Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC): Development of women in the university

Universities play a fundamental role in addressing the challenges in terms of equity and ensuring the same conditions of access, development and participation for men and women. In this line, in 2019, and after a process of reflection based on work commissions, the Directorate for Gender Equity was created at UC, with the mission of promoting equal opportunities for men and women in the academy. and in the educational project. “The incorporation of gender equity in the educational project is a key factor of transformation and a necessary bridge for the cultural change of our society,” says the rector Ignacio Sánchez in a column published this Wednesday by La Segunda.

“We have commemorated a new International Women’s Day, which in universities represents a special day, due to the proposals and development plans to encourage and support the tasks and challenges of women in our institutions. At UC, respect for the dignity of people and the full development of all members of the community is a founding principle of our mission. In this line, in 2019, and after a process of reflection based on work commissions, the Gender Equity Directorate was created, with the mission of promoting equal opportunities for men and women in the academy and in the educational project, fostering the development of conciliation and co-responsibility between the personal, family and work dimensions.

“At UC, respect for the dignity of people and the full development of all members of the community is a founding principle of our mission” – Rector Ignacio Sánchez.

Universities play a fundamental role in addressing the challenges in terms of equity and ensuring the same conditions of access, development and participation for men and women. In this framework, the incorporation of gender equity in the educational project is a key factor of transformation and a necessary bridge for the cultural change of our society. Gender equity is a challenge in which we must be involved and involved, regardless of our role and our work at the university. This equality of opportunities, -what we commonly refer to as gender equity-, has been strongly affected by the Covid-19 pandemicthat we have experienced in recent years. Thus, there has been an increase in the gaps in care, both for boys, girls, older adults and sick people, a situation that leads us to reflect more carefully on the structural inequities that are present today at the national and international level. .

We have set out to address gender bias in training, promote reconciliation between work, personal and family life and jointly build, through training programs and plans, a more equitable culture for the UC community. Along with this, we want to develop institutional capacities to promote gender equality in innovation, development and entrepreneurship. We trust that these measures will substantially contribute to equalizing opportunities and developing diverse talents, with the consequent generation of spaces for the production of knowledge. Along these same lines, there are initiatives to summon the university community to commit to the country’s challenge towards greater equity,

“Gender equity is a challenge in which we must be implicated and involved, regardless of our role and our work at the university” – Rector Ignacio Sánchez.

Higher education institutions are enriched by the diversity of their members, who contribute from their own characteristics to the formation of a common project. Diversity as an ethical principle and respect as a practice of that horizon originate the challenge on which we want to advance as a community, generating sustained dialogues that allow us to grow as a university. We have worked to make this commemoration a milestone to continue paving the way towards a more just, equitable Chile with equal opportunities for men and women, which will allow us to continue working collaboratively, and thus move towards a better university at the service from the country”.