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Women’s participation in Green-STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) careers remains low. This study examined how to remove gender barriers in Environmental-STEM technical and vocational training programs, aiming to expand opportunities for women in the green economy. SENA, Colombia’s public TVET institution, served as the case study. Gender Transformative and Participatory Action Research approaches, along with the MICMAC method, were used to identify, analyze, and address key barriers. Surveys, interviews and focus groups provided qualitative and quantitative data. The MICMAC analysis revealed the relationships among barriers and their interdependencies, identifying nine core barriers. To address these, women-led smart strategies were implemented through learning cycles, supported by small- and full-scale green pilots focused on sustainable resource utilization, production patterns, and circular economy knowledge transfer. As a result, female apprentices strengthened their sustainability-focused skills and confidence, while SENA enhanced its capacity to foster more inclusive Green-STEM vocational pathways. This study expands existing knowledge by deepening the understanding of gender barriers in vocational STEM careers related to sustainability and environmental management in Latin America, where research remains Limited. It offers actionable recommendations on leveraging education to drive progress toward SDGs 4, 5, 12, and 13.
Introduction
The global environmental crisis has intensified the urgency for green economy strategies, prompting countries to develop eco-innovations aimed at countering unsustainable production and consumption patterns (de la Vega et al. 2024). Both technological and non-technological eco-innovations (Vence and Pereira 2019) require STEM skills to support the shift to green technologies and circular practices, which are critical for tackling climate change (Dong and Hue 2019). As eco-innovations are central to advancing the circular economy, transitioning from a linear model to one centered on redesign, reuse, and recycling (Garcia-Saravia et al., 2022), the demand for highly skilled STEM professionals is growing.
The green and circular economy is expected to Create 25 million jobs by 2030, fostering social transformation and justice (International Labour Organization [ILO 2022]). However, many of these jobs are in male-dominated fields that demand high-level STEM skills where women are underrepresented (Steinke et al. 2024). Engineering and TVET-STEM fields are particularly relevant fields, as they drive innovation to sustain growth for future generations, thereby fostering sustainable development (Adjei et al. 2024; Nakad et al. 2025). Technical professionals and engineers are essential to planetary health, securing clean water and addressing climate change (Oerther et al. 2024).
Nonetheless, women continue to be insufficiently represented in engineering and technology across both developed and developing countries. In Europe, female representation in academic and research roles is still low (Annette 2022; Farina et al. 2023), and in the United States, women make up only 28% of the STEM workforce (NCSES, 2023). Globally, women make up less than 40% of STEM graduates (UNESCO 2024). In Latin America and the Caribbean the share is about 41% (UNDP, 2023), though in some countries it drops below 30% (UNESCO 2023). UNESCO’s (2020), Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report shows that although women are the majority of university students in many countries, they are far less likely to pursue or remain in STEM (UNESCO 2020). Gender disparities are similarly evident in TVET-level STEM fields: in Chile, women accounted for just 19% of upper-secondary STEM TVET students in 2019, with wide variation across fields; in the Netherlands, only 13.9% of STEM TVET intake was female, and a mere 8.4% of female entrants chose STEM; in the Philippines, women comprised under 4% in automotive and electrical installation, and no more than 30% of engineering/technology graduates during the period reported up to 2020 (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2020).
Because women remain a minority of graduates in STEM fields critical to the green economy (OECD, 2023), they are underrepresented in green jobs. Globally, they hold only 32% of renewable energy jobs, 23% of water utility management roles, and make up only 38% of those considered “green talent,” underscoring a major gender gap in emerging sustainable careers (World Bank 2022). In Latin America, women occupy less than 25% of green jobs, and this proportion has stagnated or even declined in recent years (FIIAPP, 2021).
To tackle gender disparities in STEM, countries have implemented policies to boost female representation and narrow the pay gap. Examples of national policies include Brazil’s Action for Declaratory Constitutional Admissibility (ADPF) 5668, which requires public and private schools to combat discrimination and gender-based harassment (Supremo Tribunal Federal, 2024); Colombia’s Gender Perspective Laws 1761, 183, and 2117, which integrate gender equality and sexual identity inclusion in education and promote women’s participation in technoscientific sectors (Congreso de Colombia 2015, 2021, 2023); and Mexico’s Proigualdad 2020–2024 program, which supports curricular reform, fosters autonomy for girls, and implements codes of conduct against harassment in schools (INMUJERES, 2020).
These policy efforts are operationalized through strategies such as TVET ambassadors, STEM skills competitions, career guidance and counselling (Amegah 2024), mentoring programs (Boateng 2024), and active learning environments with STEM projects (Cedeño Bermello et al. 2024). They also include measures to assess gender discrimination (Kong et al. 2020), initiatives to address masculine cultures (Cheryan et al., 2025), and informal STEM learning activities, such as participation in STEM clubs and visits to research centers and factories, all aimed at encouraging women in STEM-related careers (Zhou et al., 2025). In Latin America, the EUROCLIMA + initiative and the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s 2023 report, Green Jobs: An Opportunity for Women in Latin America, advocates for a just green transition that integrates gender perspective. The report emphasizes the need for interlinked climate, labor, and social policies to address women’s low participation in green jobs (ILO & EUROCLIMA+, 2023).
This underrepresentation is closely linked to structural barriers, such as limited access to education, which prevents women from pursuing STEM careers, and masculine defaults and differential treatment, which hinder their entry and retention in STEM fields (Cheryan et al., 2025). Gender stereotypes and misperceptions further shape participation in Green-STEM fields, including the solar energy sector (Yetunde et al. 2024). Limited access to specialized green knowledge hinders women´s ability to develop the necessary occupational skills to perform green tasks, intensifying employment barriers, especially in developing regions (de la Vega et al. 2024). Equipping women with essential STEM skills to address gender disparities in environmental fields is key to enabling women and girls to benefit from the green transition and participate effectively in sustainable markets (McDougall et al. 2021; Kolovich et al. 2024).
Educational institutions play a strategic role in developing these skills, with Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) being particularly relevant for workforce preparation (Ourrad 2024). TVET should cultivate a technically skilled workforce committed to sustainability, addressing environmental challenges and meeting the demands of the emerging labor market in green industries (Pavlova 2019; Jayaprakash 2024). Furthermore, it should evolve into an educational system that promotes diversity and inclusion, advances social equity and economic empowerment, and thereby contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (Leong 2024; Chola and Kiplagat 2025). However, in many countries, TVET remains shaped by gender biases, especially in male-dominated STEM programs, resulting in low female representation and enrollment (Wignall et al. 2023). Various personal, family, and organizational barriers further limit women’s interest and persistence in science- and technology-focused TVET careers. The research aimed to answer the questions: What are the main gender barriers women face in TVET careers with an environmental STEM focus? What are the hierarchical relationships between those barriers, and which have the highest driving power and dependence? How can those barriers be addressed during the TVET training process to enhance women’s participation in the green economy?
