PepsiCo Girls in Science Academy

PepsiCo Science Girls Academy PepsiCo, one of the world's leading food and beverage companies, is developing projects in line with its pep+ strategy. Within this scope, the PepsiCo Science Girls Academy Project, funded by the PepsiCo Foundation, provides scholarships to 200 female students through TEV; support will be extended to female students in science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM) fields across many areas ranging from education and mentoring to seminars and panels, with 30 percent of interns hired by the company to be selected from among Science Girls Academy scholarship recipients. In line with its pep+ strategy, PepsiCo has been implementing gender equality initiatives in 71 countries to date in pursuit of global objectives to build a better world by advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. The Science Girls Academy Project represents the company's contribution to addressing another important global issue. The project aims to raise awareness about increasing the participation of girls in science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM) fields and to help bridge the gender gap that exists in STEM participation. PepsiCo General Manager Ece Aksel stated: "Equal access to STEM education is critically important in terms of equitable sharing of prosperity and poverty reduction." PepsiCo General Manager Ece Aksel, noting that the PepsiCo Positive Strategy, created within the framework of PepsiCo's global sustainability approach, underpins the Science Girls Academy project, said: "In formulating our commitments under pep+, an end-to-end transformation strategy, we have used the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a guide and are working on many of its headings, particularly creating value-generating projects for many years under the headings of Gender Equality and Quality Education. One of the newest projects we have focused on in this context is the PepsiCo Science Girls Academy in the field of science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM). According to UNESCO's 2021 Science Report, the proportion of women choosing STEM fields globally is only 33 percent, and this rate is indeed very low. Equal access to STEM education is critically important in terms of equitable sharing of prosperity and poverty reduction, and we cannot achieve this without eliminating inequalities directed at women on this issue." he said.

Aiming to Prevent Gender-Based Discrimination and Prejudice

Noting that low participation of women in STEM fields is generally explained as girls lacking interest and ability in these areas, while statistics say the opposite, Ece Aksel stated, "According to UNDP data, among STEM graduates in Turkey, the proportion of women is 34.7 percent. In university placements, among numerical department students ranking in the top 1000, the placement rate in STEM fields is 81.3 percent for boys and only around 18.6 percent for girls. Beyond the figures, understanding the reasons why women cannot make career choices in these fields will create a roadmap for us to eliminate gender inequality in the field. Today there are still negative stereotypes in society that "girls are not suited to STEM fields." We need to understand that preventing these prejudices in particular is extremely critical." she said.