On March 8, International Women's Day was commemorated at INCAE with a day of reflection and discussion with MBA 2023 and MBAO 2024 students, management, administrative and teaching staff, and with the participation of a very special guest, Ms. Milena Grillo, a tireless fighter for vulnerable children and adolescents.
Milena, Director of Strategy and Innovation at the Paniamor Foundation in Costa Rica, spoke about the paradigm of "Power over to Power for", with reference to the French philosopher Michel Foucault. She also illustrated inequality and how it impacts the lives of women as well as the reality of children and adolescents at risk.
He also reflected on the use of power for the benefit of others, those who need it most and provided shocking statistics on the state of children and adolescents. He also discussed the impact they can have by using power for others, rather than on others and the legacy they want to leave in this world, what memory do they want to leave? he asked.
She also mentioned the outstanding Costa Rican jurist, Dr. Elizabeth Odio, who has had an extensive global trajectory in relation to women's rights and especially sexual aggressions in armed conflicts. Ms. Elizabeth Odio succeeded in having rape and sexual assault classified as a form of torture and war crime at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
In her LinkedIn profile, a month after her participation in the conversation, Milena wrote: "Yesterday, April 8, 2023, it was a month for me to have shared different spaces convened in commemoration of 8M International Women's Day 2023. Spaces in which the tone was necessarily set by mostly female voices - of denunciation, regret and indignation - in the face of the different forms of violence and inequalities that violate the lives of women of all ages, girls and adolescents as well, in the countries of our region and where Costa Rica is no exception.
Against this background, I would like to highlight and thank INCAE for the opportunity it gave me to serve on that day as the third mobilizing party in an uncomfortable but urgent conversation with young women and men from 10 Latin American countries, students in their International Master's program. A conversation that allowed us to close the dialogue with motivating reflections in first person, from the young people gathered there, on ways in which they could take advantage of the lessons learned and the relationships established in their passage through this center of knowledge, to contribute back in their countries, to equal opportunities and equity in the results, in the lives of girls and adolescents who inhabit their family, work and social spaces. Thank you Dean Kilian, Professor Margaret Rose Grigsby, for the window to hope that your invitation represented. "
Also participating in this activity was Dean Bernard Kilian, who reiterated INCAE 's commitment to equality. And the Academic Director of the MBA, Carla Fernández, who spoke about the challenges that women still face in different aspects of their professional development. In addition, both spoke about the influence that their respective mothers, one in Germany and the other in Costa Rica, had on them, as both had the opportunity to study a profession and served as an example and inspiration to achieve their goals.
Professor Margaret Grigsby reflected on the privileges of being part of an institution such as INCAE and the potential of students to be leaders and agents of change in society and in their families.
To close the activity, Reyna Araúz, president of the Ateneas and Federico Mena, president of the Student Brotherhood, addressed a few words to those present and thanked Mrs. Milena Grillo on behalf of the student body.
Finally, a question and answer session was opened with our guest, which was well attended by those present.
