• The Chair – sponsored by EMT and Fundación Iberdrola España – has become a national benchmark for promoting and boosting the presence of women in STEM disciplines

It has been two years since the creation of the Chair for the promotion of women in STEM vocations in Vocational Training for Sustainable Mobility (STEM Women Chair). During this time, “we have worked to increase the number of students in general, and women in particular, who choose studies oriented towards STEM professions, both university studies and Vocational Training”, as indicated by Yolanda González Arechavala, director of the STEM Women Chair and professor at Comillas ICAI, during the renewal of the agreement between Comillas Pontifical University, the EMT and the Iberdrola Spain Foundation.

González Arechavala stressed the need to “continue to promote interest in science, mathematics, engineering and technology at all educational stages, and not only among students, but also among teachers, counselors, and families”, and highlighted the interdisciplinary work carried out in the chair, which is already a benchmark in the field of promoting STEM in general, and among women in particular.

For his part, Ramón Castresana, director of Fundación Iberdrola España, stressed that “Iberdrola is committed every day to innovation and women in the sector, in addition to the importance of establishing public-private partnerships to develop this type of initiative”, and that 48% of the contracts signed last year at Iberdrola were for women under 30 years of age. The company’s objective is to continue to make progress in this area until it consolidates its position as an international benchmark in equality.

Alfonso Sánchez Vicente, managing director of EMT, wanted to underline “the firm commitment of the municipal company to the employability of women and the importance that female talent is going to acquire in the profound transformation that the transport sector is undergoing”. Sanchez has described as excellent the balance of the work of the chair in these two years and has assured that EMT will continue to work to transform an organization that can offer stability and career opportunities for women with STEM vocations.

The work that will continue to be done aims to reduce the gap between women and men in STEM disciplines: as revealed in the recent report “STEM studies in Spain and women’s participation. STEM Vocational Training, an opportunity for the future”, out of every 100 students in Initial Vocational Training (IVT), only three are girls studying STEM IVT. This proportion is also low -eight women for every 100 students- in university careers linked to these disciplines related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Furthermore, if only the proportion of women in the total number of FPI STEM students is analyzed, the ratio is one woman for every nine men.

The Chair’s biannual report includes all the activities carried out in these two years.