- It is a transversal, institutional and permanent project to promote and recognize the role of the Institute’s collaborators who are specialists in their respective fields of work.
- Seeks a greater participation of IFT women inside and outside the Institute.
- It will actively contribute to adding more women to STEM careers, through inter-institutional work.
- With these actions, the IFT joins efforts in its commitment to reduce the gender gap and consolidate itself as an allied institution for women in their training, recognition and professional development.
The Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) launches the Comprehensive Plan for Gender Equality “Experts who Transform” to promote female leadership through actions that increase the participation and visibility of the Institute’s women experts in both the telecommunications, broadcasting and the digital ecosystem, as well as in the respective fields of work in which they have specialized.
The Plan is articulated from a transversal vision under the principle of equality, for this reason it includes the different areas that make up the IFT. Through an approach with a gender perspective, the proposed actions aim to recognize and promote the role of women and reduce gender gaps.
Although women play a fundamental role in the scientific and technological communities, they currently have a minority presence due to the barriers and gender stereotypes they face. Therefore, it is important to promote affirmative, awareness-raising and promotional actions to guarantee their participation, growth, professional development and permanence.
In this sense, this plan foresees inter-institutional collaboration actions to promote a greater participation of girls and women in activities and professions linked to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers, by holding forums specialized workshops in which the IFT experts will bring their experiences to inspire and promote the empowerment of female high school and college students, among other activities.
Noteworthy, for example, are joint actions with the Coordination for Gender Equality of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), through which the women experts of the IFT will offer conferences to students of said academic institution on various topics related to telecommunications, broadcasting and the digital ecosystem.
It is also planned to hold contests aimed at the university community for the production of capsules that encourage girls and adolescents to study STEM careers, as well as to promote the use of new technologies among women and girls to close the digital gender gap.
This plan includes actions to position experts in the sector in leadership positions in the international arena, where the Institute is widely recognized for its regulatory work and the adoption of best practices that allow strengthening the participation and representation of women before international bodies. , forums and activities of organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), among others. Likewise, training and empowerment workshops are planned for other women to enhance their role in the sector.
The IFT will continue with the production and dissemination of studies and reports on the situation of women in STEM areas, in order to raise awareness of the importance of promoting equal opportunities and reducing gender gaps in education and employment in this area. countryside. Similarly, through coordinated work with other institutions, workshops and courses on STEM subjects with a gender perspective will be offered to girls in basic education, to help eliminate gender stereotypes in childhood.
Given the important work carried out by the IFT in the field of Analysis of Media and Audiovisual Content, Media and Information Literacy (AMI) as well as in the issue of the rights of audiences, studies will be generated on the representation and treatment of information related to girls and women, in the news; quarterly reports of radio and television audiences with a gender perspective and a special report of the National Survey of Audiovisual Content Consumption (ENCCA) 2022 on women and girls. Conferences will also be held on the gender gap in the AMI and other spaces for dialogue will be promoted regarding the creation of audiovisual content with a gender perspective, among other actions related to audiovisual media.
It is important to point out that this Plan will not only focus on the field of STEM women, as it also recognizes the various specializations that concur in institutional work, which is why it includes intense work to promote and position IFT women experts in forums and events in which expertise is required in the matters in which they work. That is why in the invitations received by the Institute to participate in public events or activities preference will be given to women, and in internally organized forums the participation of IFT experts will be promoted at all times.
These actions will be simultaneously accompanied by a broad communication campaign in which, through the IFT’s different dissemination channels, the “Experts who Transform” will be made permanently visible.
As part of these visibility actions and in order to recognize the institutional work, a series of video capsules will be broadcast with the IFT experts, throughout the year, in which, through a brief account of its history and achievements it seeks to inspire other women and girls. This series begins today with Tania Villa, Director of Regulatory Technical Analysis of the Regulatory Policy Unit (UPR), telematics engineer, network quality expert and the first woman from a developing country to be President of the Study Commission on Quality within the ITU Telecommunications Standardization Advisory Group. The video can be viewed at the following link: https://youtu.be/2IYC0tbfTu4.
In this context, it is important to remember that, since November 2016, the IFT adhered to the
He For She international campaign of the United Nations Organization (UN Women), and from this it assumed commitments of various kinds to promote gender equality in the institution. Among these actions are the realization of studies and reports that contribute to the knowledge of the situation of girls and women in the telecommunications and radio broadcasting sector, a permanent training program on issues of gender equality and non-discrimination, and the creation of a gender microsite, among others.
Since its creation, the IFT has been an organization committed to the issue of gender equality, and consequently has conciliation policies that seek to reduce gender stereotypes.
Examples of this are: paternity leave that is broader than that established by law and the permanent program to promote breastfeeding. It also has affirmative actions through the 5th Talent Seed Call, which allocates places to be occupied by young people who have recently graduated from engineering from different universities in the country, of which 50% are destined to be occupied by women. In addition, it formed the Directory of Women Experts of the IFT, which is a tool to make women experts in the sector visible.
With the Comprehensive Plan for Gender Equality “Expertas que Transforman”, the IFT joins efforts in its commitment to reduce the gender gap with affirmative and promotional actions to guarantee the participation and development of girls, young people and women in the sectors of telecommunications and broadcasting.
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