Expert in Design Thinking and Instructional Design (Certified by the IDB).

Economist and MBA from the National University of Colombia, Master in Innovation from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

However, this effort is found to be too small if we consider that, according to the figures of the International Monetary Fund it will take us 59 years in Latin America, and 100 at a global scale, to close these gaps.

Nevertheless, when we place ourselves in high vulnerability urban or rural areas anywhere in Latin America, this assertion does not appear to be all that evident.

Working on the basis of the importance of quality education in reducing gender gaps, it is certain that the educational system plays a fundamental role in building better social environments for girls and female adolescents.

Unfortunately, our educational systems are subject to constant criticism on account of their poor response capacity to changes in global trends, curricular structures tied to old paradigms and an outdated way of developing learning, and as a social reflection, through the socalled hidden curricula, they promote a space that preserves and reproduces inequalities bound to gender stereotypes, inequitable distribution of paid and unpaid work, and even decisions on remaining in the classroom and access to higher education for women.

This is not a minor problem at a social and economic level if we take into consideration that according to the ECLAC (2016), 55 of homes include the presence of girls and female teenagers, and thus tending to their needs affects the majority of the population.

The most dramatic aspect of this situation is that premature pregnancies have increased and, in some countries, so have forced marriages.

This reality confronts our response capacity, and this is when we must be more creative with solutions: We cannot, as a region, limit ourselves to mere criticism of the educational model and the crisis in our society, we must concentrate efforts and promote actions that yield good results.

It is time to take advantage of emerging educational methods such as adaptive learning and personalization, problem and challenge-based learning, and the use of the convergence between technology and education as a tool for enhancing learning and experiences for closing gaps.

It is the only historical moment where there is a real social incentive for more women to start leading, and this will increase support for social impact companies that focus on womens empowerment and gender equality.

Never before have we had in Latin America so many and such varied programs to support the education of girls and young women.

The digital revolution also favors us, bringing an unprecedented rise of organizations and initiatives in favor of better education on key issues such as reproductive health, prevention of gender-based violence, literacy, fostering steam vocations and digital citizenship.

And it is there where the programs oriented to educate in gender equity acquire all the relevance and will maximize their effect.

We cannot ignore the enormous possibilities for change that these new generations of girls and young women bring, with the new paradigms of being the first generations incubated in the 4.0 revolution, accustomed to information overload, to greater freedom to express their opinions in social networks and with fewer limiting beliefs.

In contrast, we must also recognize their lower attention span, which means that for any educational process, we have greater possibilities of arriving with unconventional educational tools and with the wonderful challenge, for all those who develop programs, of motivating them through channels and more complex interactions.

For us, the key to change is flexible education: education has new access routes as opposed to traditional ones.

Artificial intelligence, on the one hand, helps us with personalized widespread growth and even when we have infrastructure problems, it is possible to bring programs of this type to young people through schools.

If we can take advantage of the potential of these new technologies to break down beliefs entrenched in microsexism (for example, in that certain tasks are meant for girls or that there are areas of knowledge inaccessible for a particular gender), strengthen positive masculinities and empower girls; In combination with collaborative and face-to-face methodologies, we will achieve significant progress in terms of gender education and its dissemination to traditionally unreachable sectors.

Although we are far from reaching the goal, we must see the crisis as an opportunity to redouble our efforts and reduce the persistent inequality in our region, understanding that girls and women in our countries have much to contribute in any post-pandemic scenario.

Saras Indian Serial Armenian Language