Female labor participation in Chile has undergone significant changes in recent decades. The pandemic effect resulted in one of the most significant economic setbacks in terms of employment, where the women’s participation rate regressed a decade, reaching 47%.
When analyzing the gender gap by productive sector, there are sectors that show lower participation by women. For example, in mining, according to the March 2024 indicators from the “Gender Indicators Monitoring,” female participation reaches only 18%, making this sector recognized as highly “masculinized.”
And it is precisely this paradigm that Dana Calderón from the Coquimbo Region wants to break. “In the region, we have wide recognition in mining, which has caught my attention and inspired me to make this big decision to study this career, especially because little by little, women are being included in these fields,” says the student who entered Mining Technician at AIEP this year.
Luksic Scholarship – More Women in STEM
With the aim of seeking support for her studies, Dana applied for the new More Women in STEM Scholarship from the Luksic Foundation, whose application was made in alliance with technical training centers and professional institutes: INACAP, Santo Tomás, Duoc UC, and AIEP. The scholarship will provide $150,000 monthly to 100 women from all over Chile studying technical careers related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
“Many women face economic difficulties to access and remain studying in higher education, and evidence shows that gender gaps are even greater in those careers that offer better employability and salaries, such as those linked to the STEM field. That’s why we want to support concretely the students who choose this path because we are convinced that through education, people can improve their life trajectories and thus also contribute to the development of Chile,” explained Isabella Luksic, general manager of the Luksic Foundation.
The scholarship is freely available, so the selected candidates will have the autonomy to decide how to use the benefit according to their individual needs, for example, to complement the purchase of study materials, caregiving tasks, food, clothing, transportation, extracurricular activities, among others.
Scholarship Winners from North to South
This month, Dana received the news that she is one of the 100 selected to receive this support. “I am super motivated to study this career and very happy for this support, I am sure it will be a great experience, where I hope to learn more and achieve the great goal of being part of our country’s great mining family,” says the winner.
The regions with the highest number of winners are Metropolitan (25%), Valparaíso (14%), Biobío (9%), and Coquimbo (9%), and the age range of the winners is between 18 and 59 years, with students between 20 and 22 years old predominating (26% of the total). On the other hand, 41% of the scholarship winners are mothers, 67% declare themselves as the main household breadwinners, and 68% work in addition to studying.
Parallel to the scholarships, the Luksic Foundation launched the campaign “Women who can do everything,” which was joined by another 20 organizations and companies committed to raising awareness about the importance of promoting and highlighting female participation in STEM. The website www.mujeresquetodolopueden.cl gathers testimonies from leaders, students, teachers, and professionals who have developed in this field; in addition to disseminating news and opportunities in these fields.
