MATILDA Latin American Open Chair: An international cooperation initiative to increase women in engineering

Participation of women in engineering fields has been acquiring a global perspective of primary importance in society. However, women have less presence in STEM areas than in other disciplines, such as education, health, social sciences, and arts. Incorporating women into engineering is a long road, which requires first, unfailingly young women with a deep passion for these careers and a strong will to pursue their university careers and achieve a professional degree. It is precisely with this motivation that the Latin American Open Chair “Matilda and women in engineering” (CAL Matilda, for its acronym in Spanish) arises, a regional cooperation initiative for increasing women in engineering. CAL Matilda represents a joint effort of three founding governing institutions: the Federal Council of Deans of Engineering of Argentina - CONFEDI, the Colombian Association of Engineering Faculties - ACOFI and the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions – LACCEI. Their objective is to create an academic space for debate, reflection, collective construction of knowledge, teaching, research and carrying out activities that stimulate and promote equal rights, opportunities, and spaces for women in the academic and professional fields, and for the promotion of engineering vocations in girls and young people in Latin America and the Caribbean.