The case study focused on the Colombian Institute for Vocational Education (SENA) as part of a project led by UAO University. SENA, Colombia’s only public institution providing free vocational training nationwide, reaches urban and rural areas, primarily serving low-income populations. The project specifically engaged with SENA’s Industrial Biotechnology Center (CBI). Seven training programs with a STEM focus and high environmental potential were selected for this study. A cross-impact matrix applied to a classification MICMAC analysis approach, supported by surveys, interviews, and focus group discussions, helped identify and understand the relationships between gender barriers. This analysis allowed to determine the barriers with the greatest impact on the progress of female trainees in Green-STEM careers, referred to as “core barriers”. From there, recommendations were generated, and actions were implemented to address them.
Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and, at the same time, among the most vulnerable to climate change in Latin America. It also faces structural challenges such as high levels of poverty, inequality, and persistent gender gaps in STEM education and access to green jobs. At the same time, Colombia has institutional strengths, notably its TVET system led by SENA, which is recognized as a regional and international reference for vocational training. This combination of vulnerabilities and institutional capacities makes Colombia a critical case for examining how gender equality, TVET, and the green transition can be integrated in developing countries. This joint consideration of three key pillars represents a fresh contribution that advances current debates on sustainable development.
This paper contributes to the expanding body of research on gender disparities in STEM by adopting a holistic approach that integrates gender, TVET education, Green-STEM skills. While considerable attention has been devoted to the barriers faced by women in STEM at university levels, far fewer studies explore the specific challenges encountered by Latina women in STEM-oriented TVET programs with a green focus. This study is organized into several sections. Section 2 outlines the methodology used to carry out the study; Sect. 3 addresses the literature review; Sect. 4 focuses on the identification of barriers through MICMAC analysis (Part 1); Sect. 5 presents recommendations and their implementation (Part 2); and Sect. 6 provides conclusions along with a discussion of the results.
Methodology
This study was guided by Gender Transformative (GT) and Participatory Action Research (PAR) principles to advance the participation of women in STEM-related TVET careers associated with green growth. The GT approach starts by identifying structural barriers that perpetuate gender inequality, such as discriminatory norms, stereotypes, and unequal gender roles. Thus, it focuses on combating the very foundations of inequalities rather than the symptoms (McDougall et al. 2021). Through critical analysis, GT aims to reshape these barriers into structures, systems, policies, attitudes, beliefs, and social dynamics that foster and sustain equality over time (Hillenbrand et al. 2015; Marcus et al. 2024). Achieving such transformative change requires collaborative action across multiple levels. This need for broad collaboration aligns well with the PAR approach, which goes beyond traditional research by embedding participation, change, and action as core elements (Walker 1993). Unlike other research methodologies, PAR is explicitly focused on engaging stakeholders in actions that lead to long-term positive change. By situating projects within real-world social issues, PAR facilitates collaborative and achievable actions aimed at a wide range of scales (small, local, large, and temporal). Thus, knowledge built by PAR is explicitly knowledge for action, used to envision and implement alternatives to address circumstances, needs, or problems caused by unequal and harmful social systems (Cornish et al. 2023).
The above illustrates that the GT and PAR approaches are well-suited to guiding collaborative projects aimed at positively transforming situations of gender inequality, which is why they were integrated in our project. Accordingly, female STEM apprentices facing gender challenges and key stakeholders with the capacity to foster inclusivity in the green economy were actively involved in the process. These stakeholders, including SENA CBI coordinators and instructors, UAO researchers, and small businesses serving as learning environments for green skill development, co-designed and implemented strategies to advance an equitable green transition through inclusive STEM education. Green skills include the technical expertise, knowledge, principles, and attitudes required for green jobs and the advancement of a sustainable economy, society, and environment (Ourrad 2024).
On this basis, the research was conducted through a single case study method framed on GT and PAR principles. Due to the inherently flexible and contextual nature of case studies, they provide a coherent framework for integrating both qualitative and quantitative methods, thereby enabling a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. This methodological combination enhances the validity and credibility of the study (Creswell and Plano Clark 2018). Moreover, the inclusion of quantitative data in case study research is particularly appropriate for reinforcing patterns or establishing causal relationships (Yin, 2018). In addition to this, case study designs are well-suited for incorporating not only qualitative and quantitative approaches, but also experimental, observational, ethnographic, and other research strategies (Gerring 2007).
This method has proven effective in examining the impact of pedagogical and curricular changes on mathematics concept comprehension ( Aravena-Díaz et al. 2022), guiding and enhancing environmental training processes in the industrial sector (Márquez 2018), and analyzing the use of ICT to develop Green STEM skills in agricultural education (Chondrogiannis et al. 2021). Additionally, case studies are widely used in gender inequality research to analyze barriers for women in ICT (Vergés et al. 2021), the intersection of gender equity with climate and sustainability issues (Bryan et al. 2024), and the influence of cultural and personal barriers on women’s interest in STEM (McCarthy and Berger 2008). In this research, “barriers” refer to the underlying “causes” that accentuate situations of gender inequality in vocational STEM careers related to green growth; these act as obstacles that female trainees must overcome in order to progress in their careers.
A review of academic literature was conducted to identify, in an initial stage, the barriers faced by women in STEM pathways. Categories were inductively derived from the literature as recurring patterns emerged across studies (Elo et al. 2014), and barriers were organized into five broad groups: family-related, socio-cultural, historical, academic, and workplace-related. Categories serve to cluster similar data (Morse 2008). At this stage, preliminary coding was applied as an organizational step, with each barrier labeled according to its corresponding category. This approach aligns with what Saldaña (2015) refers to as first cycle coding methods, which occur during the initial stages of analysis. The aim of this coding was not deep analytical interpretation but rather to provide a practical structure to prepare the data for subsequent stages of analysis.
Subsequently, in analyzing SENA CBI, the case study was structured in two parts
I. Part 1 involved a Gender Analysis conducted in three steps.
Step 1: An initial reduction of barriers identified in the previous literature review using exclusion criteria. Specifically, the process considered: (i) Similarity, referring to barriers expressed differently but conveying the same meaning; (ii) Relevance, excluding barriers that required efforts beyond the research scope to address; and (iii) Consistency with the context, excluding barriers that did not align with the social, environmental, and academic setting of the study. In line with a PAR approach, the SENA team helped filter the barriers using their contextual knowledge, which was key to identifying those most likely to emerge given the student population and institutional setting.
Step 2: Primary data collection via surveys and interviews. The questionnaires were co-designed by the research team and SENA CBI staff. Surveys targeted only female apprentices from the seven prioritized training programs, with eligibility requirements of at least three months of enrollment and being in either the academic or practical training stage. A one-stage stratified probabilistic sampling method was used for surveys, ensuring random and proportional selection based on each stratum’s size (program and stage: theoretical or practical training). The sampling process employed simple random selection, ensuring equiprobability: all women in each program had an equal Likelihood of being selected. Surveys were administered virtually through Google Forms, designed to take no longer than 20 min, and remained anonymous. Interviews were conducted face to face with both male and female instructors and academic coordinators linked to the selected programs. Selection requirements for participation included being a SENA instructor (or coordinator) with at least one year of experience in the program. Interviews had no time limit and were carried out in closed spaces, ensuring confidentiality, with only the research assistant and interviewee present.
