Corteva Agriscience took part in the National Day of Girls in Tech, organized on October 11 by the CSR Development сenter and the United Nations Population fund with the support of the government of Sweden and with the assistance of the office of the vice prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine.
The event aims to attract more girls to study the exact sciences, including agriculture. According to the organizers, the technological areas are among the most leading and innovative, but the proportion of girls and women in them is still low. According to the latest data from the state statistics committee, at the beginning of the 2020/21 academic year, only about 10% of girls studied in engineering specialties, and about 17% in IT specialties.
Engaging youth in agriculture and empowering women is one of the 2030 sustainable development goals for Corteva Agriscience to develop communities and ensure global food security. The company actively supports the interest of young people in agrobiological sciences and devotes a lot of attention to women's initiatives in agriculture. It is the second year in a row that the company takes part in such initiatives as the National Day of Girls in Tech.
This year, girls from all over Ukraine had the opportunity to visit tech companies in their regions offline and online and learn more about the specifics of their work, as well as the ways girls and women can pursue careers in technology. Corteva Agriscience virtually invited about 100 girls from five educational institutions of the Poltava region, where the seed complex of Stasi Nasinnia LLC is located.
Halyna Radzitska, the category manager for herbicides and OptinaTM technologies of Corteva Agriscience, is convinced that working in agribusiness allows every woman or girl to fulfil herself. “Today, agribusiness uses a lot of new technologies, high-precision equipment, that is, it is a very modern industry. For example, in Corteva women work in agronomy, there are many researchers, laboratory assistants, women technicians, engineers, managers, financiers. All of them make a significant contribution to the work of the company. Corteva strives to maintain a gender balance in the agricultural sector and to inspire young people by providing them with opportunities for development and offering work with the most modern technologies in the field of seed production,” said Radzitska.
To attract young people to the agricultural industry, this year Corteva initiated a scientific educational grant program for schoolchildren called Scientibattle. For the third year, the company has been implementing projects of collaboration with popular bloggers-influencers among the youth audience, telling about interesting aspects of working in the agricultural business. Moreover, the company supported the educational program Agrokebety and the contest Best Young Agronomist. Now it conducts introductory lessons on vocational guidance in schools and supports Farming Simulator series games and championship. To overcome gender barriers, second year in a row Corteva Agriscience implements the TalentA education grant program, which has trained nearly 100 rural women farmers in business skills and agrotechnology and awarded winners with grants totaling $ 41.000 to develop food security projects.
