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This Technovation Girls program is aligned with the government’s priorities through its “Zero Digital Divide” plan, promoting for more than five years the development of digital skills in girls from an early age to encourage their interest in science and technology careers.
Santiago. In the framework of the Telecommunications Month, Subtel together with Technovation Girls Chile Foundation and WOM, inaugurated the new cycle of digital skills workshops for girls between 13 and 17 years old. This initiative, seeks to empower female talents in areas that for years have been masculinized, eliminating labels and bringing the interest of more women towards STEM careers.
“When we talk about the digital divide, we have discovered different types. There is one that is not very visible, which is the gap in the ability to use technologies, which has a socioeconomic and geographic component, but it also has a gender component that is very powerful. Digital technologies give the possibility of solving real problems to people and that translates, on the one hand, in gender equity, but also in social equity,” said the Undersecretary of Telecommunications, Claudio Araya. He added that “these digital literacy workshops for girls not only provide them with valuable digital tools for their personal development and later job development, but also allow them to generate a project that can have an application, allowing them to think, design and generate digital solutions to different problems of our daily work”.
Meanwhile, Constanza Díaz, Executive Director of Technovation Girls Chile, mentioned that, “the idea is that girls see themselves as agents of change and developers of technology, not only as users. Therefore, the heart of the program has to do with the girls becoming aware of the great capabilities and the great talent they have, and how this talent can be used in technological areas to develop applications that did not exist before”.
During the day, the Undersecretary of Telecommunications had the opportunity to visualize the positive impact that this workshop has generated in each of the girls who are part of the program, and at the same time, to learn from the experience of the students themselves, who have not only acquired programming tools, but also in terms of social skills.
Catalina Achermann, VP of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability of WOM highlighted during the activity that, “we understand that both access to connectivity and digital training must go hand in hand. Changing women’s vision of the future must begin at an early age, and this is achieved thanks to the collaboration of the public, private and academic sectors. Each of the participants in these workshops have the opportunity to change not only their future, but also the future of an entire society. We are convinced that education is an engine of change”.
Technovation Girls Chile was created with the purpose of promoting the interest of girls and adolescents in the development of new technologies and digital innovation, approaching this field to open the doors to new academic opportunities and the delivery of knowledge that will have a relevant impact on their future career.
Through various instances of education and participation and with the support of mentors and teachers, girls and adolescents can develop the necessary skills to grow and become tomorrow’s leaders, getting involved and strengthening ties with their communities.