Both instruments combined yes/no and multiple-choice questions followed up with open-ended questions encouraged participants to expand on their thoughts and ideas, providing detailed, personal perspectives on gender barriers in STEM. This approach allowed participants to share their experiences in their own words, yielding additional insights through clarifications, elaborations, and examples (Karatsareas 2022). In keeping with the PAR approach, all instruments were validated and refined with feedback from the SENA team.
Afterward, the barriers identified in the literature review were contrasted with the data collected through surveys and interviews, which makes it possible to validate them and, in some cases, detect new barriers not previously captured in the literature. For the subsequent MICMAC analysis, validated barriers were assigned a simple alphanumeric code (B1–B25) to systematize the data and enable efficient referencing in computer-assisted tools (Saldaña 2013; Miles et al. 2014). This coding system was not meant to convey thematic meaning but to serve as an operational tool for identifying and distinguishing each barrier in the software. Once coded, a focus group involving researchers and experts in sustainability and education was conducted to structure the matrix of direct relationships, assessing the influence and dependence among the 25 previously identified barriers. This step is a necessary preliminary phase before performing the MICMAC analysis.
Step 3 Application of the MICMAC method to select main barriers. MICMAC is a structural analysis tool generally used in strategic prospective studies to identify and classify key variables within a complex system according to the influences and dependencies they exert on one another (Pérez-Uribe y Vargas, 2016; Benavides Vinueza et al. 2024). Using graph theory and matrix tools, this systematic method analyzes the relationships among variables (barriers) within the system (Ahmad et al. 2019; Nazlabadi et al. 2023). Starting from the previously constructed matrix of direct relationships, MICMAC multiplies this matrix to account for both direct and indirect influences, producing a map of interrelations. This process allows researchers to distinguish between driving, dependent, linkage, and autonomous barriers. Ultimately, this classification enables the identification of the core barriers that shape the structure and dynamics of the system, providing valuable insights for decision-making and strategic planning (Benjumea-Arias et al., 2016; Arabi 2025). Studies have shown the usefulness of the MICMAC analysis in identifying barriers impacting areas such as agricultural sustainability (Barati et al. 2019); risk management in construction and transport sectors (Wu et al. 2023); sustainable production of eco-efficient products (Manjunatheshwara and Vinodh 2018); and environmental knowledge transfer with gender diversity considerations (Nassreddine 2022).
II. Part 2 focused on the development of recommendations aimed at fostering gender balance in STEM and their application within the TVET training process. To assess the effectiveness of these implementations, a pre-test and post-test evaluation approach was used, enabling the observation of changes resulting from a process in comparison to an initial observation (Arancibia et al. 2010, p. 112). Aligned with PAR principles, the research team received continuous feedback from the SENA CBI team and actively participated in the implementation and evaluation of the actions, using tailored tools to assess their impact within the SENA CBI community, primarily among female apprentices.
As observed, both MICMAC and PAR supported all research questions (Qs 1–3). PAR, through the active involvement of the SENA team, refined data collection tools, validated barriers and actions, and accompanied their implementation and evaluation. MICMAC identified the main barriers and their hierarchical relationships, highlighting those with the highest driving power and dependence, which informed decision-making on actions to address gender barriers in STEM-TVET education for sustainability.
Literature review: gender inequality in STEM
Gender still holds significance in individuals’ life choices (Nghonyama et al. 2023). The reasons why educational and occupational choice selection remains strongly segregated by gender are not yet fully understood (Kuhn & Wolter, 2022). Internal factors such as cognitive, psychomotor, and emotional abilities, along with external factors like socio-economic conditions, discouraging behavior from male instructors or employers, and motherhood challenges, influence career selection (Adams and Morgan 2021). Such factors can serve as barriers or obstacles to STEM interest and achievement, emerging at any stage from childhood and adolescence to adulthood (Alawi and Al Mubarak 2019; de Castro et al. 2024).
In STEM-TVET fields Linked to green growth, significant gender disparities persist. Men hold two-thirds of green jobs, and only 10% of women are recognized as “green talent” (United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] & Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2024). Women are a minority in emerging sectors, occupying only 32% of positions in the clean and renewable energy industry (Noronha et al. 2024). Furthermore, few renewable energy organizations, such as those in wind, solar, and bioenergy, actively prioritize gender equity (Baruah & Gaudet, 2022), reflecting ongoing challenges within the sector (Noronha et al. 2024). These disparities are driven by barriers that manifest across various dimensions, such as:
Historical barriers: since ancient times, women have faced significant challenges in accessing higher education and pursuing careers in science (Chacón-Patiño and Rezaei 2024), often relegated to subordinate roles associated with caregiving (Herman and Hilliam 2018). Consequently, female leadership in STEM remains both underrepresented and largely invisible (Kowalski et al. 2023). If women knew the history of women in science and technology, there would be strong female role models in our societies worthy of imitation or following. The lack of role models reinforces stereotypes, hindering gender equity and perpetuating exclusion.
Socio-cultural barriers: Cultural beliefs confine women to specific roles, limiting opportunities, especially in developing countries where gender disparities in education persist (Bala and Khurania 2023). Social norms, although unwritten, establish behavioral rules based on what is deemed acceptable (McDougall et al. 2021). For instance, sexist stereotypes define career paths and skills as either masculine or feminine, restricting women’s participation in academia and the workforce (Jaoul-Grammare 2024). While STEM fields are strongly associated with men, non-STEM fields are stereotypically female domains (Baltà-Salvador et al. 2024). Sexist beliefs, such as the stereotype that mathematics is a male domain, profoundly influence women’s lives and careers (Kowalski et al. 2023).
Academic barriers: Women may feel intimidated in male-dominated academic environments, fearing criticism or being stereotyped as less capable in areas like mathematics. This constant scrutiny acts as a barrier to their participation in STEM programs. Additionally, many women hesitate to enter male-dominated spaces, finding it difficult to excel in technical fields where societal norms often confine them to office roles (Struthers and Strachan 2019).
In TVET programs like construction and automotive mechanics, instructors often assign women tasks based on gender stereotypes, sidelining them from “risky” activities like welding or working at heights, and instead assigning them report writing (Sevilla et al. 2019). This approach limits women’s development of technical skills essential for their academic and professional success. Therefore, professors should ensure managerial tasks (e.g., note-taking, organizing, proofreading) are shared equally among all team members, preventing these responsibilities from falling solely on women (Bose et al. 2023).
Workplace barriers: Despite more women in STEM, institutions often fail to support their advancement or value their contributions (Starbird et al. 2024). Gender issues typically surface only when norms are challenged or rules are broken (Bohan 2011), while persistent gender segregation in workplaces continues to discourage women from pursuing STEM careers (Kowalski et al. 2023).
