Registration is open until November 18th for the public selection "Girls and Young people doing Science, Engineering and Computing" The aim is to and fund projects to stimulate women graduating in these careers in Brazil. The program will be developed using funds from Petrobras, the Presidential Secretary of Policies for Women - SPM and Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation - MCTI, through the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq. Together, the institutions will earmark R$ 11 million for the initiative, of which Petrobras will provide R$ 5 million. It estimates that 300 projects will be selected from across Brazil.

“Taking part in this initiative, once again, demonstrates our commitment to value women's participation in the labor market. The numbers of women in the Company has grown as a result of strategies that have contributed to consolidating Petrobras as a Company that Brazilian women want to work for and build their careers in", says executive manager of Petrobras' Social Responsibility, Armando Tripodi.

Projects must be submitted by teachers or researchers from universities or research centers, and proposals should be linked to schools that take part in the Innovative School Program. The maximum funding for each proposal will be R$ 20,000. Information on the public notice for offers is available on the CNPQ website.

Progress of Women taking part in Petrobras

For the manager of Petrobras' Guidelines and Practices on Social Responsibility, Janice Dias, a more effective way for women to take part comes from a series of initiatives promoting gender equality within the Company. According to the manager, Petrobras spreads the subject of diversity and effectively commits to the Program for Race and Gender Equality, coordinated by the Presidential Secretary of Policies for Women.

"I see that support for this project also comes from last year's initiative with the 1st National Meeting - Women, Science and Technology being held. At that event, the President of Petrobras, Maria das Graças Silva Foster, stressed the importance of everyone having the chance to choose their profession in an environment free of discrimination. Girls and young Brazilians should be encouraged to come into contact with all types of knowledge, including those relating to science and technology as proposed by this project we are supporting", said Janice.

The number of women at Petrobras has increased constantly since 2003. Then the Company employed 4,406 women, or 12% of the total workforce. In September 2013, this number rose to 9,888 women, representing 15.7% of the total Petrobras workforce. In ten years, the number of women in the workforce has grown relatively by 124%.

The percentage of women also increased in predominantly male areas. In 2003 the proportion of female environmental engineers was 28% and the proportion of male engineers was 72%. By 2012 this composition was 37% female engineers and 63% male engineers. The increase in the female share may also be noticed in the number of production engineers which was 14% in 2003 reaching 29% in 2012. In the area of geology, the percentage of women increased from 14% to 23% in the same period.