

Mexican.VC and El Gran Kun - cesarsalazar12
http://fernandasthinkingspot.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/46/

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pedrogk
Reading this post makes me think about something I've seen about the (nascent)
ecosystem of startups in Mexico (and Latam): There is good participation of
women.

And before you take out the numbers and statistics and prove me wrong, I am
not talking from a statistical point of view. It is more of a gut feeling
(possibly a hope). All I know is that: \- In all of the startup weekends that
I have gone in Mexico, there is usually an important participation of women,
where they usually feel comfortable and stand out. \- Some of the most
distinctive characters in the community are women, like Celeste North, Rocio
Paniagua and Ophelia Pastrana in Mexico. Bedy Yang in Brazil and Vanessa K in
Argentina.

And this participation doesn't happen in a segregated manner like in other
countries (women-only initiatives, women-only events, etc).

~~~
andrewcooke
not sure if this is related, but something my (female, astronomer) partner has
commented on in the past is that the more traditionally "macho" societies (s.
europe and latam) have (proportionally) more female astronomers (and perhaps
other scientists) than the "more equal" western countries. she doesn't know
why, but i think may have suggested once that it could be because they
traditionally give more "space" to women, while in the usa / uk, women have to
compete more directly with men (and since men are in the majority, the game is
framed in male terms, and men therefore tend to win).

so a rephrasing of the last point is that it is in fact something similar to
the "women-only" segregation, in a sense, but more deeply ingrained in the
culture...

of course, the interpretation is pure speculation, but i am pretty sure she's
right on the numbers.

