“Taking into account that technology companies have been led by men, we think that women bring a very different perspective to technology companies with the inclusion of new forms of leadership, creativity, but above all a more human leadership that connects with women and young people generating a new way of working, and a lot of innovation when developing technology products”, said Carla González, VP CBE of Amdocs, in a talk with Convergencialatina.
Tomorrow at 9.30 in Mexico (11.30 in Argentina) the virtual event Amazing Women of CALA, organized by Convergencialatina and Amdocs, to discuss the role of female leadership in technology, will be launched. Participants include, along with González from Amdocs already mentioned, Nicole Rodríguez, VP CTO of AT&T Mexico; Nayura Rojas Herrera, Deputy VP of Entertainment at AT&T Mexico; Judith Yampolsky, Amdocs Director of Human Resources; Nydia Cano, CLO and co-founder of Pronto; Sonia Agnese, Senior Principal Analyst Latin America at OMDIA; and Paola Vega Castillo, Minister of Science, Technology and Telecommunications of Costa Rica. Speakers include: Verónica Rudolph, director of Claro Uruguay; Anabel Cisneros, director of Arsat; Natalia Guerra Caicedo, Director of Public, Regulatory and Wholesale Affairs at Telefónica Colombia; Pamela Gidi, Chilean Undersecretary of Telecommunications, and Sebastián Cabello, CEO of SmC + Digital Public Affairs; moderated by Mariana Rodríguez Zani, director of Convergencia Research & Convergencialatina. To register, enter here.
As actions to promote, Carla Gonzalez from Amdocs called on companies to establish equal status and promote that women have the same opportunities as men to access Board positions by implementing minimum participation percentages. “Governments must be guarantors that this equality exists by implementing mechanisms that force companies to comply with a minimum of women in positions of Council and Senior Management. Thus, we can review what has been done in the European Economic Community where companies are required to have at least 20% of the board members represented by women”, she pointed out.
If a particular market in the region is observed, such as Uruguay for example, Verónica Rudolph, director of Claro, recalled that only 24% of those who enter to study technology careers are women (according to data from the MEC of 2018), only graduating 21%. “It is part of our role to promote, encourage and train more women to work in this industry, and thus provide diversity and opportunities. Today this change in mindset is having greater visibility and influence, stimulating more women to approach ICTs”, she said
As Amdocs' Carla Gonzalez has warned, remote work has been a major setback for women. Recently the WEF (World Economic Forum) published its annual report on gender parity in 156 countries and according to its evaluation, the effect of the pandemic intensified the gaps between men and women, despite the fact that women have been in the first line of the Covid-19 crisis. "The new normal has not been good for women," concluded the executive.
Sonia Agnese, Senior Principal Analyst at OMDIA for Latin America, agreed on this negative impact. “The tasks of care and upbringing continue to be mainly rooted in the role of women. Proof of this is what is stated in the latest ECLAC report, which shows that the pandemic has generated a setback of more than a decade in the progress achieved in terms of women's labor participation in Latin America,” she said.
From Claro Uruguay, its director Verónica Rudolph considers that it is still early to measure the impact of the new normal. “Both companies and educational centers are still adjusting to this new reality, where systems, jobs, and teaching methods had to be adapted. We are still learning to combine and order the homes for both tasks, and this has positive and negative sides.”