Train young Colombian women for a career in STEM

In Colombia, women continue to face barriers to entering and advancing in STEM fields. Gender norms, socioeconomic conditions, and geographic location can shape their access to STEM education and limit their ability to take advantage of the career opportunities these fields offer.

Although women make up more than half of university students in Latin America, they remain underrepresented in STEM fields, according to UNESCO data from 2026. This gap highlights the need to expand access to relevant, affordable, and accessible training opportunities that can help more women pursue pathways into technology and build their personal and professional futures.

At Makaia, the STEM Route program helps women build the skills they need to pursue opportunities in technology, by providing training in Data Analytics, Cybersecurity, and Cloud Computing, while creating pathways for participants to continue their education and enter the technology workforce. Since 2019, 445 women from 22 departments across Colombia have participated in the STEM Route’s track 2 – the BeTek Bootcamp. Of these, 95.3% come from socioeconomic strata 1, 2, and 3, highlighting the importance of bringing these opportunities to populations that have traditionally faced greater barriers to access.

For many women, participating in the program represents an opportunity to access specialized training that was previously beyond their reach due to financial constraints or limitations from other existing programs. As María, an alumnus from the Data Analytics with Artificial Intelligence training explains: “Before the Bootcamp, I had never had the opportunity to explore the world of data and programming because most of these courses were too expensive and the format did not fit my needs.”

Specialized training can serve as a starting point for transforming and improving women’s educational and employment pathways. Before joining the program, 60% of the women who completed the training were neither studying nor working. According to the program’s data, 194 are currently employed, 53 are studying, and 8 have started their own businesses. Among those who are employed, 83.5% work in the technology sector.

These numbers reflect the real impact that STEM-related skills can have on women’s lives and careers. For Darlyn, who trained in Cybersecurity, the knowledge she gained had a direct impact on her career: “Thanks to the knowledge I gained through the Bootcamp, I was able to pass the assessment for a more specialized position and start my career one step ahead, with better income and benefits. I am now part of the service monitoring team of a multinational company.”

The STEM Route shows how expanding access to technology training can open pathways for women that once seemed difficult to reach. Continuing to expand these pathways means contributing to closing gender gaps in STEM and enabling women from diverse backgrounds to participate actively in the digital transformation and find in technology an opportunity to learn, grow, and build new and prosperous livelihoods.