I found in a 1998 magazine an article written by the first woman in the Electrical Engineering career at the University of Cuenca, I found it motivating and nice to know her story, I hope you like it.

"At the beginning of the 70s, in Cuenca - Ecuador, still a conservative city, slowly opening up to new trends, it was difficult for women to venture into eminently male areas, so my decision to study Engineering created concern and expectation around me. Some friends thought that I better get married, most said I was crazy and my father supported me unconditionally. The comments were not without their reason. Educated for 12 years in a religious school, graduated in accounting, my preparation for my chosen career left much to be desired. In math I dominated factoring and with the calculation of simple and compound interest no one competed with me at school, in physics i only knew his name and for drawing i was completely useless; besides, i had never used a rapidograph before. Fortunately, today the computer makes perfect circles where the union is not perceptible and you don't have to taste the ink to unclog the 0.1.

At the beginning of classes we enrolled approximately 500 students in 6 parallels, being me the only woman. My daily coexistence in the male environment was a completely new experience for both me and my colleagues. The first few days we had to get to class very early because there weren't enough desks; after the 1st exams, the classroom was already comfortable and for the 2nd cycle there were only 2 parallels. I was fortunate to be a classmate of a group of graduate students at the Salesian Technician high school, the so-called "thugs", who welcomed me in their study sessions and with whom I finished my degree.

My life linked to Electrical Engineering was becoming more complex every day, becoming so intimate that one day I got stuck to some energized conductors and almost got electrocuted, with the consequent fright of classmates and teachers; jokes and occurrences came from everywhere. As the days went by, while I continued my career, I felt completely identified with my future profession.

Already graduated, the free exercise perhaps seemed a little easier to me. To my amazement, the people of my own generation were the most reluctant to accept me, some commented: Woman!! NO! There is no contract! It was my parents' generation that naturally integrated me into society as an engineering professional; As it happened at that time that those who had money to hire were mostly the "old people", many doors were opened for me that with a lot of work, perseverance and sacrifice have remained open.

The University of Cuenca provided me with solid foundations to perform in the competitive world of Electrical Engineering, so I took advantage of this opportunity, colleagues who made my graduation as an Electrical Engineer possible in January 1980.

In all areas of coexistence we have women, mothers, wives, daughters, companions, and these days leaders playing a preponderant and indispensable role. Women are the fundamental pillar of society, and are also the rock on which the family is founded.

But this reflection is not only for the woman-mother, it is for those who study despite the years, the companions, those who love their son even though there is no father, the one who observes and is silent, the one who smiles, the one who she works with a son on her back, the one who shouts justice in the street; the one who works even if they tell her it's men's work... Blessed is the one who realized that the world is shared between men and women, and blessed was the man who knew how to understand it, blessed as Gabriela Mistral used to say when speaking of the wawas, without whom there would be no world. the 20th century demands leaving the medieval walls of machismo. Yes, leave them, because they do not think that they have been left behind; they are here, in our Latin America, next to you, at home.

Here it is worth emphasizing the great actions that many women have been carrying out in recent times. Among them, ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING"

The story above refers to Engineering. Gina Machuca Rendon.

Source: 25 years magazine, School of Electrical Engineering, January 1998.

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