Ternium highlights the achievements of five women who have demonstrated their strength and capacity for high performance in Latin America.
From operations to admin, Ternium employs women who are a shining example for their peers to follow and whose efforts are worth acknowledging.
The company is working continuously to reduce gender gaps and provide opportunities and spaces which are as equitable as possible in an industry traditionally dominated by men.
Maribel Cala, passionate about studying and circuit training
Maribel is the only women Electrical Maintenance Inspector at the Ternium Palmar Industrial Center in Varela, Colombia.
When she joined the company almost three years ago, she never imagined that her job would take to the dizzying heights of a crane cabin. Now she handles the challenges of putting on a harness and shimmying up a vertical twelve-meter ladder into the air to get on a crane every day to perform maintenance tasks, a high-risk job that requires major dedication to each movement and extreme precision in its execution.
Maribel runs the equipment inspections and predictive maintenance work for eight cranes, as well as for the water treatment unit at the heart of the plant, the transformers and main substation, involving all kinds of tasks from checking motors to making sure that each electrical circuit works properly.
"My job is extremely demanding in terms of the responsibility involved, because these inspections are vital to preventing operations from stopping, or equipment or machinery from breaking down, and particularly important when it comes to preventing accidents," explained Maribel.
In fact, Maribel ended up in this job because she was passionate about numbers. From a very young age, she was a keen student, beginning her studies as a technician and technologist in electromechanics before graduating as Mechatronics Engineer. However, not yet satisfied with everything she knows, she is currently finishing a degree in Electrical Engineering.
For her, ongoing study and learning are key to aspiring to new opportunities and to personal and professional growth.
“I like the fact that Ternium actively contributes to inclusion, that there is no labor bias and that we can hold positions normally occupied by men. I’m used to working with men because there have never been many women choosing this area of work, ever since I started studying,” she explained.
"I feel that here in the company there are no differentiations and colleagues are very respectful."
Cristina Rodríguez, a leader in vaccination
In April 2021, Ternium and the Clinica Nova Hospital set up a COVID-19 vaccination module, to support Mexican federal, state and municipal authorities at this stage of the pandemic. Cristina, Nursing Supervisor at the Clinica Nova Hospital and Coordinator at the Vaccination Center, has been running the community support sessions held at this vaccination point in San Nicolás de los Garza.
“The success of this module has been entirely due to all the teamwork keeping it going, from the medical, administrative and nursing management side of things, as well as thanks to the corresponding authorities. All of this is transmitted to the staff, which helps us when it comes to sorting out any situation that may arise,” explained Cristina, who graduated as a general nurse from the University of Monterrey and currently has over twenty-three years of experience at the Clinica Nova Hospital.
Cristina added that values such as leadership, empathy, responsibility and perseverance have been an essential part of this project.
“It gives me great pleasure to see women and men working together in different jobs. I’m convinced that this is not about gender, but about ability and knowing how to work as a team,” she stressed.
So far, the center has been a success, as it has administered more than 260,000 doses, and at this point it has virtually become a fixed vaccination post, meaning that anyone can get their jab from Monday to Friday on the day and time of their choice, from February 22 to March 31.
Empathy as the key to her success for Virginia Pérez
Virginia is an Industrial Engineer working as a Supply Chain and Operations Coordinator at Ternium Nicaragua. She’s another example of how much female disruption has achieved in Ternium Central America and she claims she’s never felt any gender bias at work, since she began as Analyst Order Manager, on June 14, 2017.
Virginia says she’s open to change: “I really like tackling the challenges I get,” and adds that she’s passionate about her work and is sure of her abilities. "We are multifaceted and can achieve everything we set out to do."
She also likes to work directly with people and establishes herself as empathic: "I tend to relate very well to all kinds of people, and I think that’s been part of my success."
Fernanda Figueredo, maternity in the industrial field
The Construction Engineer Fernanda Figueredo spearheaded the project to build the women's locker room and the lactorium at the Sidercrom Plant—when she was pregnant herself! On November 11, 2021, her son Lautaro was born, and as a current user of the new lactation room at the Savio Plant, she’s quick to recognize the advantages of having these spaces to enable women to breast pump before getting back to their work schedule at the Plant.
Her boss Germán Catalá, Director of Construction, also regularly took part in the plant’s mentoring sessions, and Figueredo points out that one of the advantages of taking part in the Maternity Mentoring program organized by Ternium was that it enabled her to find a space for reflection. It encouraged her to identify scenarios that otherwise would have been difficult to pinpoint on a day-to-day basis. And these moments also offered her an opportunity to reinvent herself as a professional, allowing her to know and identify those areas needing improvement and tackle them when she returned.
“Both the company’s leaders and my work team played a fundamental role in accompanying me on my return, for example, being attentive to my need to use the lactorium twice a day. These facilities means my son can continue to have breast milk, which was always something very important for me,” claims Fernanda.
Livia Santoro, an example to follow
Livia Santoro has been working in Ternium Brazil since 2008, hired to begin with as an assistant when the project was in its early stages, in a temporary position. She studied accountancy at college and this enabled her to apply for a post as an analyst when the vacancy was advertised internally. Since then, Livia has developed her career in the area of accounting and is currently the coordinator of the Reporting area.
The opportunity to apply for the job of coordinator came just two weeks before she was due to go on maternity leave, in July 2021. It’s terrific to have the chance to serve as an example for other women and see how Ternium takes special care of the mothers working here,” she says. Livia believes that it’s really important not to discriminate between men and women in the workplace.
“The focus should be on your professional achievements, as the fact that you’re a mother or a woman is simply not relevant,” she emphasizes.
Livia also took part in the Maternity Mentoring program organized by Ternium, which takes a mentoring approach to development, turning experiences into learnings.
“The sense I have is very much one of empowerment. Today I can say that I’m a women, a mother, a professional and a person valued by the company. I’m delighted to be here and to be able to share this experience with other women,” she emphasizes.