“Integrating women and girls in the digital era in the core of the fourth industrial revolution” was the center topic of the agenda during the Conference of the APEC on inclusive growth, which held place on 12th of April in Ha Long, north Vietnam.
On the occasion, Francisca Varela, Senior Analyst of the Data Science Institute of the Engineering Faculty, talked about the programs that have been implemented in that direction and commented on how thanks to public and private organizations collaboration, along with the academia, achievements have been made in the digitalization of women and girls in our country.
For the Civil Engineer in Computer Sciences from the University of Chile, our country is in an advanced position regarding other economies in terms on how to include women in the digital era, and how to teach them to be active participants in the industry.
“We have big challenges in this matter, we must advance in digital alphabetization, so then we can generate enthusiastic people that wish to continue to a career path. In this sense it is crucial to deliver the tools that allow them to finally become the entrepreneur women of tech and a role models to other girls who want to follow digital careers”.
In the same way, in her intervention, she talked about the importance of data and how underrepresented women are in them, “for example, in Wikipedia there are a lot less women biographies than men’s. There lies the need to create more participative and diverse spaces, tech is dynamic, and it is far away from being a rigid industry of male exclusivity, which is why it takes creativity and the vision from women and girls to find the most diverse solutions”.
