Mexico City, Feb 11 (EFE).- The election of Claudia Sheinbaum as Mexico’s first female president with a scientific background projects a new horizon for women in science and engineering. However, students at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) warn that major challenges persist. This caution aligns with the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on Wednesday.
Angélica Alvarado, a student of electrical and communications engineering, considers that Sheinbaum’s presidency, which began in Oct. 2024, has not made a difference in the daily lives of female students beyond its symbolism.
«I think gender violence within engineering has always been the same; there hasn’t been much change, despite having a female president,» the 22-year-old student told EFE.
Although Alvarado acknowledges a greater female presence in classrooms, she insisted that «denigrating comments simply for being a woman» and a gender gap, manifested among both classmates and professors, persist.
She noted, for example, that her classes usually have between five and 10 women for every 25 to 30 male students, and she has only had four female professors in her entire degree program.
Moreover, the student recounts that some female classmates have faced harassment from male teachers without consequence. She cited the case of a peer who «failed because she would not agree to what the professor wanted,» and despite reporting it, «nothing was done,» and the professor «continues to work normally, as if nothing happened.»
For Montserrat Romero, an aeronautical engineering student, the increased presence of women in her program, which is nearly par, shows that «things have improved considerably.»
However, the 19-year-old warned that comments suggesting a field will «decline» in quality if it achieves parity persist. She also believes Sheinbaum «is being judged more for being a woman than for being president.»
«It benefited us a little bit, but it also put us more in the public eye,» she noted, explaining that if the president «makes a mistake, they are already using it as a point to attack us as well.»
Generations that paved the way
The students’ statements came after the presentation of the IPN’s ‘Polytechnic Women Paving the Way’ campaign, which seeks to «inspire» female students with workshops, activities, and stories to be shared until Mar. 8, International Women’s Day.
At the event, researcher Norma Beatriz Lozada, 46, told EFE that the arrival of a woman to the presidency has indeed made a difference. She highlighted as a recent advancement the fact that four out of her six students in a robotics class (a historically male-dominated subject) were women.
Blanca Margarita Gallegos, 68, recalled that when she studied Architecture, there were barely «four women for every 25 students.» She asserted that, in a country with a macho tradition, having a female president is «definitely inspiring» for new generations.
In Mexico, women represent about 37% of those in the National System of Researchers (SNI) and approximately one-third of the personnel in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields, according to official data and UNESCO.
Although the presence of women in Mexican higher education exceeds 50% of the total student body, their participation decreases as they advance into leadership positions. EFE
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