SUPPORTING WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE

As a little girl, Sara Lopez would arrange her dolls and stuffed animals as if they were seated in a classroom, waiting for the day’s lesson. For as long as she can remember, the 43-year-old wanted to become a teacher. She’s followed that track for more than two decades while working as a teacher’s aide, a parent liaison, and, for the past four years, as an educational specialist with the Higher Education Consortium of Metropolitan St. Louis. But Lopez recently reconsidered whether she wants to spend the next 20 years in education. “It’s getting tiring,” she says.

With the help of Rung for Women, a nonprofit focused on helping women advance their careers, Lopez enrolled in the geospatial analyst training program through Maryville University, with the hope of restarting her career in St. Louis’ burgeoning tech industry.

In some ways, Lopez is lucky. She’s actively choosing to make a career change. But in recent months, many other women haven’t had that luxury. The unemployment rate for women reached as high as 16.2