In male-dominated industries, men dominate leadership roles with greater training access, while women in lower positions face limited learning opportunities, hindering their advancement (Kitada and Harada 2019). This disparity perpetuates gender inequality in the labor market, restricting women’s career options and bargaining power (Bala and Khurania 2023). As a result, women often become trapped in “dead-end jobs” positions offering no career progression or significant salary increases over time (Struthers and Strachan 2019).
- Family barriers: Parental influence remains a significant factor in shaping students’ initial higher education choices. In regions where students depend financially on their parents, many face pressure to pursue stable, parent-approved careers, even when these paths do not align with their interests or talents (Hashmi et al. 2024). Women who choose to enter male-dominated STEM fields despite their families often face negative comments, attitudes, and perceptions at home (O’connell and McKinnon 2021). Stereotypes continue to be reinforced within families, excluding women from STEM and overlooking daughters’ equal right to pursue these careers (Kowalski et al. 2023). To change this, parents can spark early interest by encouraging science kits or math clubs (Lasekan et al. 2024), supporting their children’s exploration without restrictions. Mothers in STEM can positively influence their daughters’ career choices, often serving as role models (Stefani 2024). This highlights the importance of the microsystem, which includes immediate environments such as family, school, and peers, in shaping female students’ experiences and decisions regarding STEM.
Many of the barriers overlap, as they are rooted in gender stereotypes and discrimination (Perera et al. 2024). While historical, socio-cultural, academic, workplace, and family barriers highlight specific contexts, they are interconnected and reinforce each other. Gender stereotypes are transmitted throughout the life cycle, beginning early with parental expectations, such as discouraging daughters from pursuing STEM careers or assigning care roles as “natural” for women, while often attributing tasks requiring higher cognitive ability to men (Morales et al. 2024). These internalized beliefs carry over into schools and later into workplaces, where instructors and employers replicate them by assigning tasks according to gender and limiting women’s technical development opportunities (Strehl and Fowler 2019). Often unconsciously, these stereotypes are reinforced within institutions, where leaders perpetuate unequal hierarchies, neglect the need for gender policies, and thereby strengthen systemic barriers for women in STEM (Owuondo 2023). This overlap demonstrates that addressing one barrier often requires simultaneous attention to others, highlighting the need for comprehensive interventions in TVET and Green STEM education.
The Literature review identified 35 barriers that women may face when attempting to enter or advance in environmental STEM careers, spanning cultural, family, academic, and social dimensions, highlighting the complex and interdependent factors contributing to their underrepresentation in green science and technology fields (Madara and Cherotich 2016).
PART 1-Exploring gender barriers in TVET-STEM on the path to green growth
Reduction of barriers by exclusion criteria
Using predefined exclusion criteria (similarity, relevance, and consistency), the number of barriers identified in the Literature review was reduced to 25, as presented in Table 1. One barrier was excluded on grounds of relevance, as it fell outside the project’s scope: “The absence of effective co-responsibility policies regarding care work limits women’s participation in STEM education and employment”. Although acknowledged as an important structural issue, this barrier referred to the need for national government policies on shared care responsibilities such as childcare, eldercare, and household tasks, rather than measures that could be addressed within a single project or by SENA as a public institution. The resulting barriers served as the basis for constructing the interview and survey questionnaires for primary data collection.
Table 1. Barriers filtered by exclusion
Barrier | Description | Authors |
|---|---|---|
B1 | There are not enough visible female role models in STEM fields, both in academia and the workforce, particularly within the green industry | Kitada and Harada (2019); Halili and Martin (2020); Cedeño Bermello et al. ( 2024) |
B2 | Sexist and gender stereotypes define certain skills, roles, and careers as suitable for women and men, thereby limiting women’s participation in STEM careers in both academia and the workplace. | Struthers and Strachan ( 2019); Casad et al.( 2020); Kowalski et al. ( 2023); Mehranpour et al. ( 2024); Jaoul-Grammare (2024) |
B3 | Women with disabilities may feel apprehensive about pursuing STEM careers. | Burgstahler and Chang (2014); Bilen‑Green et al., (2022) |
B4 | Lack of self-confidence in girls towards mathematics, induced by social and school environment. | Martínez (2019); Clark et al. (2021); Siani and Harris (2023) |
B5 | Hidden and informal selection processes that favor male enrollment and hinder women’s entry into TVET-STEM careers. | Marsh et al. ( 2019) |
B6 | Women have limited access to information on vocational training programs with higher male enrollment. | Struthers and Strachan ( 2019) |
B7 | Women may feel hesitant to enter male-dominated academic environments, perceiving them as hostile. | Warren (2023) |
B8 | Sexist advertising materials, or those lacking an intersectional approach, impact career choice. | Sevilla, et al ( 2019); Kuhn & Wolter, (2022) |
B9 | Weak organizational and environmental policies hinder women’s participation in the green industries sector. | ADB, (2020); Verma (2024); Rani (2025) |
B10 | Stereotypes that exclude women from STEM careers are reinforced within families. | Verma (2024); Rani (2025) |
B11 | Unfounded beliefs that “machismo and limitations come from women themselves”. | Miner et al. (2018) |
B12 | Educational dropout due to various forms of violence experienced by female apprentices in their family and social contexts. | Fry et al. (2016); Beckmann (2023) |
B13 | Loss of self-confidence among trainees due to challenges in academic life. | Martínez (2019); Onyegeme-Okerenta (2021) |
B14 | Employers, instructors, or the trainees themselves may limit women’s participation in practical activities deemed masculine, which are specific to the career or job position. | Sevilla, et al. (2019) |
B15 | Female apprentices enter with low preparation in STEM subjects, which contributes to their academic deficiency in vocational education. | U.S Department of Labor, (2009); Guerrero & Stock, (2012) |
B16 | Sexual harassment in the academic environment. | Karami et al. (2019) |
B17 | Limited family support in balancing academic responsibilities and motherhood contributes to higher dropout rates. | Unesco (2020); Gustavsson (2020) |
B18 | Women’s technical skills are often underestimated, from academic training to the workplace, with a preference for men in certain activities. | Andersen (2024); Luhr (2024) |
B19 | When the majority of classmates are male, women may feel intimidated or harassed by inappropriate comments, attitudes, or behaviors directed at them. | Berdahl (2007) |
B20 | The business sector is often unaware of the profiles of TVET programs, and that women and men possess the same training and competencies. | Friderichs et al. (2024) |
B21 | Some women feel that their work is less valued compared to that of men. | O’Connell & McKinnon (2021); Lombard and Cheryan (2023) |
B22 | Lower-ranking employees often disregard instructions from female supervisors in STEM fields. | Chen and Moons (2015) |
B23 | There is a lack of training for women in technical subjects related to green industries, hindering their advancement into leadership positions. | ILO (2015); Kwauk and Braga (2017); Oblova (2024); Rani (2025) |
B24 | A lack of work experience leads to fewer opportunities for women to enter the labor market. | DANE, CPEM, ONU Mujeres, (2020) |
B25 | Women experience difficulties in making supportive networks of female leadership in the green industry and STEM fields. | Belle et al. (2014); McCullough, (2020) |
Primary data collection
The survey call was shared through institutional emails and SENA CBI digital platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp videos. It outlined the study’s purpose, participant requirements, and provided the survey Link. A total of 121 surveys were distributed to female apprentices (out of 1,002 total apprentices across seven training programs), and 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted with instructors and academic coordinators, focusing on the 25 barriers presented in Table 1.
