Day of Women and Girls in Science in IES Cabo Ortegal

In this talk we have participated three girls, coincidentally, three friends. Each one of us with a very different background and training: Eva, a physiotherapist who works in a podiatry and physiotherapy clinic in Carballo; Laura, a future mathematician in her last year and with a whole professional career yet to begin; and lastly, me, Miriam, a computer engineer who, since she started her internship 3 years ago at everis, is still here!

Fortunately, both Eva and Laura have been surrounded by many women during their careers and, although they insisted and encouraged students alike to see the need for women in the scientific field, they have not lacked female references or companionship in their careers. They have certainly my point of view was very different.

To begin with, I have told the students belonging to the 4thESO, 1st and 2nd Bachillerato courses how over time my answer to the classic question has been changing "What do you want to be when you grow up?” from the time I was in school until practically today. From my beginnings, where perhaps I only saw a very limited range of professions (and many times unconsciously associated to genders), through high school and how as I studied and learned about the careers I was able to refine my response, until I finished college and that already being a computer engineer (and already aware of the infinite possibilities of where to work) I was still not sure where I would fit in best.

Once this review was done, I delved a little deeper into my opinion about the university where I studied, about how I decided where to go and finally about what our company is like. Apart from the values for which the company itself is already identified, I especially wanted to highlight the opportunity and the concern that exists in terms of training, since for me it is super important. A place, whether it is the institute where they are or in my case this company, where they care about training you, learning about your interests and how to exploit your skills, is a place we should value.

And finally, I told them about the initiatives that I know of where women's empowerment and equality among all are promoted. I told them about NTT DATA, the strategy DEI, Uniqueness, and the WomenTogether, Internal program to empower female managers on their way to top management (breaking down unconscious biases and limiting gender beliefs). And about FIC (Faculty of Informatics of Coruña), and the existence of a group of girls called "Hello, Sisters!" created to help each other in the university context and about the initiative they have also organized for 11F, where three female PhDs in computer engineering would give three different and interesting talks.

After having played a "Kahoot!" and with the answers to the questions we asked, I came away with a feeling that these initiatives are even more necessary than I thought.

I had the belief, after the continuous rise of the cut-off marks in engineering, that these careers were becoming more and more attractive (also among girls/girls), however, after this experience, I come away much more convinced of the need to continue raising awareness and showing girls references in which they can reflect themselves. For me, always understanding referent as someone with whom you can identify, more or less close.

I hope that both this company and I will continue to participate and collaborate with any proposal that arises in this area. And hopefully this talk in which I have participated has been useful and we have managed to convey how much we want and need more women in our sector.

PS: One of the students, very recently arrived from Ukraine, after the talk, gave each of us a drawing that she had made herself. Just for that detail alone, we was well worth the experience.