However, this issue was necessary for several reasons. First, our team members are women; and, second, because the figures still tell us that we have to motivate girls and young women to choose STEAM degrees and professions, where their perspectives are needed in the industry.

WOMEN, IN PLURAL

In every issue we try to find a meta-theme to act as a prism through which to view a topic from different perspectives. Like a kaleidoscope, we try to turn our topic around in order to find new perspectives, new outlooks, to be able to enlighten, learn, and contribute to the underlying conversation.

This time we wanted to talk about women and technology, women and innovation, women and entrepreneurship, and pioneering women who made history, but nobody talked about them. We wanted to leave a written record of their way of thinking, creating, leading, and looking at science and technology.

It’s now 2023, and parity in companies is increasing, but there’s still a long way to go. In this issue, we first focused on local voices, subsequently broadening our sights to a global level.

SQUANDERING 50% OF THE POPULATION MEANS SQUANDERING 50% OF ITS DIVERSITY

Education and gender equality are part of the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, and we want to continue advancing to meet them.

Nevertheless, if we look at the current numbers, women are still 50% of the population, but less than 30% enroll in STEM degree programs, except for the Natural Sciences and the Health Sciences (which, coincidentally, have to do with providing care) according to the UNESCO's 2019 report “Cracking the code: girls’ and women’s education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).” ).” In fact, we can see this in Graph 4: “Proportion of female and male students enrolled in higher education, by field of study, world average” (this detailed information is for the real geeks, just in case you’re interested).

LET’S CHANGE THE NARRATIVE

“Children are the future” goes a popular saying, and we could emphasize that girls are children too. If we want girls to become enthusiastic about science and technology, freely, without feeling like weirdos, and pressured on every exam and every decision, we should continue providing female examples in classrooms, in history classes, and in mathematical theorems.

With this, we don’t aim to limit girls to STEM careers; we must remember that there are a lot of humanistic and social aspects in technology and science, and that the lines are not as set in stone as they may seem.

We simply want to do our part to help change the current discourse, as, in the end, all of us are a reflection of what we’ve been told. And, while we’re aware of our fortunate position as we write these lines, we want to highlight the importance of taking small steps towards something bigger and more inclusive, something in which it isn’t necessary to go along with the majority, and where diversity is normal.

If we make known how many female pioneers, of different races, social classes, ages, and sexual and gender orientations, went down in history, and in Science books, we’ll gradually change the self-perceptions of women everywhere. If we make a great effort to instill other realities and viewpoints in everybody’s minds, we won’t be surprised to see a female data scientist in our laboratories who specializes in Quantum Technology.

If we change how we’ve been told history, we’ll change the future.