the business, similar to Hacker Women, a challenge that promotes training and work for ladies in cybersecurity.

Alternatives like these appear to be more and more seen and current in Colombia, positioning the nation as one of many leaders within the area in selling and coaching girls in digital safety.

Do you’ve gotten ideas as to what we are able to do to empower and practice girls within the nation and create a blended and participatory know-how business?

To be able to create an surroundings through which girls can really feel supported, a obligatory “infrastructure” is required that generates vital demand within the job marketplace for girls. It is usually essential to encourage energetic feminine participation in management roles.

One other vital level is the assist for female-led corporations. Whether or not by mentorship, assets, or financing that enables these companies and entrepreneurs to entry assist and enhance alternatives for them.

A report from the corporate ‘The place are we now? Understanding the position of girls in know-how’, amongst different issues, revealed that 30% of girls within the area consider that the shortage of feminine illustration made them doubt coming into the IT business. Those who had probably the most doubts have been the Brazilians (39%) and Chileans (34%), adopted by Peruvians (30%) and Colombians (29%), and eventually Mexicans (26%) and Argentines (24%). New fashions have to be made seen and promoted to proceed feminine participation inside the business.

How can we encourage girls to coach themselves in know-how?

To be able to incentivize girls to study technology-related abilities, it’s essential to have sturdy STEM curricula in faculties ranging from the early grades, and initiatives that spotlight girls who’ve been pioneers within the subject. Girls who function position fashions can encourage others and display that it’s doable for ladies to own these abilities and maintain high-level positions. It is usually vital for faculties to work consciously to scale back the gender hole and create situations that display that everybody can have the identical capabilities, no matter gender, so long as the identical alternatives are supplied.

Moreover, this can be very vital to have direct and accessible assist for ladies of all socioeconomic ranges to coach themselves in know-how. For instance, networking areas the place girls already within the business can function position fashions and share their experiences with different girls. These areas ought to be designed to facilitate connections and assist networks through which girls assist girls, inviting others to consider that they are often a part of the know-how subject no matter their gender or identification.

How can we acknowledge girls for his or her contributions to science within the STEM (Science, Know-how, Engineering, and Arithmetic) subject, and thus encourage girls and encourage new generations?

We now have to take action as a society, by making their achievements and work seen. Let’s applaud what they’ve achieved, discuss it amongst ourselves, and be spokespeople and advocates for these nice girls. If each one in all us acquires a perspective through which girls in STEM are examples, simply as we do with nice leaders who’ve been an inspiration to all, and we give these girls their worth for having overcome the boundaries that we now have as a rustic and society, solely then can we open up an area that motivates and encourages new generations.

Gender stereotypes affect our aspirations and desires. In a world the place boys are inspired to play with robots and automobiles from early childhood, whereas women are steered in the direction of taking part in with dolls and toy kitchens, how can we, as a society, encourage women to discover the know-how subject?

It’s important to coach women from a younger age from a number of angles. Formulating methods of making and believing by taking part in, putting in the concept being what you need to be is feasible, is a essential train that begins at dwelling and have to be replicated in each setting the place they develop and develop.

Additionally, changing into aware of the idea of know-how, understanding, interacting, and observing science and know-how as one thing that’s a part of life, relatively than distant and unknown information.

Properties and households additionally play an important position. If dad and mom normalize conversations and discussions round feminine position fashions of their each day lives, they permit younger women to know that it’s doable to be a lady and succeed on this subject.

It’s about planting a seed that can bear the fruit of self-confidence, a mirror through which women can see themselves mirrored, and that may be a driving power for them to dream of being scientists, astronauts, forsaking the stereotypes that led women to have restricted desires.