Findings showed that 66% of apprentices identified the lack of social and family support for motherhood as a major obstacle in their TVET training. 84% emphasized that having female instructors motivated them to continue in STEM programs, while 50% of instructors linked the impoverished areas where many apprentices live to problematic family networks and a violent environment, which contribute to dropout rates. In particular, female apprentices in the “Biotechnological Processes Applied to Industry” program mentioned biases from friends and family regarding women’s performance in this field, discouraging them from enrolling. They also expressed interest in deepening their knowledge of water resource and solid waste management, and environmental regulations. Nonetheless, they showed limited understanding of key concepts critical for green growth, such as Green Industry, Circular Economy, and Good Environmental Practices. Few associated these terms with concrete ideas, such as proposals to mitigate companies’ environmental impacts.
Barriers identified through the empirical data were compared and linked to those found in the literature, validating, refining, or adjusting the latter based on new insights. This process enabled a more nuanced understanding of the barriers, integrating both theoretical and empirical perspectives to strengthen the analysis within the specific context of SENA CBI. The barriers were subsequently coded using an alphanumeric system (B1, B2, …, B25).
Structural analysis and modelling of barriers
Through a focus group involving researchers and experts in TVET education, gender, and Green Industry, the matrix of direct relationships was structured in order to assess the influence and dependence between the 25 barriers previously identified. Each expert was asked to make pairwise comparisons between one barrier and another barrier (Chen et al. 2021). A scale from 0 to 3 was used to indicate the level of influence: 0 for no influence, 1 for weak influence, 2 for moderate influence, and 3 for strong influence, as illustrated in Table 2 (Hu et al. 2009).
Table 2. Matrix of direct relationships
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MICMAC analysis
Strategic barriers were identified using MICMAC, beginning with a direct classification based on the matrix of relationships between barriers (Table 2). This was followed by an indirect classification, derived by multiplying the initial matrix ‘n’ times until it stabilized. The barriers were ranked both directly and indirectly. By comparing these rankings, the relative importance of certain barriers can be demonstrated, while also highlighting the influence exerted by barriers with indirect characteristics on the direct classification, a relationship that is not immediately evident (Villegas et al. 2020).
The interpretation of the structural analysis centers on two fundamental concepts: influence, or a barrier’s capacity to drive changes in others, and dependence, or the extent to which a barrier is affected by others. By plotting these concepts on an influence/dependence plane (Fig. 1), the 25 barriers were classified into categories: driving, linkage (key), dependent, and autonomous. Driving barriers, located in the upper left quadrant, exert strong influence with minimal dependence on other barriers. Linkage barriers, in the upper right quadrant, are both influential and highly dependent, making them unstable as they are influenced by driving barriers and, in turn, impact dependent barriers. Dependent barriers, positioned in the lower right quadrant, are highly dependent but exert minimal influence. Finally, autonomous barriers, positioned in the lower-left quadrant, exhibit low levels of both influence and dependence.
Influence and dependency analysis-direct relationships
The direct relationships between barriers enable a short-term analysis of system behavior, helping to identify the most significant barriers and their interactions. After establishing the Direct Influence Matrix (DIM), the behavior of these barriers was analyzed. A total of 213 direct influence relationships were identified, excluding 387 instances where the influence indicator was zero.
From the direct influence relationship, barriers B2 and B1 emerged as the primary contributors to gender gaps, collectively exerting an 18.1% influence on the other barriers in the short term. These same barriers (B2 and B1) are also the most affected in terms of direct dependency, showing an 18.7% dependency on the other barriers. Figure 1 illustrates the influence versus direct dependence plane, with influence represented on the y-axis and dependence on the x-axis.
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Fig. 1
Direct Influence/Dependence Plane
Based on this information, B1, B2, and B10 can be classified as key barriers in the short term. This means they have a high influence on other barriers and are highly dependent on one another. In contrast, barriers such as B3, B6, and B20 are autonomous, having little influence on the system’s behavior, and can be considered disposable in the short term.
Analysis of influences and dependencies-indirect relationships
Indirect relationships enable the analysis of barrier behavior over a medium-term time horizon, made possible through the Indirect Influence Matrix (IIM). This matrix is derived by repeatedly multiplying the DIM until the process stabilizes, reaching a point where there are no significant changes in the influence or dependence conditions of each barrier.
Similar to the direct influence relationship, in the case of the indirect influence relationship, barriers B2 and B1 remain the most prominent in exacerbating gender inequality in the medium term, accounting for a total of 16% influence on the other barriers. On the other hand, barriers B2 and B10 are the most affected by changes in the other barriers, exhibiting an indirect dependence of 15.9%. Figure 2 illustrates the plane generated by crossing influence and indirect dependence.
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Fig. 2
Plane of Influence/Indirect Dependence
In the same way as direct Influences and Dependencies, B2 and B1 can be classified as key barriers in the medium term. Additionally, and in contrast to direct Influences and Dependencies, other barriers such as B4, B7, B18, and B14 also emerge in the medium term. These barriers can be considered key barriers due to their high influence and strong dependence on the system. Barriers such as B3, B6 and B20 remain autonomous barriers or exert little influence on system behavior in the medium term.
Analysis of the direct/indirect displacements
Figure 3 illustrates the shift in the plane from a short-term to a long-term time horizon. Barriers such as B4 and B18 move from the determinant barriers quadrant to the key barriers quadrant. Similarly, B7 and B14 shift from the results quadrant to the key barriers quadrant. Meanwhile, B15 moves from the autonomous barriers quadrant to the determinant barriers quadrant. Finally, barriers like B11, B12, B21, and B22 transition from the autonomous barriers quadrant to the outcome barriers quadrant. This suggests that, by implementing strategies in the short term, barriers B4, B7, B14, and B18 will become key barriers in the medium term, gaining both high influence and dependence.
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Fig. 3
Direct/Indirect displacement plane
Based on the above, the Influence/Dependence relationships in the short and medium term align closely, suggesting a stable system where the behavior of barriers remains consistent across both time horizons. In the short term, the key barriers (highly influential and highly dependent) are B1, B2, and B10. In the medium term, in addition to the previously identified key barriers, B18, B4, B14, and B7 also qualify as key barriers. Barriers such as B19 and B23 are classified as determinant barriers and maintain their significance in system behavior across both timeframes due to their broad influence on other barriers and low dependence within the system. A total of nine barriers were identified as Core Barriers: B1, B2, B4, B7, B10, B14, B18, B19 and B23. These highlight key challenges, including gender stereotypes in science and technology, loss of confidence among female learners in STEM, and limited access for women in TVET-environmental careers to specialized technologies and technical knowledge.
