29 April 2022 | For: Granma Newspaper
The 2030 agenda for sustainable development places the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector as the space that promotes the construction of more inclusive societies, a point where the incorporation of girls is essential to reduce the gap gender current.
It is important to go from being consumers to creators, tells Granma Lidia Hidalgo, vice president of operations of the network of the Cuban Telecommunications Company, an entity where of the total number of workers, 45% are women and 40% of the fundamental positions females occupy it.
In this sense, she adds that our country has the strength that has generated a culture where the role of women managers and technical professionals is recognized on equal terms, and work teams that are formed with female participation turn out to be more productive, stable and creative.
For Hidalgo, the main challenges are in the continuous transformation of a sector that changes every day, and whose field is extremely large, "so being inserted in activities directly related to the operation, technological solutions and maintenance, imposes challenges related to simultaneously carrying family responsibilities, caring for children, educating them, as well as the hours away from home that this profession entails».
To the girls -he said- I recommend entering the different courses that are proposed in distance education platforms for training and approaches, and for adolescents, in search of their vocation, to approach educational centers such as the University of Informatics Sciences and the Technological University of Havana with its doors open.
The telecommunications and electronics engineer -with 30 years of link in the ICT sector between work and study- specifies that "today we are in an era where many of the jobs that are created are associated with digital transformation and for this it also requires us to transform perception».
Currently, there are innovation projects that cover all spheres of the country: in automation and control for agriculture, in biomedicine, applications for electronic commerce and banking, distance education. "The challenge is to continue involving girls so that these development opportunities materialize with the reduction of the gender gap."
“ALL THE CAPACITIES AND SKILLS TO WORK IN ICT”
For Grisel Reyes León, working as deputy minister of communications has, as its main challenge, "managing time properly to fulfill all my managerial responsibilities, without neglecting my status as mother, daughter, sister, wife and friend." Cuban teenager connected to the Internet on the Paseo del Prado She adds that “women have all the skills and abilities to work on this.
We are generally curious, passionate, dreamy, creative, we like to discover puzzles and these are very valuable qualities to be successful in these professions.
We are also very empathetic, responsible and tenacious, so performing in management activities is also an opportunity».
From the vision of the country, he says, the Government and the State promote inclusive policies that allow, both girls and boys, equal right to access and use of technologies, as well as their incorporation to studies in related careers.
Decree Law 370/2018 "On the Computerization of Society in Cuba", states that the State promotes the development and use of Technologies to promote the integration and conduct of processes associated with the computerization of society, while the Article 36 refers to the inclusion of Electronic Government issues at all levels of education and Article 58 makes it explicit that the Ministries of Education and Higher Education, in coordination with the Ministry of Communications, must promote research, development, innovation and ICT production.
Since 1987 and based on an idea from our Commander in Chief, the Computer and Electronics Youth Club was created, with a presence in all the country's municipalities and in a good part of the total population settlements, which are reached, including , with the Mobile Youth Club modality, facilities that have trained instructors who provide services to girls and boys alike and contribute to generating skills and a vocation for these technologies.
Likewise, the Union of Informatics of Cuba (UIC) is also a mechanism that favors orientation and vocational training by sharing the experiences of successful professionals in the sector and they have, in seven provinces, a project of citizen participation laboratories.
Today, Girls in ICT Day is a special and emotional moment of approaching schools, circles, girls and boys in general, in which basic knowledge is promoted through contests, activities and competitions, all related to the use of ICTs. technologies.
As actions, the deputy minister anticipates that, with the recently constituted Gender Committee in the Mincom, we are carrying out a diagnosis that will allow us to conceive its gender strategy, in which actions will be taken into account to achieve a greater rapprochement of girls with women. technologies, in such a way as to reduce the gaps that are identified. In the same way, we are studying the creation of the Children's Houses, which will undoubtedly constitute spaces in which girls can get closer to technologies from an early age, and a policy project is being prepared for the care of children and youth. in Cuba, which foresees issues related to the use of ICTs as a strategic line. Improve the education and development of digital skills, including issues associated with the responsible and critical use of these; increase the development and use of national platforms for content and services, with an emphasis on audiovisuals and video games aimed at this public that break the predominant colonizing model of Internet use; develop projects for priority attention to children and youth, including those with disabilities, expanding the participation of the Cuban software industry in this effort, are just some of the actions.
The best way to demonstrate how much has been and is being done in Cuba for the emancipation of women and gender equity is that our sector – characterized in the world by a high male presence – today has a minister, two deputy ministers, two presidents of business organizations, the president of the UIC, which brings together professionals interested in ICT, and the general secretary of the National Union of workers in the sector.
This –he points out– just to mention first-level decision-making positions, because we also have several women directing companies and in intermediate positions; that is, in this sector the empowerment of women is a reality and constitutes a stimulus and an incentive for the new generations.