Photo & Words by: Julianne Gabis
It is an undeniable fact that women are staggeringly lacking when it comes to role models in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. This is the reason the International Labor Organization (ILO) has tinkered with to inspire more women to enter the fields of STEM.
A few days before the International Women’s Month, ILO, in cooperation with JP Morgan, the United States Embassy in the Philippines, and American Spaces-Philippines, gathered women leaders that excel in the various industries of Science and Technology to prove that women can do IT (Information Technology) in a forum celebrating the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science last February 22 at the Net Plaza Building in Taguig.
The forum aims to highlight the need and call the attention of government, the private sector, and social partners for more opportunities for women in STEM.
The four remarkable women gathered in the forum who are women-leaders in their own right—are Aileen Judan-Jiao, the President and Country Manager of IBM; Ambe Tierro, the Senior Managing Director, Global Artificial Intelligence of Accenture Technologies; Ma. Christina ‘Beng’ Coronel, President and CEO of Pointwest technologies; and Michie Ang, Founding Director of Women Who Code.
The Philippines is the only country in Asia that made it to the top 10 of the world’s most gender equal nations, according to the World Economic Forum. Today’s female workforce in the country is more set on career profession than ever before but it is currently concentrated in low-skilled occupations. Hence, the ILO Women in STEM Workforce Readiness and Development Programme aims to improve women’s acquisition of the critical soft and technical STEM-related skills. But why STEM?
In a speech made by Linartes Viloria, the National Project Coordinator of the ILO Women in STEM Workforce Readiness and Development Programme, she expressed the importance of having women trained for the skills needed in the future.
“It says that technological advancements, artificial intelligence, automation and robotics will create new jobs but those who lose opportunities to jobs in this transition may be misfit to seize the new opportunities. Today’s skills will not match the jobs of tomorrow and newly acquired skills may quickly become obsolete,” Viloria elaborates further.
In a world made by men for the advances of men, women are often discouraged to enter fields that are widely dominated by men. Scholarships exclusively offered to women were proven to be somehow ineffective as women feel intimidated dwelling in the fields dominated by men.
Countless hindrances are laid along the way when a woman chooses a path that focuses on her career as she has to juggle her familial responsibilities with work. The four women-leaders in the forum shared their struggles through hindrances that come along with their gender as they course through the path they have chosen and how they overcame them through time.
ILO stands by their belief that if more women have access to quality STEM-related employment with sustainable career and livelihood prospects, then women making economic growth more inclusive and improving work and life conditions for all sex and genders will only be in a matter of time.
Young ECHO 
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