PART 2-Addressing core barriers
Researchers, together with instructors and academic coordinators from SENA CBI, reflected on possible alternatives to overcome the Core Barriers. Given their diversity, it became evident that they needed to be addressed from multiple approaches, including both soft actions, aimed at theoretical knowledge transfer and skills such as self-confidence and visibility of women in STEM, and hard actions, focused on developing technical skills for operating green technologies and processes, as well as interdisciplinary support to implement comprehensive actions. SENA also highlighted that strategies should align with its pedagogical guidelines, which emphasize practice-based, active learning, and that they should be replicable and sustainable over time. This joint analysis led to the development of “smart strategies” that meet the following criteria to achieve a more comprehensive and effective impact:
Sinergy: Enabling the simultaneous implementation of various activities, combining efforts to overcome multiple barriers concurrently. This approach enables achieving more impactful results while optimizing resources, personnel, and time compared to addressing each barrier individually.
Interdisciplinarity: Promoting collaboration among professionals from diverse disciplines, from the design phase to the implementation and monitoring of strategies. Beyond cooperation within STEM fields, the collaboration between social sciences and STEM professionals is particularly valuable. This integration of knowledge enables the formulation of strategies that simultaneously develop both soft and technical skills, expanding the strategy’s impact by helping to remove barriers of various kinds. Both the social and technical perspectives are equally important and carry the same weight in the development of the strategy.
Multi-thematic: Allowing for the simultaneous exploration of various environmental topics, which opens the door for the involvement of multiple training programs or modules in the strategies, thereby expanding their reach to a greater number of learners. This approach fosters cooperation among peers, including both learners and instructors, strengthening the internal knowledge network on gender equity in Green-STEM.
Situated learning: Promoting the acquisition of knowledge alongside its practical application through collaborative learning scenarios aligned with the sociocultural context and the job roles that apprentices are expected to fulfill in the future. Real learning occurs only when it is contextual, meaning that learners can apply it in authentic activities and settings that might extend beyond the classroom (Lave and Wenger 1991), within a learning environment that provides social interaction and direct experiences (PIAO 2005). Learning that is placed in a context facilitates deeper understanding and enhances the ability to transfer knowledge to the workplace and other real-life environments (Fardanesh and Maleki 2016).
Multi-level engagement: Involving internal and external actors of the TVET institution in diverse roles to influence the gender gap in environmental STEM careers. External actors include environmental authorities, companies from polluting sectors, the community, and regional universities. Internal actors refer to members of the TVET institution at various hierarchical levels, such as apprentices, instructors, coordinators, and administrators. Actors in leadership roles facilitate strategy implementation, sustainability, replication, and scaling within and beyond the institution.
According to the established criteria, researchers and the SENA CBI team co-created various smart strategies, including the Eco-STEM Learning Cycle: From Pilot to Full Scale. This strategy focused on developing green skills (both soft and technical) through small-scale and full-scale educational pilots, leveraging eco-innovative technologies to address common environmental challenges in the regional context. Experiential learning has the potential to create an authentic learning environment where TVET apprentices engage with real problems, similar to those they will encounter in their professional careers. This pedagogical approach was complemented by additional actions, such as inspirational talks with women leaders in Green-STEM. The following section presents the implementation of this strategy in two cases: sustainable coffee production and wastewater management, integrating the defined criteria into their development. Afterward, Table 3 shows the integration of the defined criteria into the implemented smart strategies.
Case 1: The Eco-STEM learning cycle in sustainable coffee production
The purpose of this cycle, in terms of technical skill development, was to enhance trainees’ understanding and guide them in applying concepts such as Cleaner Production (CP), Circular Economy (CE), and Systems Thinking (ST). Environmental management in small rural coffee farms was chosen as the focal topic to immerse students in key environmental concepts. The learning cycle began with a series of theoretical and practical classroom workshops using a small-scale pilot model, a cardboard representation of a real coffee farm, which simulated its components and functioning. The coffee farm was conceptualized as a farm-system composed of interconnected subsystems: coffee growing and production, pig farming, a vegetable garden, fruit trees, and rural housing.
Initially, female engineers (UAO researchers and SENA CBI instructors) mentored women apprentices in analyzing failures in subsystems’ interconnections contributing to pollution. They then explained the ideal interconnections, enhancing trainees’ understanding of green practices and technologies that improve the integration of subsystems, thereby increasing both the environmental and productive efficiency of the farm-system.
After that, students applied their newly acquired knowledge through an interconnection exercise in groups using the cardboard model. The latter featured movable elements (subsystems and green technologies) that apprentices could freely position to create what they believed would result in better connections with a positive environmental impact (Fig. 4, a and b). The exercise was conducted over multiple sessions, presenting apprentices with various scenarios, such as terrains with excessive slopes and landslide risks, geographic areas and housing conditions limiting the feasibility of rainwater and wastewater management technologies, and agricultural activities generating diverse waste types requiring solutions of varying complexity. Each group had to justify their choices regarding placement and technology selection. Meanwhile, female mentors identified and corrected apprentices’ conceptual misunderstandings or technical misinterpretations, providing appropriate clarifications.
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Fig. 4
a & b Practical classroom exercise
Later, female apprentices applied environmental concepts from the small-scale pilot in real-world scenarios. Guided by female engineers, they observed, learned from, and engaged in the transition to more sustainable production models on three coffee farms. During field visits, key concepts were revisited as part of the pedagogical process, such as CE, which emphasizes resource efficiency through the 4Rs: reduce, reuse, repair, and recycle. With these foundations in mind, the apprentices applied tools like eco-maps and flow diagrams to identify environmental gaps and explore ways to repurpose waste rather than improperly disposing of it. Besides, they were actively involved in selecting and implementing green technologies to enhance the integration of subsystems within each farm-system. For example, they participated in implementing a mixed wastewater treatment system that jointly treats wastewater from rural housing and coffee production to improve pollutant removal efficiency. That is, a technology that connects the housing and coffee processing subsystems. This experience exposed trainees to various eco-innovations, allowing them to apply and expand their STEM knowledge to promote circularity through a systemic approach.
Finally, a systematic evaluation during academic field visits to coffee farms helped analyze the acquisition of Green-STEM skills. During guided farm tours, female apprentices were asked to describe the eco-innovations implemented and answer questions about their purpose, benefits (such as environmental impact, worker health, and production efficiency), and sustainability. Researchers documented the responses in a predefined evaluation format with categorical and rating scales for further analysis. To foster a relaxed environment, informal conversations between female STEM mentors and apprentices during evaluation tours facilitated open information exchange. Additionally, environmental engineering students from local universities were invited to the farms, where apprentices explained the implemented systems on-site. This approach reduced the pressure of presenting to experts while researchers discreetly assessed their responses.
