Removing barriers to recruiting, retaining and advancing women in science and technology fields for promoting green industries in Colombia

 

Colombia needs to increase women’s participation and advancement in a more sustainable and inclusive approach to the country’s economic growth, in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda. Female workers in the green industry sector tend to concentrate in less skilled occupations at lower career levels. Moreover, they face multiple organizational barriers when they attempt to lead industries toward environmentally beneficial transformations.

This project will enable two universities in Colombia to assist the country’s national training service in assessing and improving its ability and that of other stakeholders to promote female participation in science and technology training programs and the success of female graduates in science and technology careers in the green industry.

Specifically, the project will assess female students’ participation in science and technology programs and identify organizational factors that bear on their enrolment and retention, as well as their recruitment and advancement in the green industry. It will develop and implement strategies to increase women’s leadership in science and technology fields of Colombia’s green industry and design an outreach strategy to support greater participation and advancement of women in these occupations.

This project was selected for funding as part of the IDRC call for proposals ”Breaking systemic barriers to women’s participation in science”.