Through the TEC 2022 Woman Award, the institution recognizes the high-impact actions that students, teachers, collaborators and graduates are generating.
Passionate, visionary, talented and fearless. This is how Mexican women are who generate a positive impact on society and who make their way to excel in the professional field. Some of them are part of the Tecnológico de Monterrey community, an educational institution that carries the banner of gender equality high with various projects, programs and initiatives such as the Tec 2022 Woman Award.
It is a special award that Tec de Monterrey has been holding for 10 years to make visible and recognize the talent and contributions of women in its university community. Highlights the female talent in different areas and sectors such as art, culture, health and well-being, entrepreneurship, sports, environment and gender perspective.
Lumi Velázquez, director of the Centro Mujer y Empresa at Tecnológico de Monterrey, who is also the creator of the Women Tec Award, explains that this award has a cultural and social background. “We studied how recognitions have been historically for women, from the Nobel and Oscar prizes to the institutional ones, and we realized that there is an inequality in the decorations,” says the director.
Female talent, the strength Mexico needs
This award also recognizes teachers, students, graduates and collaborators who excel in science and technology issues, a sector with low participation of women in Mexico. Only 30% of people who study STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) careers are women, according to data from the Center for Research on Women in Senior Management (CIMAD).
Lumi attributes this deficit to gender mandates that have historically established in society how men and women should behave. “The area of science, technology and mathematics has traditionally been assigned as male activities. While cleaning, caring for babies and the home have been assigned as activities for women, “says Lumi,” change must be generated from parenting.
However, the gender gap It also occurs in the business environment and in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the participation of enterprising women it is only 33%. The rest correspond to companies created by the male gender.
So what does it take in Mexico to reduce this situation? In this regard, Lumi says that it is necessary to transform the entrepreneurial ecosystem and provide more opportunities for women who want to open their own business. “The first step is for them to recognize themselves as entrepreneurs. We need more spaces for women to talk about their needs, challenges and opportunities in the industry ”.
Furthermore, “it is necessary for them to become professional because the participation of women in the economy cannot remain at the level of self-employment,” says Lumi. “It is important to be within the formal economy and have an entrepreneurial trajectory, greater permanence in the market and serial entrepreneurship practices,” he adds. For this reason, the award also seeks to inspire and empower more women who have an entrepreneurial spirit with a special category dedicated to female entrepreneurs.
On January 17, 2022, you will meet the winners of the tenth edition of the TEC Woman Award, although the awards event will take place on March 3 with a hybrid format (face-to-face and online). The call to participate began on the first day of November 2020 and currently the women nominated are being evaluated by a group of judges made up of managers, teachers and collaborators, both men and women.
Do not miss the coverage of the event that we will do on Pro Network!
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TEC 2022 Woman Award: To the brightest women in their community