Fighting the unconscious gender biases that most of us have is a complicated task. We are social beings and are raised to assume a series of gender-determined roles pretty much from birth. But unlearning to learn and teach with a new approach is the key to achieving a more egalitarian society. This is especially true in areas where there is a large gender gap, such as technology. At BBVA we believe that it is time to inspire new generations of talent in this field. That is why we are celebrating the International Day of Girls and Women in Science and Technology.
In the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) field, the gender gap is still very noticeable. The scarcity of female role models and references in the STEM sector is one of the main reasons why girls are unable to see themselves working in this type of profession. Add to this the fact that, practically from birth, girls and boys are brought up to assume a series of gender roles, it is only logical that at a very early age biases appear in terms of how they perceive their abilities or what is feminine and masculine.
What can we do to change this? How can we change this? The key lies in education and in the patterns acquired from childhood. If we want a more egalitarian society we have to try to discard what we have learned so far, relearn and teach from a new perspective that tries to avoid the acquired gender biases. But we also have to contribute to make female talent visible, make it known and give it value.
Begoña García, Isabel Vinagre and María Chouciño, IT and Telecoms Engineers at BBVA, are a good example of how to tackle these biases among young women. Together with their daughters, they have been part of a BBVA Tech Women campaign that demonstrates the need to create role models to go further.
One of the main objectives of the BBVA Tech Women program is to promote and raise the profile of the female tech talent that exists within the organization, so as to create role models that inspire and become points of reference. To achieve this, among other initiatives, networking and personal and professional growth skills are encouraged among female technology professionals with talks and workshops, such as the #IamRemarkable workshop held with Google or the one given by the psychologist and self-esteem expert Silvia Congost.
