Statistics of women graduating from non-traditional professions

The UNESCO report (2019, with 2017 data) on girls' and women's education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), mentions that education in these subjects can provide those who study them with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors necessary to create inclusive and sustainable societies.

Professor Aileen Estrada, from the University of the Sacred Heart, one of the authors of the study "Factors that affect the decline in the proportion of male students in higher education in Puerto Rico: The perspective of 4th year high school students," published in 2013, indicated that throughout the island the percentage of women studying in universities is higher than that of men. According to the Statistical Compendium on Higher Education in Puerto Rico for the 2019-2020 academic year, that year 62% of the graduates were women and about 21% graduated from STEM-related areas.

Graduates in STEM-related areas 2019-2020

One of the most outstanding women in STEM in Puerto Rico is Eng. Lucy Crespo, the first woman to lead the Association of Industrialists and current CEO of the Puerto Rico Trust for Science, Technology and Research. In an article published by dpl news on the occasion of the Women Economic Forum (WEF) focused on the Caribbean and held on the island in 2021, the expert warns of the need for women to integrate into STEM careers. This need was reflected in the U.S. Department of Labor's future employment statistics, which anticipated that from 2021 to 2024 only 30% of the seven million STEM-related jobs that would be created would be filled.

"We are talking about artificial intelligence and machine learning, but another area we have to talk about is 'advance manufacturing', which is everything that is printing in three dimensions. This is something that is revolutionizing everything, even for businesses that are just starting out, which no longer need a large inventory because they produce it at the time they need it, as well as in digital work and medical schools," she stressed.

Other emerging technologies that are an opportunity for women include:

·        geographic information systems

·        virtual reality, which, according to Crespo, is becoming a significant tool for training, designing, and even entertaining

Data Science