Hay Mujeres: Putting Smart Chilean Women in the Spotlight

SANTIAGO — After being asked several times to take part in panels at TV shows, Fernández noticed that she was usually the only woman in the room.

Journalists and producers kept telling her that there were no women who knew enough about subjects like politics, religion and health, among others, to deserve a place in the spotlight. She begged to differ.

With that issue in mind, she founded Hay Mujeres, an NGO that hopes to make smart and talented women visible to the public. These experts work in diverse fields such as politics, anthropology, math, biotechnology and much more.

Hay Mujeres’ website features a search engine where you can find the names, CVs and contact info of the ladies. It is a very useful tool for journalists and one that I Love Chile hopes to use more of in the near future.

Fernández gave a presentation on the NGO on May 27 at the International Professional Women Association (IPWA)’s monthly event, held at Maison de France.

It was a great opportunity to learn more about this project but also to discuss why it is important for women to be leaders. Fernández has the data to back it up. She calls it “the missing link:” the fact that there is little female representation in thought leadership.

It is a paradox: we are being fed information about how the economy is slowing down and at the same time there is data that shows the positive changes women have made when given the change at power positions. Fernández feels like there is a solution there.

The data she has under her wing shows how GDPs would grow if there was gender equality and how countries would overall grow economically if there were 10 percent more women taking part in government. What is stopping this from happening?

Chile has an average of working women which is slightly smaller than the rest of Latin America. According to Fernández, “the issue is not visible and it is our fault as women as well. We have to reflect on this problem.”

Although Chileans may think they have come a long way, the truth is that it is a men’s country led by a woman. Bachelet’s journey is an exception and not a norm.

There are also much more male journalists in Chile. Young women need strong female role models but those are hard to find.

So how to stop this inertia? Fernández thinks some change is being made by certain United Nations campaigns, theInternational Monetary Fund’s president Christine Lagarde and also by women who are conscious of their invisibility.

And Hay Mujeres, of course. Putting female experts in the limelight is a great way for both men and women to understand that smart comes in different genders.

After Fernández’ presentation, the attendees at IPWA’s event had the opportunity to discuss among themselves the issues women face on a daily basis.

We sat down in tables of five and we discussed three different topics. The first one was “Tell about a time when you felt completely included as part of a group and your gender didn’t matter at all.”

This was hard. In my table it was evidently easier to talk about those times were being a woman was an issue. The college years we all agreed was the time when we felt included. The workplace, however, felt like a challenging scenario for all the females in my table.

We had papers and markers to doodle and take notes while we listened to each other. This provided a more relaxed atmosphere and it felt easier to talk to the other ladies.

The second question was “How do you envision we can create a more equal presence of women in thought leadership in Chile?”

Women across the room discussed quotas, family values, community outreach programs and inequality, among other issues. It was difficult coming up with ideas and therefore very important.

The night ended with the question “What is your biggest take away from these dialogues?” Some felt sad after thoroughly discussing the situation women are in. However, in the end we all realized how important this conversation was: just the fact that we are talking about these issues makes them more visible.

About the IPWA

IPWA is a non-profit organization of English-speaking women interested in professional and personal development. Their goals are:

• To build an international network of working and non-working professional women.
• To present forums and guest speakers related to professional, personal, and cultural development.
• To offer opportunities for networking among our members.

They organize monthly meetings for members and guests with different speakers every month, as well as a variety of social events throughout the year. Please direct any questions about the organization to info@ipwasantiago.org. More information is also available on their website.

Publicado en ILoveChile.cl