Mexico. According to the most recent report by The Social Intelligence Unit A.C, during the first quarter of 2017 there were 210,375 people employed in telecommunications, which represented 0.4% of the economically active population employed in the same period and a negative growth of 1.6% compared to the first quarter of 2016.
The number of women employed in this sector represented 30.9% of the total, while men represented 69.1%, that is, a difference of 38 percentage points (pp). On the other hand, of the total economically active population employed, 38% are women and 62% are men, which is equivalent to a gap of 24 pp.
Since the first quarter of 2011, this gender gap has been persistent and its greatest narrowing, equivalent to 18 pp, was recorded in the last quarter of the same year. In contrast, during the last quarter of 2014 there was a gap of 50 pp, the largest in the period studied.
It should be noted that the linear trend of men's labor participation in telecommunications is growing in the period from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2017. In contrast, this trend analyzed for the case of women, shows a decreasing behavior.
An alternative to generate greater inclusion of women in the world of telecommunications work is to promote careers related to new technologies among this population group.
The Statistical Yearbook of Higher Education of the School Year 2015-2016 of the National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education (ANUIES), the total enrollment in specialties, masters and doctorates related to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) since of the 6,088 people¹ enrolled in these programs, only 27% are women and 73% are men.
A greater number of women in ICT postgraduate courses would ensure an increase in the pool of human capital specialized not only in telecommunications but in other subsectors related to innovation and the digital world.
The labor inclusion of a greater number of women in telecommunications would not only narrow the magnitude of the identified gender gap, but could be a factor that drives the dynamism of the sector in the medium and long term. To achieve this, it is important to promote among women those careers linked to ICT.