Participating in real-world experiences of green transition enabled the apprentices to develop a range of STEM skills. For example, they learned to monitor basic parameters for designing and operating wastewater treatment systems (water consumption and flow rate, pollutant load, effluent variation and behavior, role of microorganisms, system cleaning, etc.) (Fig. 5, a & b). By the end of the learning cycle, all apprentices demonstrated a strong understanding of the green technologies and practices integrated into the farm systems and their role in reducing resource consumption. Additionally, 85% reported increased confidence in their technical skills, while 100% agreed that having female mentors fostered greater confidence and created a safe space to ask questions, try again, and learn from mistakes in practical and technical activities.
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Fig. 5
a Apprentices learning to measure water flow and estimate approximate water consumption; b Apprentices analyzing the operation of a mixed system designed to treat wastewater from both coffee production and rural households
Case 2: The Eco-STEM learning cycle in wastewater pre-treatment systems
The goal was to give apprentices hands-on experience with wastewater treatment and its role in water conservation. The learning cycle began with theory on wastewater pollution and contaminant removal technologies. Then, a portable pre-treatment scale model (grease trap) was developed as a versatile pedagogical tool for various training programs (Fig. 6a). The model was built with transparent acrylic to ensure a clear view of its operation, components, accessories, and connections. It was used by female engineers to conduct academic exercises that allowed trainees to deepen their understanding and application of technical concepts, including fluid separation by density, solids precipitation, flow measurement, hydraulic retention times, and system design aspects such as area calculations, section height, and free edges. During these exercises, engineers reinforced key concepts, explained the prototype’s operation, and the role of each component. Trainees actively participated by measuring and calculating variables under their mentors’ guidance. Observing how grease separated from water sparked awe and excitement, helping trainees connect theory with practice. Some remarked, “It’s fascinating to see how these technologies clean water—the grease actually separates.” Others were amazed to realize that, as environmental technicians, they could actively contribute to protecting the planet, expressing motivation to continue and excel in their TVET careers. Later, trainees visited an operational grease trap at the SENA CBI, where they analyzed its design, including its dimensions, materials, retention times, valve placement, and maintenance conditions (Fig. 6b and c).
For evaluation purposes, a pre- and post-test was administered to assess the knowledge gained by apprentices. To conclude the process, a role-playing exercise simulated an environmental authority inspection of a restaurant’s grease trap. In this scenario, researchers discreetly assessed the apprentices’ understanding as they took on the role of restaurant owners. Their task was to explain the grease trap system’s operation and detail the maintenance process to the supposed regulators (female STEM instructors). As part of the exercise, the regulators asked various questions about the system and deliberately proposed incorrect modifications. The ‘owners’ had to either accept or refute these suggestions based on their technical knowledge. This methodology not only facilitated the evaluation of skills in a practical context but also Created a more relaxed and engaging environment for the apprentices, moving away from traditional written tests. By the end of the learning cycle, 90% of apprentices accurately described key hydraulic concepts and grease trap components, demonstrating significant technical skill development. Additionally, 83% reported increased confidence in their ability to work with environmental technologies. All apprentices agreed that having female mentors was inspiring, with some highlighting that wastewater treatment is often perceived as a “dirty” and challenging field. Seeing women in this sector motivated them and strengthened their self-belief.
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Fig. 6
a, b & c Training sessions using the scaled prototype and inspecting full-scale grease traps installed within the SENA CBI campus
Throughout the learning cycles, inspirational technical talks were held, where women experts in Green-STEM fields shared their knowledge with both female and male apprentices. The experts also shared their life stories, from childhood to their current academic, scientific, or professional positions. To ensure diverse perspectives, female experts of different ages, both retired and active, and from different ethnic backgrounds were invited. This included researchers, environmental authority officials, leaders of innovation programs in private companies, and sustainability consultants, preferably local. The goal was to demonstrate that neither age nor race should be a barrier and to emphasize that careers in science and technology extend beyond laboratories, offering multiple pathways for young TVET students. The initiative also aimed to help young women see themselves in these role models’ experiences and achievements.
At the end of the talks, reflection activities were conducted using guiding questions such as: Do you feel inspired by this talk? or Do you believe women can excel in technical and environmental fields? All participants agreed that the talks demonstrated how both men and women have the potential to succeed in STEM fields. Most female trainees felt inspired by Colombian engineers who overcame poverty and family pressure to earn prestigious recognition.
Both learning cycles in Cases 1 and 2 proved to be effective ‘smart strategies’ that, by integrating the predefined criteria, successfully developed diverse skills while simultaneously addressing multiple barriers within the SENA CBI community, as shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Integration of defined criteria in smart strategies
Criteria | Case 1 – Coffee production | Case 2 – Wastewater treatment. |
|---|---|---|
Sinergy: Both cases incorporated a variety of activities while effectively addressing multiple barriers. | Through small and full-scale pilots, along with workshops and Inspirational talks with female STEM role models, the following barriers were addressed: • B1: Female engineers successfully operating and driving sustainable solutions in real-world scenarios enhanced women´s visibility as STEM role models. These engineers were from the same region, including some from ethnic minorities and low-income families, reflecting the context of most SENA apprentices. Their experiences overcoming educational and professional STEM challenges made them relatable role models for apprentices. This inspired apprentices by showing successful women who overcame similar obstacles, dispelling the misconception that women cannot excel in STEM, especially in green industries. • B2, B10 & B18: Female leadership in environmental pilots highlighted women’s Green-STEM skills, inspiring apprentices and challenging limiting beliefs. By participating in the design and implementation of these pilots led by female engineers, apprentices confronted sexist stereotypes suggesting that women are not capable of performing engineering designs involving complex calculations or implementing innovative technologies. • B4 & B14: Experiential learning pilots provided female apprentices with hands-on training, strengthening technical skills and self-confidence in safe environments. Successfully performing mathematical calculations, using environmental control devices, and operating green technologies allowed them to recognize their abilities. | |
Interdisciplinarity: Women from different backgrounds combined their knowledge to successfully design and develop pedagogical activities in the classroom and real-world settings. | Two female sociologists and four engineers (environmental, sanitary, agricultural, and civil) led knowledge transfer on Best Environmental Practices (BEP) and green technologies in coffee production, incorporating gender equity for a just transition. | A sociologist and two engineers (environmental and civil) led wastewater management workshops, encouraging female trainees to ask questions, interact, and explore green technologies in a safe space. |
Trainees recognized the importance of integrating social and technical disciplines in environmental education and transition efforts. | ||
Multi-thematic: Multiple topics were covered with different training programs. | In addition to sustainable coffee, training covered the following topics: • Environmental Monitoring Program: Wastewater treatment types, key water quality parameters, environmental regulations, and coffee effluents impacts. • SISOMA Program: Safe waste management, biological hazards in wastewater management, and microorganisms in wastewater treatment. | Additional topics on wastewater management: • Environmental Monitoring Program: Oil and grease separation mechanisms, factors affecting treatment efficiency, and proper disposal of oily waste. • SISOMA Program: Safe grease trap cleaning, spill response protocols, and strategies to reduce water pollution from oil and grease in hospitality and food processing. |
Situated learning: Green pilots were implemented or simulated in regional productive activities. | The case focused on promoting sustainable development of rural Colombia by selecting an agricultural sector of national interest. | Trainees explored and reflected on technological solutions to tackle industrial water pollution, a pressing issue at regional level. |
Both cases enabled context-based learning. | ||
Multi-level engagement: Women in and outside SENA CBI designed and implemented the project’s strategies. | From SENA CBI, participants included instructors at different ranking levels, as well as academic and research coordinators, while from UAO, researchers and consultants took part. | |
Conclusions and discussion of results
Using the SENA CBI case, this study focused on researching the main barriers female apprentices face to advance in environmentally focused TVET-STEM careers. Through the GT and PAR approaches, along with the MICMAC method, researchers and the SENA community identified barriers that could contribute to gender inequalities, both within and beyond the target community. The MICMAC method was essential to systematically and reliably identify the most relevant barriers in a participatory and organized manner (. ; Fathi et al. 2024). Nine barriers, previously identified in other studies, were confirmed as key factors influencing women’s progression in Green-STEM careers, including the lack of female role models in technical and leadership roles within the green sector (Antasya and Kersana 2024; Bhattacharya et al. 2024), limited access to environmental technologies (Humayra et al. 2024), and persistent gender stereotypes affecting sustainability-related fields (Weber et al. 2024; Moso-Diez et al. 2025). Thus, the combination of the GT, PAR, and MICMAC approaches facilitated in-depth data collection, providing a robust foundation for strategic planning to combat gender inequity in TVET STEM-related education. The contribution of each approach enabled the design and development of well-informed, grounded, and diverse strategies to address the problem (Walker 1993; Bohan 2011; Cole et al. 2014; Hillenbrand et al. 2015; Tortorelli and Arantes 2024), ultimately fostering gender balance in science and technology through more inclusive TVET programs.
