They advocate for greater training of women in STEM careers to confront cultural stereotypes

SANTO DOMINGO. - Romper with the indispensable and necessary cultural stereotypes which limit at girls and teenagers to decide for study careers for the science, technology, engineering y mathematics is first step for close gender gaps which mantienen at of as minority in these professional areas, so he considered it Ashley Morales, president of the organization Women in Engineering Dominican Republic (MIRD).

Morales affirmed that it is necessary to make STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) visible among the options for which women can lean. “Women in STEM” is a initiative of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) and BHD Bank with which they seek to empower and encourage the participation of more women in scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical careers, through inspiring conferences on topics and trends in the industry, as well as mentoring programs.

The meeting, held in the INTEC Social Security Auditorium, was attended by moderation de Angela Nieto, Senior Vice President of Technology and Digital Transformation at Banco BHD, in which they also participated Milka Santana, founder of Perfect Labs, and Juan Carlos Anguish, visual design leader of Google Meet.

In her conference, Milka Santana emphasized that to be a woman in STEM, the most important thing is to "understand that you are capable of achieving your dreams." The math and finance graduate from Baruch University, with postgraduate degrees from John's Hopkins University and Xi'An Jiaotong University, urged students to surround themselves with excellence, which means being selective with the people around them, looking for people that can contribute to professional and personal growth; she also recommended putting goals in writing and working with focus to achieve them.

Santana affirmed that, after extensive experience in private banking in entities such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, London and Goldman Asia, he decided to return to the country, to his native Yamasá, to found Perfecto Labs and achieve an impact on the lives of children between the ages of 5 and 16 years with a program focused on programming, artificial intelligence, robotics and English, which currently has an enrollment of 200 children and which aims to take it to other areas of the country.

During her speech, Angustia considered that the scenario will change, since women are surpassing men in universities. She cited the example of the United States, where statistics indicate that 46% of university enrollments are women, compared to 36% who are men. “This tells us that things are going to change,” she said.

Angustia pointed out the importance of diversity in STEM careers, as she believes that "the contributions that both women and men can bring allow us to create more innovative ideas and also make creativity more fluid." She cited that some of the largest companies in Sillycon Valley today, such as Google, Apple and Meta, have an average of 35% women on their staff.

The activity, which was broadcast live on the YouTube channels of INTEC and Banco BHD, included the participation of Alliet Ortega, Vice Chancellor of Administration and Finance of INTEC, and Luis Lembert, Executive Vice President General Manager of the BHD.

During his speech at the start of the event, Ortega indicated that INTEC has established as a cross-cutting axis of the 2023-2027 strategy to promote the STEM approach towards women, resulting in a 51% increase in female enrollment at the university.

Offering a few words of introduction, Lembert specified that promoting the participation of more women in STEM careers is essential to achieve gender parity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, areas in which traditionally only men are seen, and to break with the paradigms that careers associated with STEM are only for men.

He highlighted that, in the BHD, 64% of the positions are held by women. "In leadership positions we have an equal number of women and men... Within the framework of our internal gender strategy, we also developed the Aurora program, so that the girls of our staff who are between 8 and 12 years old can arouse their interest in STEM, in addition to strengthening their knowledge in the area”.