Platform 51

education, training, jobs and work

Girls who are born poor often stay poor . For many this is because they are steered into the lowest paid work which offers no prospects.

The energy, creativity, skills and talents of millions of women are not being used. This has to be wrong.

Careers advice and guidance

Girls are not getting the careers advice and guidance they need.

They need to know what’s available, what it will pay in the long term and what skills they will need.

Instead many are channelled into gender stereotypical work which offers low pay and little chance of progression, in particular the five Cs: caring, cashiering, catering, cleaning and clerical.

Women need encouragement to aspire to more.

Apprenticeships and diplomas

The Government wants to double the number of apprenticeships across the UK to 500,000 by 2020.

If the Government wants apprenticeships to be successful it must tackle persistent gender inequalities. The lowest paid trainees work in hairdressing, which is made up of 91% women. The highest paid are electro-technical apprentices, which is 99% male.

Diplomas have only just begun, but we are concerned that without guidance and accurate information, girls will choose stereotypically female options for their diplomas which will lead to lower paid work.

Opting out of school

School doesn't work for some girls. There are many reasons for this but the end results are worryingly familiar: poverty, unemployment and social exclusion.

Boys who opt out of school or disengage from learning are often noisy or disruptive. But girls become quiet and withdrawn and internalise their problems. This makes it particularly hard for teachers to spot the problem and tackle it.

Paula's story
Paula had a chaotic school life. She was bullied but then she herself turned into the bully.

What we do

We think there should be some single sex classes and support groups which tackle gender stereotypes and help girls to achieve where they are struggling.

We run informal education and personal development programmes in our friendly, women-only venues. When they are not judged or threatened but instead feel safe and encouraged, women are keen to try new things, and they learn to aspire to much more.

We teach English language, maths, parenting, money management, healthy living, sex education, active citizenship and life skills. For example, our Wise up programme is for the most socially excluded girls. It builds their confidence, helps NEET girls to speak out, become active citizens and take part in all kinds of activities .

Visit our More than one rung campaign website which we launched in 2007 to help young women work their way up and off the bottom rung of the career ladder, and step up to a better life.