The implementation of “smart strategies” facilitated the simultaneous removal of multiple barriers, enhancing the capacities of both female apprentices and the TVET institution to bridge the gender gap in sustainability-related technical careers. Researchers coincide that addressing gender disparity in Green-STEM fields requires redesigning learning tools to incorporate real-world problems, practical experience (Mei et al. 2023), and stimulating learning environments that align with the demand for green skills (Ourrad 2024). Experiential learning is one of the best learning styles when it comes to STEM education. The use of educational environmental pilots proved to be an effective experiential method for stimulating curiosity, fostering active engagement (Ujah 2024), enhancing analytical reasoning and technical skills, and strengthening apprentices’ conceptual foundations as well as their confidence (Rowe et al. 2023; Mayombe, 2024). Ensuring close collaboration with the community, in our case the coffee-producing community, was key to strengthening TVET educational processes around environmental technologies aimed at training a competent workforce (Li et al. 2023).
TVET institutions should strengthen or establish networks with enterprises across diverse manufacturing and service sectors with potential for environmental transformation, providing active learning opportunities in real, safe work environments during apprentices’ practical training. In the Colombian context, it is particularly important to forge these partnerships with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from both urban and rural areas, which represent over 90% of the country’s businesses. These organizations are where apprentices are most likely to find employment and where the need for human capital to support environmental transformation is greatest. It will be essential to select high-impact environmental topics for each sector that are relevant at the regional or global level (e.g., air emissions, wastewater treatment, water reuse, hazardous waste management), so that the Green-STEM skills developed by apprentices can be applied across sectors in their future careers.
The interaction of female trainees with diverse female role models, researchers and consultants from various disciplines and institutions, was key to promoting gender balance. Of great importance here was the flexibility of SENA CBI academic planners in fostering multisectoral and multidisciplinary external partnerships (Osadare 2023) during the implementation of smart strategies. Observing external skilled professionals operate green technologies provided female trainees with a deeper understanding of these technologies (Fardanesh and Maleki 2016). It also helped them see women, including themselves, as capable leaders in environmental technology transitions. Grande et al. (2024) emphasize that role models must be relatable, with their success appearing attainable to students aspiring to follow in their footsteps. In this vein, inviting female instructors to collaborate with external STEM experts during pilot implementation helped trainees recognize their expertise and see them as role models, reinforcing their role as STEM mentors at SENA CBI. Ebenezer et al. (2020) argue that when students appreciate their teachers’ knowledge and skills, it strengthens trust and promotes critical reflection in their STEM education.
This aligns with one of the pillars defined by UNESCO to reduce gender inequity in science, as outlined in the report UNESCO Call to Action: Closing the Gender Gap in Science (UNESCO 2024), which emphasizes the importance of making female role models visible to dismantle gender stereotypes and biases in science. To this end, TVET institutions should increase the proportion of women educators and leaders in STEM programs relevant to the green economy, ensuring that these women also represent diverse intersectional identities, including race, ethnicity, socio-economic background, and geographic origin, so that apprentices can see themselves represented and feel inspired to pursue similar pathways.
Finally, in line with FAKT Consult (2022), the researchers emphasize that TVET systems must respond to rapid advances in green technologies by reskilling and upskilling learners in green competencies while integrating a gender perspective to support a just transition. Equally important, as highlighted by UNESCO (2024), is the need for TVET instructors and leaders to receive ongoing training in gender-responsive STEM education policies and strategies at both national and international levels, equipping them with the knowledge and skills necessary to transform pedagogical approaches and institutional practices toward more equitable STEM-TVET education.
For future research, it is important to investigate how to promote more effective gender policies in STEM within companies, particularly focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries that are transitioning toward the green and circular economy. These firms require personnel with technical skills, which are often filled by men. Without supportive gender policies at the workplace, efforts made by educational institutions to train female apprentices may be hindered once they enter the workforce.
This study expands our understanding of gender equity in vocational STEM education within Latin American contexts. However, it is limited by its focus on a single case study. Therefore, the results should be interpreted cautiously, and preliminary studies are recommended before applying them in different contexts.
Acknowledgements
This research was conducted within the framework of the “Removing barriers to recruiting, retaining and advancing women in science and technology fields for promoting green industries in Colombia” project, funded by International Development Research Center, IDRC, Canada and executed by Universidad Autónoma de Occidente – UAO in collaboration with SENA CBI, Colombia. The authors extend their sincere gratitude to the financial donor. Any errors are the responsibilities of the authors.
Author contributions
P.V. led the research project, conceptualized the manuscript, and wrote the original draft. J.D.S. and V.M. supported the implementation of the strategies, collected data, and contributed to the methodology section. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
Funding
The authors receive no fund for paper publication purpose.
Data availability
No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
Declarations
Human ethics and consent to participate
To uphold ethical standards, consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study, ensuring their awareness of the study’s purpose, data usage, and their right to withdraw at any time. Data were anonymized and accessible only to authorized personnel of the project team.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Abbreviations
Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics
Technical and Vocational Education and Training
Gender Transformative
Participatory Action Research
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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