Santo Domingo. The Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC) signed the commitment letter to start the process of the seal “Igualando RD”, reaffirming its commitment to consolidate itself as a benchmark in terms of equality within the academic sector.

This seal, awarded by the Ministry of Women and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), is aimed at promoting significant changes in management and organizational culture, to universalize egalitarian practices for reconciling work, family life and staff with co-responsibility; recruitment and professional development; salary equality; inclusive communication and integrate concrete actions and policies against sexual harassment and gender violence.

The Minister for Women Mayra Jiménez highlighted and applauded that INTEC represents the first institution of the academy to enter the “Igualando RD” gender equality seal, since the academy is one of the sectors that can make the greatest contributions in training and creation of technical and professional skills, to overcome the gap in female participation in careers related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), in which the participation of women was only 16%, according to data from ECLAC 2017.

Inka Mattila, resident representative of the UNDP in the Dominican Republic, said she was excited to see the strong commitment of Dominican companies and organizations every day. “The Gender Equality Seals constitute a strong global commitment by the UNDP that it implements in support of national governments to guide companies and organizations in the systematization of a management model for gender equality,” she said.

Likewise, Julio Sánchez Maríñez, rector of INTEC, indicated that the university has promoted gender equality since its foundation, given that the academy’s charter was signed by three gentlemen and two ladies. In addition, he highlighted that more than 30 years ago the first Center for Gender Studies was founded, which is the most active in the Dominican Republic.

“55% of our enrollment is made up of women, of young people for whom there are no careers prohibited. In Medicine, Engineering, Basic and Environmental Sciences, and Social Sciences and Humanities, the feminization of enrollment is verified at INTEC, to the point that, at the last graduation, 60% of our graduates were women”, he emphasized , while recognizing the administrative vice-rector, Alliet Ortega, for leading the university to be the first higher education academy to receive the “Igualando RD” seal.

The agreement was signed by Julio Sánchez Maríñez, rector of INTEC; Mayra Jiménez, Minister of Women and Inka Mattila, UNDP resident representative in the Dominican Republic, as an observer organization. It also had the participation of collaborating staff, professors and student representatives of the university.

With the signing, INTEC seeks to contribute to the closing of gender gaps and sustainable development in the country, and to acquire an active role in the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda and its objectives, specifically the SDG 1 End of Poverty; SDG 3 Health and Well-being; SDG 4 Quality education; SDG 5 Gender Equality; SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDG 10 Reduction of Inequalities; and SDG 17 Alliances.

About seal ” Igualando RD” for companies and organizations.

The Gender Equality Seal initiative is a certification program aimed at promoting gender equality and the economic and social autonomy of women in companies and organizations with the purpose of establishing a Quality Management Model for Gender Equality in the Dominican Republic.

This model grants recognition to large, small and medium-sized companies or other participating organizations, based on their degree of compliance with the established requirements. The four levels of recognition are bronze, silver, gold and platinum.

The activity was attended by the Administrative Vice-Rector of INTEC, Alliet Ortega, who led the process of including INTEC among the signatories of the commitment letter for the “Igualando RD” Seal; also Desiree del Rosario, coordinator of the Center for Gender Studies; Natividad Espinal, director of the Student Services Department; Yolanda Salazar, Director of People Management; Anny Sosa, Director of Institutional Relations; María Luisa Ferrand, coordinator of Mobility and Gregorio Tapia, executive director of Development, Institutional Relations and Graduates.