SAP Mexico Advances Gender Equity Strategy

SAP Mexico is strengthening its gender equity and female leadership strategy by linking diversity initiatives with digital transformation to address the technology talent gap intensified by AI. Although women represent 57% of professional degrees in Mexico, they remain underrepresented in technology jobs.

SAP Mexico is working to consolidate its gender equity strategy. The corporation is integrating diversity policies with digital transformation objectives to mitigate the talent gap in the Mexican technology sector generated by the changes AI is creating in the workforce. 

"While we have more technology, leadership must be more human," says Paola Becerra, President, SAP Mexico. "This industry needs passion, strategic thinking, and execution. It is not indispensable to be an engineer; vision and the capacity to solve problems are required."

In the technology sector, gender equity is an economic and strategic imperative. In 2022, the World Economic Forum (WEF) revealed that 60% of global Gross Domestic Product was already in the process of digitalization. In this scenario, the distinction between technology corporations and traditional companies disappears, as the adoption of digital tools determines the capacity to remain in markets such as manufacturing, retail, and financial services.

Mexico’s Ministry of Public Education (SEP) indicates a quantitative advance in female professional training. In 2025, women represented 57% of the professional titles and licenses issued in Mexico, which is equivalent to a registration of more than 1.1 million academic degrees. This rate of female participation in higher education suggests a base of available talent that, however, is not yet fully reflected in the labor force of the technology sector.

Data from UNESCO indicates that the female participation in the global technology industry remains at 28%. In Mexico, data from INEGI confirms that women occupy about 30% of jobs in technology, with a significantly lower representation in research or senior management roles. The disparity is more acute in specific disciplines such as mechanical engineering or computer science, where female enrollment often falls below 20%.

The OECD and the McKinsey Global Institute maintain that equitable integration in areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) increases productivity and innovation. In Mexico, professionals in STEM areas earn an average of 24% more compared to other sectors. Nevertheless, women only occupy 13% of total STEM jobs and 15.5% of positions in the information technology sector. This underrepresentation constitutes a loss of strategic intellectual capital for the development of the country in the 2026 horizon.

Mario Delgado, Minister of Public Education, attributes the advances in degree registration to policies that promote gender equity and the modernization of administrative processes. Delgado says that the greater presence of women in scientific and technological areas strengthens innovation, competitiveness, and sustainable development. Despite these advances, structural gaps persist that limit the transition from the classroom to the high-level corporate environment.

Laura Tamayo, Director of Public Affairs, Communication, and Sustainability, Bayer, notes that the low presence of women in STEM is not only a persistent inequality, but also an economic and strategic loss for the country. 

Tamayo recommends four strategic actions for 2026: integrating scientific education from primary school, establishing mentorship and scholarship networks, implementing inclusive labor policies in strategic sectors, and ensuring the meaningful participation of women in innovation ecosystems.

SAP Structure and Inclusion Programs 

To address these disparities, SAP Mexico has structured an internal operation that manages more than 1,300 employees under a framework of diversity and inclusion. The corporation applies global policies adapted to the local market, including equal pay programs, technical mentorship networks, and quantifiable objectives for female representation in management positions.

The inclusion architecture of SAP is based on employee networks designed to optimize the work environment and promote continuous professional development. It includes:

• Business Women’s Network: This network focuses on gender equity through training and mentorship programs to accelerate the growth of female collaborators in the corporate hierarchy.

• Cultures@SAP: This is a network dedicated to multicultural integration, facilitating collaboration between employees from various national backgrounds.

• Enabled@SAP: This initiative is oriented toward accessibility and the inclusion of people with disabilities in the work environment.

• Pride@SAP: This structure promotes visibility and support for the LGBTQ+ community.

• Autism at Work: This specialized program facilitates the labor insertion and technical support of people on the autism spectrum.

These initiatives are developed in a moment of skill reconfiguration. According to projections from the WEF, six out of 10 workers will require reskilling processes before 2030. The competencies with the highest projected demand for the end of the decade include analytical thinking, resilience, creativity, and social influence. 

SAP Mexico integrates these requirements into its organizational culture to ensure that its human capital maintains relevance in the face of the acceleration of AI. McKinsey estimates that 50% of current work tasks will be impacted by automation, which requires a transition toward leadership with greater strategic capacity and systemic vision.

Becerra emphasizes that continuous learning is no longer optional, adding that the world is undergoing a change where the only limit is the one that has not yet been decided to be broken. 

Curiosity in science and computational thinking must be nurtured from elementary school with projects that show how technology can solve real problems, says Carlos Marcel, General Manager, Kyndryl Mexico. These types of initiatives are fundamental to ensure a constant pipeline of female talent toward the information technology sector.

Similar corporate initiatives in Mexico, such as Solve for Tomorrow by Samsung Mexico and the internal mentorship networks at Merz Aesthetics Latam, seek not only to enhance technical training but also the visibility of women in scientific leadership roles.