Although more and more women are taking up technical and technological careers and degrees - and Emergya perceives this -. The truth is that certain technological specializations related to the R&D field are showing that there is still a long way to go to increase the presence of women in this area. 

This matter is reflected in a study conducted by the University of Cyprus at the request of the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, which shows that, worldwide, only 12% of women are involved in Artificial Intelligence and 20% in cybersecurity. These are just a few examples of the professional situation from a gender perspective in these new sectors. In these situations, women will have to make their way - as they have already done and continue to do - in the technological field.  

At Emergya, we are fortunate to have women in our R&D teams. However, in line with the conclusions of the previous study, their percentage is low, as only 8% of the people who make up the team are women. In this article, we will try to get a little closer to them and find out their interests and concerns and why they are attracted to everything related to R&D. 

One of the main attractions of this type of project for our female colleagues lies in their interest. As is being able to look for solutions to everyday problems or to improve already automated processes. "R&D projects always force you to stop, think and make you consider different ways of tackling problems. They also make you ask questions you haven't faced before, which makes your mind always active. It's exciting." says Huaxia Liu, web application developer. In this sense, Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning are among the technologies of choice. The reason why is because of the way they behave and the solutions they offer. 

This interest in investigating alternatives arose in different ways in each of them. In the case of Ariadna Díaz, a full-stack developer, these interests began to take shape when she was just a child: "In my family, we have always been very fond of new technologies and we have always been up to date. I was also used to reading articles about innovation in informative magazines such as 'Muy Interesante' or 'Quo'. I was excited to know how far we could go," she says.

Aware that, as women, they have a long way to go. Not only for the mere fact of being a woman but also because tradition is still quite strong in the technology sector. They consider that women, like male colleagues, have characteristic and innovative points of view that can contribute a lot to the results proposed. In fact, working at Emergya, they assure that at all times they have felt supported by the professionals who worked side by side with them: "I have always been one of the team and I have never seen or heard any behavior or comment that could have made me feel bad. On the contrary, I have always felt supported by my whole team", says Cinta Garrido, Javascript developer.

They also feel that at the technological level the challenge is the same for both women and men: "For me, the challenges are the same as those faced by my male colleagues, mostly researching technologies to provide solutions to relatively abstract approaches," concludes Huaxia.

"The R&D field within the technology sector is one of the most attractive and ambitious. As it is the source of many of the new tools that make our daily lives easier. That is why women must be there and participate in it, thinking, designing and contributing their perspective. At Emergya, where the percentages are gradually approaching parity, we are still far from achieving our goal (we currently reach 30% of women). R&D still needs a push in this direction. The reality is that the presence of people in these teams is not based on gender, but on the specialization of the profiles. However, we must be aware of this gap and try to reduce it.  We are not only looking for this objective for our egalitarian goal, but also for the good of the initiatives and products that come out of the work of these teams", concludes Pilar Choza, head of HR and Communication at Emergya.