Last Thursday, 21st of July, a conference was held in Vigo as part of the TecnoLóxicas project, an initiative promoted by the Galician Association of Metal Industries and Associated Technologies (Asime) and the Provincial Government of Pontevedra, in collaboration with the Galician School of Engineers.
The focal point of the event - opened by the president of Asime, Enrique Mallón, and the President of the Provincial Government, Carmela Silva and which included the participation of several leading female engineers in the region’s industry - was the need to enhance the profile of women in the technological sector.
With that in mind, and as Mallón himself said, TecnoLóxicas is a “historical and exciting project that will initiate a new trend in female technological employment. For the first time, we are going to bring together the company's needs with women’s training so that a real change can take place.”
Silva on the other hand, stressed that “women aren’t a collective” but half of the world’s population. Therefore, “excluding them from jobs of the future, such as technology and innovation, is losing half of the talent.”
The importance of educating from the beginning
After the participation of institutional representatives, there was a discussion panel, moderated by Lorena Rosende, CEO of Grupo Itera and representative of Asime. Three female engineers of the region’s industrial network took part: Antía Fernández López, Innovation Manager for Gradiant’s strategic markets, Marta J. Fernández Docampo, Senior Project Manager of Gestamp Vigo and Chelo Domínguez, Manager of GKN Vigo.
All of them agreed on the need to highlight womens’ roles in engineering and in the technological sector in general; a task that must begin at an early age. “We have to tell young girls the truth,” Rosende highlighted, “raise awareness of future challenges, that high quality and well-paid jobs are in the field of technology. We have to show them the scope of developing their lives independently through professions of the future.”
