News

Workshops in observance of International Day of Girls in ICT

April 28, 2017
As part of International Girls in ICT Day, a global initiative promoted by the International Telecommunication Union, the School of Engineering held two workshops for 11th- and 12th-grade students from José Pedro Varela and Elbio Fernández High Schools, which took place on April 27, 2017, at the school.

The faculty also participated in an event at Espacio Ciencia, where it showcased virtual reality headsets and La Casa Uruguaya, the winner of the 2015 Solar Decathlon for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Workshops:

App Inventor: This workshop focused on the design and implementation of a mobile app using the MIT App Inventor tool. It was led by Dr. Inés Friss de Kereki, a professor of Programming at the school.

Robotics: In this activity, students learned the basic concepts of programming applied to robotics and followed the steps to create an application that allows them to control a robot. The session was led by Eng. Mariana Derderian, Assistant to the Academic Coordinator of Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications Engineering, and instructor for the Linear Algebra and Fundamentals of Mathematics lab.

Most women do not choose to study or work in technology due to multiple factors: social, cultural, the prevalence of certain stereotypes, and issues related to education.

Only 22% of those entering technology degree programs are women, according to the 2016 Annual Report on Academic Training in ICT by the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (CUTI).

When walking through classrooms in technology programs, it is possible to see entire classrooms dominated by men. Although gender inequality in technology companies and departments has decreased, it remains significant. In 2015, women accounted for 32% of the sector, according to a report published in the newspaper El Observador.

The greatest concern is that women are not accessing the opportunities offered by a dynamic, highly skilled labor market with above-average wages.