Wania Sant'Anna Photo

Wania Sant’Anna
Consultant and Co-Coordinator
Commission on Diversity at Petrobas, Brazil

 

Wania Sant’Anna is an historian who took her degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in 1984. She was Secretary of Human Rights for the State of Rio de Janeiro (2002), a member of the Federation of Organizations for Social Assistance and Educational and a member of the Institute of Studies for Religion. In these institutions, Sant’Anna had the opportunity to develop support activities for various sectors of civil society – trade unions, tenant associations, women’s groups, and black movement organizations, in addition to agencies of international cooperation. Combining political activism and intellectual productivity she has been responsible for the preparation of studies and original approaches on gender and racial inequalities in Brazil – with several articles published nationally and internationally. In 1997 and 2002, together with the economist Marcelo Paixão, she created the Index of Human Development for the Afro-descendant population in Brazil. In 2003, she developed Dossier on the Racial Disparity in Brazil: An Alert for the Development of Policies, published by the Network on Feminist Health and Sexual and Reproductive Rights.

Taking on dual roles – professional and political – Sant’Anna served on two federal councils, in recognition for her studies in the areas of race relations and gender: the National Council of Women’s Rights, and the National Council to Combat Discrimination. She is currently a member of the National Commission on Population and Development, which is associated with the Institute of Applied and Economic Research (IPEA) of the Ministry of Planning. She was named as one of five representatives of civil society to join the Working Group responsible for leading the deliberations of the Second National Plan of Policies for Women in matters concerning racism, sexism and homophobia.

Wania Sant’Anna’s academic activities include teaching in the curriculum on International Relations at the Universidade de Estácio Sá (1998-2002), and the coordination of this curriculum in 1999-2001. In this capacity, she developed research projects, national seminars on international relations and international cooperation, and foreign exchange programs.

Her international experience includes a Master’s Degree in “Gender and Development” from the Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands; correspondent for Revista Mujer Fempress (1986-2001) – a Latin American magazine on Latin American women based in Santiago (Chile); and participation as an official delegate at several international conferences. In addition, she has participated in lectures and seminars in North American universities and research centers in Latin America and Europe.

In the area of consultancy, Wania Sant’Anna has prepared studies for the Ministry of Education, Special Secretariat of Policies for Women, United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations such as the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM), International Labor Organization (ILO) and United Nations Program for Development (UNDP). Since 2007, Sant’nna has been a consultant and co-coordinator of the Commission on Diversity at Petrobras, the fifth largest oil, gas and energy company in the world, and the premier Brazilian company. Under her direction, actions are underway to firmly establish the content and concepts of human and cultural diversity within the Strategic Planning of the company until the year 2020.

 

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