Image by Ileanaruavi on Pixabay. Free for use under the Pixabay Content License.

By Frida Ibarra

In the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, where mist curls over green mountains, my grandmother still lives in the small rural community where she raised her family. She never learned to read or write.

My mother, determined to continue her studies, left that village as a teenager to attend school in a nearby town, a difficult journey that few girls from her community could make at the time.

I grew up with privileges my mother and grandmother never had: a steady place in school, access to books, and later, the internet. That generational leap from illiteracy to digital access shapes everything I do. It’s the compass that guides me in making sure young girls in Chiapas can use technology not only to learn, but to lead.

The stakes are high. Chiapas is one of Mexico’s poorest states. According to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) in Mexico, 74.2 percent of the population lives in poverty, with 46.5 percent in extreme poverty. Women’s participation in the formal workforce is just 31 percent, far below the national average of 45 percent, and most women work informally in subsistence agriculture or small-scale vending, earning around MXN 5,200 a month (about USD 260) without benefits or job security.

Illiteracy remains a significant barrier. Statewide, rates hover around 16–17 percent, but among Indigenous women, they rise to between 25–30 percent. About 28 percent of Chiapas residents speak Indigenous languages such as Tzotzil, Tzeltal, and Chol, yet most educational and digital resources are in Spanish, creating major linguistic barriers and often alienating students from their cultural roots.

Internet penetration in rural Chiapas is among the lowest in Mexico: only about 35 percent of rural households have access, compared to 75 percent in urban areas. Many community centers rely on outdated desktop computers and intermittent electricity, sometimes supported only by solar panels. In some villages, one computer is shared among 20 or more students.

Violence adds another layer of restriction. In 2024, the Feminist Observatory recorded 197 violent deaths of women in Chiapas, 63 of them confirmed femicides. Such threats make it harder for girls to attend school or take part in after-school programs safely.

Some initiatives work within these constraints. The Low-Tech Program, supported by UNICEF, equips rural teachers with mobile-friendly, high-quality lesson plans. Tecnolochicas is a program that introduces girls aged 12–17 to coding, robotics, and other STEM skills, where participants improve their digital skills by 60 percent, and leave with more confidence and higher aspirations for tech-related careers. Their projects range from web design to AI, with a gender perspective.

Integrating Indigenous culture into digital education has also shown results. Co-developing STEM content in local languages not only improves retention, it also builds cultural pride, a critical factor in keeping girls engaged in school. One example is Mexico’s recent initiative to translate 180 new textbooks into 20 Indigenous languages, led by the Secretary of Public Education, aiming to foster both educational inclusion and cultural pride.

The fourth wave of feminism in Mexico, marked by youth leadership and digital activism, has found fertile ground in Chiapas. Girls trained in coding are creating websites for women’s rights collectives, running social media campaigns against domestic violence, and analyzing femicide data to support grassroots advocacy.

These collaborations between community organizations and tech-trained youth are a quiet but determined resistance to systemic inequalities, one that insists cultural preservation and progress can go hand in hand.

Studies from the World Bank suggest that sustained investment in rural digital education could cut illiteracy in Chiapas by 10 percent within a decade. With more local tech hubs, young women could lead economic development through businesses, cooperatives, and cultural projects, without leaving the place they call home.

But without long-term funding and policy support, poverty and gender violence will continue to limit opportunity. The digital divide will deepen, and another generation of women will remain shut out of the digital economy.

The future of these girls depends on creating a space where women can fulfill their dreams, share their knowledge, and shape the future of Mexico. It begins with identifying and understanding the specific issues that women face, followed by a response that offers empathy and support. It is only through these actions that we can truly unleash their potential and create a more just and prosperous society.

I think back to my grandmother, whose world was limited by the absence of literacy, and my mother, who left home to pursue an education. Now, I see girls in Chiapas climbing a ladder my family could never reach. That ladder is fragile, but we’re building it brick by brick.