Girls' Day in Germany, April 24

Girls'Day - Future Prospects for Girls

On the 24th of April 2008 technical enterprises, enterprises with technical departments and technical training facilities, universities and research centres are invited to organise an open day for girls - the Girls'Day.

Through a great variety of events young women are able to gain an insight into working life and get in touch with Human Resources Managers and personnel responsible for traineeships. For this purpose, the participating institutions open their laboratories, workshops and offices to give concrete examples that show girls how interesting and exciting this work can be. Employees are often personally available for discussions.

The Girls'Day opens up extensive future prospects to a generation of qualified young women. With the objective of establishing contacts and drawing attention of industries and the public to girls' strengths.

Pilot projects and campaigns have been launched for about 20 years to change girls' and young women's behaviour patterns with regard to their choice of career and to expand their spectrum of career options. Nevertheless, the number of girls choosing "typically female" careers or subjects of study is disproportionately high. In doing so, they do not fully exhaust their career opportunities. This is in opposition to trade and industry complains about an increasing lack of qualified junior staff in the technical field. Companies that have successfully organised specific Girls'Days are reporting about an increasing number of young women in technical and technically oriented occupations.

The Girls'Day - 'Future Prospects for Girls' initiated a large campaign in which experience made so far has been used and a wide range of professions and activities have been presented to girls in the age of class 5 to 10. By actively taking part in the Girls'Day, girls shall be particularly motivated and encouraged to seize their career options and to decide in favour of a qualified vocational training or degree. Subsequently, they choose an occupation even in professional fields that are presently not typically female. Being a nationwide event that takes place at a uniform date, the Girls'Day shall also in future combine regionally limited initiatives to achieve far-reaching effects unprecedented so far.

The girls who take part in the Girls'Day should be ideally supported by all instances playing an important role in their career choice. So for the Girls'Day encourage the surroundings of the young women - i.e. families, school, media and employers - to participate in the campaign.

Source: www.girls-day.de/english_information