Chile. Currently, women represent 37% of the workforce in the Chilean telecommunications sector, and of those who hold a senior management position in the industry, an average of 17% of these positions correspond to women, while men average 83%, estimating a gender gap of 66% in these positions.
Faced with this situation, the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications; Gloria Hutt, together with the Minister of Women and Gender Equity; Mónica Zalaquett, and the undersecretaries of the portfolios, Francisco Moreno and María José Abud respectively, launched the Plan + Women in Telecommunications together with the industry.
This public-private initiative aims to increase female labor participation in the telecommunications sector, improve gender indicators and make the digital ecosystem more inclusive and representative with today's society.
In February of this year, the Technical Table of the Plan + Women was formed, which is of voluntary adhesion and to which the companies Claro, DirecTV, Movistar, VTR and WOM have already joined, participants that during the course of this project, have committed to advance in gender equity and in work plans that are associated with the axes of the technical table, how:
1) I work collaboratively with educational institutions to encourage girls and adolescents to study STEM careers. Considering in turn the realization of agreements for professional practices.
2) Support and promote female leadership in the industry with different actions, such as accompaniment in the professional career, mentoring and succession plans.
3) Educate and sensitize workers about gender violence and advance in the construction of safe and violence-free work spaces.
4) Review of internal policies and procedures that may contain unconscious biases that hinder the access and promotion of women within the industry.
"In addition to the commercial deployment of the new 5G network and that our country is part of the new digital economy 4.0, it is a priority to promote with special conviction the female labor participation of the industry, even more, considering that the deployment of this network will generate 68 thousand new jobs," said the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Gloria Hutt, who also stated that, "although we project that the new network will be a great contribution to the productivity of Chile, we also seek that it attracts national female talent that stands out in the industry, so we call on the industry to continue joining this initiative so that as a sector we continue to advance in the removal of barriers that prevent the participation and development of women in science, technology, innovation and telecommunications".
SUBTEL meets periodically with the technical table, where through the Territorial Management and Citizen Participation Unit, it acts as the Technical Secretariat in charge of its design, coordination and implementation, making available its work team to coordinate and develop from the gender diagnosis of the participating companies, such as the accompaniment and development of the work plans of each of them to reduce gender gaps. The above, with the support and collaboration of the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity.
This table has also received the support of civil society organizations, such as the Network of Women in Senior Management (REDMAD) to promote and guide the participation of women in leadership and decision-making positions.
During the instance, a Collaboration Agreement was also signed between the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity and the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications to formalize its commitment to carry out actions that allow the development and implementation that promote the labor insertion of women and the active participation of a multisectoral work agenda in the field of telecommunications, technology and STEM careers.
