.png)
What is this?
Just Be is a personal project inspired by the berraquera of women who build the Caribbean's everyday life: a channel to make activism for a more equal Colombia in gender, education access, and empowerment matters.
According to the technical bulletin “Labor market by sex” of the Colombian National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE in Spanish), for the second quarter of 2024, women made up 42.8% of the labor force and 51.8% of the unemployed population in Colombia. In a company, by occupational position, women are less likely to be employers (30.6%) and only represent a majority performing roles as domestic employees (90.9%) and unpaid family workers (64.3%). On the other hand, in 2021, the Economics of Education Laboratory of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana reported that only 37.9% of professionals in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers are women.
In other words, women in Colombia do not tend to occupy leadership positions and lack significant representation in different sectors of the workforce. It is time to change this narrative so that more women have access to quality education without gender biases and better opportunities for professional growth. We should have the tenure to decide what we want to be and not become victims of a “single option or story.”
Why?
.png)
How?
Several factors may influence the lack of women's participation in STEM, in leadership roles, and, overall, in the workforce. However, gender stereotypes and misinformation place us at a disadvantage from the outset.
Knowledge is power: being informed about the options and opportunities we are entitled to and can access is the first step to building a professional and personal identity. My purpose with this blog is to disseminate information about gender issues and contribute as much as possible to bridge this gap.
.png)
According to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE, in Spanish) one of the definitions of the word in Colombia could be
s. f. Co Quality of the person who acts with courage and determination in risky or difficult situations.
I don't find it an easy adjective to define (even in Spanish). However, this is what being a "berraca" might mean for me:
In the Colombian Caribbean, the adjective "berraca" describes a woman who is resourceful and brave. She solves challenging problems/situations with her skills, effort, and hard work.
.png)
Relentless STEMinist, a Caribbean woman forever
I believe my passion for social initiatives fostering education access is a reflection of what the experience of being able to do my bachelor's degree (thanks to a full scholarship) meant to me.
I had the opportunity to be part of a project called W-STEM, which was founded under the ERASMUS+ program of the European Union to bridge the gender gap in STEM in Latin America. I was also president of the student chapter of the same group at the university. This experience uncovered my interest in learning more about inclusion and motivated me to continue strengthening my knowledge about gender parity. Currently, I am an ambassador for Google's Women Techmakers program, which aims to bridge the gender gap in STEM by providing visibility, resources, and creating a community for women in technology.
Just Be is an homage to and for the women who do unpaid work, those rejected because of their ethnicity or origin, those who were not allowed to access quality and unbiased education, and finally, those who have been discouraged from following their career paths and becoming the version of themselves they dream of being.