STEM Women Congress, a meeting point for companies, initiatives and institutions, whose aim is to make female talent in the STEM sectors visible, took place in Madrid, on 13 June. Organised by the association STEM WOMEN, which studies, measures and implements initiatives to create links and synergies in the field of technical careers, the first edition in Madrid and the fifth in the world brought together more than 600 people.
Mercedes Marín García, General Director of Bilingualism and Quality of Education of the Community of Madrid, opened the Congress and presented a preview of the STEM Women Congress Annual Report 2023, which collects data on the activity of initiatives and programmes working on STEM from a gender perspective.
Natalia Latorre, Energy Transition General Manager at Enagás, participated in the reading of the “STEM Women Manifesto”, highlighting the role of the educational team in schools, in which parents “entrust their most precious asset, the future of our daughters and sons, and therefore of our society”. She did so together with senior managers from other companies and entities, accompanied by primary school children.
Susana Toril, People and Diversity Manager at Enagás, took part in the round table “How to fix the under-representation of women in STEM” together with Elena Salgado, Chair of the Abertis Foundation; David Soto, Chair of Kyndryl Spain and Portugal; Fina Lladós, General Manager of Iberia AMGEN; Joana Barbany, Technology Business Development Director at Michael Page, and Lourdes Mercadas, Head of Transformation at CaixaBank Tech; moderated by Emma Vallespinós, a journalist at Cadena Ser.
Ms Toril underlined the need to incorporate diverse approaches and perspectives to address challenges such as the energy transition. She also stressed the importance of “girls looking for female role models around them, because there are those who have gone into these STEM careers”.
The Enagás People and Diversity Manager invited attendees to watch the #EllasTeLoCuentan campaign, launched internally and on the company’s social networks, in which female employees with technical and operational profiles talk first-hand about their experiences, how they got there and what their day-to-day lives are like. Ms Toril also mentioned a recent development in the campaign: “And now they tell you ‘together with the male workers’, because the whole of society has to be united and integrated”.
The conference was closed by Raquel Sánchez, Minister for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda of the Spanish Government.
You can watch the full video of the event here.
