German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
Germany, 2012, April 26
Every year in April, technical enterprises, enterprises with technical departments and technical training facilities, universities, and research centres organise an open day for girls – Girls'Day. In 2001 'Girls'Day – Future Prospects for Girls' initiated a large campaign in which a wide range of professions and activities is presented to girls of 10 years upwards. The vocational choices of girls are influenced and widened in a very positive way. For companies, Girls'Day has evolved into an important instrument of their recruitment policy.
Girls'Day encourages the surroundings of the young women – i.e. families, schools, media and employers – to participate in the campaign and change their traditional attitudes towards vocational orientation. Information material, an all-embracing interactive website and an individual advisory service provide support for all target groups. The campaign includes a scientific evaluation.
By actively taking part in Girls'Day, girls are particularly motivated and encouraged to seize their career options beyond fields traditionally chosen by women and girls, 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 taking place at one specific date, Girls'Day combines regionally limited initiatives to achieve far-reaching effects unprecedented so far.
On the twelfth German Girls'Day on April 26th, 2012, over 9,500 events offered more than 115,000 girls the opportunity to take part in technical and natural science activities. Among these were some 1,200 ICT-oriented events for 20,000 interested girls. Participating organisations in the field of ICT were for example: Cisco Systems Deutschland GmbH, Deutsche Telekom AG, Intel GmbH, IBM Deutschland GmbH, SAP AG and Microsoft Deutschland GmbH.
The project is funded by the European Social Fund, the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and supported by the Confederation of German Employer's Associations (BDA), the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB), the Federal Employment Agency (BA), the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the German Confederation of skilled Crafts (ZDH), the Initiative D21 and the National Parents' Council. In cooperation with the nationwide coordination office, they form a supervising board for 'Girls'Day – Future Prospects for Girls'.
http://www.girls-day.de/Girls_Day_Info/English_Information
