“If you want to do it, you can do it. I never imagined being a crew leader”
Both women were part of the Seed Plan, a program created by Enel Colombia and SENA, which identifies and trains skilled labor, thus providing an opportunity for vulnerable young people to have a technical career in electrical networks and to get ahead in life.
The first all-female crews in Colombia
Given that in the first promotion of the Seed Plan program only 1% of participants were women, for the second semester we decided to encourage more women to enroll. For this purpose, we had our engineers make a call for students. As a result of this strategy, in the third promotion we managed a 40% increase in the number of women in the program, and last year the first all-female and mixed crews went out to the streets, something that had not yet occurred in the country.
“I feel very empowered, because I am the one helping my children head ahead in life, all thanks to the job opportunity I have been given”
At Enel Colombia, we are convinced that diversity enables more powerful, complementary teams with different visions that generate better and more innovative ideas. We promote and practice gender equality, thus empowering women and offering them a better quality of life. We have striven to eliminate the wage gap between men and women, and offer women opportunities for education, work and business leadership.
“To feel that you can dream and get to where you want, regardless of your gender, is a wonderful thing and it is what motivates me most to work in this company. Here I feel respected, they ask me, they take me into account, they have me as a reference for many things. Here people are valued as human beings,” says Dora Alba Ruge, who was raised in a matriarchy, and who joined the company as Customer Service Supervisor to lead a team thinking that she would only do so while she completed her school thesis and graduated. She was unfamiliar with the sector, but she arrived willing to learn. 31 years later she is the Assistant Manager of the Bogotá Operating Unit at Enel-Codensa.
Empowered and prepared women
Actions in favor of gender and labor equality take time to produce results, since they require educating a society that has culturally suffered profound biases in terms of gender differences. Progress is seen over time.
Today 32% of our leadership positions are held by women. All succession plans include at least one woman, and 50% of them are already prepared and ready to occupy that position.
This is a priority issue for the organization. And it allows women who work here to dream, set goals and get to where they want.
We inspire girls to become successful women
“If you want to do it, you can do it. Nothing is impossible,” is the message given to her daughter by civil engineer Yamile Sáenz, Deputy Manager of Maintenance and Technical Services at Enel-Emgesa, who has worked with the company for twenty-two years.
It is the perfect example of someone who, being in a company that empowers her as a woman, has the possibility of conducting a very successful career and also of having a home with children and a husband.
“The company has fostered in me that ability to react to the challenges faced in a male-driven environment with complex jobs. The company empowers to a point where the only option is to challenge yourself, do the job and get ahead. Here the key thing is the support that all the leaders have given me; Full support throughout my career”
This generates a very positive influence over people in the organization, their families and society, because whenever a girl sees a crew in the streets getting on a lamppost to perform maintenance work, we are sending the message that her dreams can come true. This is how at Enel Colombia we contribute to the development of communities and the country, providing women with tools to continue building a successful future.
#TheEnergyOfDiversity