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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?
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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 about gender issues and contribute as much as possible to bridge this information gap.
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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 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 out of her skills, effort, hard work and intelligence.
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Relentless STEMinist and Caribbean woman
Mechanical engineer from the Universidad del Norte thanks to the Ser Pilo Paga scholarship from the Government of Colombia, passionate about social initiatives fostering education access.
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.
The stories of women who strive all day to accomplish their dreams are a source of inspiration for this project. Those who have had to divert their paths because circumstances and stereotypes have prevented them from becoming what they want to be. This blog is for the women who have never seen role models, those who do unpaid work, those rejected because of their ethnicity or origin, those who weren't allowed to access education, and finally, for those who have been discouraged to follow their career paths.