Broad alliance supports second 'Girls' Day' initiative

In April 2002, the Ministry for Education and Research took the lead in coordinating Germany's second 'Girls' Day'- a well received campaign, supported by trade unions and employers, which seeks to encourage female students' interest in technological jobs. The background is the fact that, although women have caught up with men in terms of school education, the labour market is still structured along gender lines. There are differences in the job orientations of young men and women, which keep the latter away from occupations in high technology areas.

On 25 April 2002, approximately, 37,000 female high-school students aged 11 to 15 participated in Germany's second 'Girls' Day'. The initiative is based on a US scheme entitled 'Take our daughters to work day' and seeks to support the interest of young females in working life in general and in high technology occupations in particular. According to the minister for education and research, Edelgard Bulmahn, who took the lead in coordinating the campaign, the 2002 'Girls' Day' showed that girls have a major interest in jobs with good perspectives for the future, such as those in the information technology and media sectors. Ms Bulmahn further emphasised that there is no longer any place for old stereotypes of girls allegedly having a poor understanding of technology.

Broad support for 'Girls' Day'

As part of the 2002 'Girls' Day', activities were conducted in some 1,250 organisations, mostly companies, municipal governments, universities and research institutions. Among others, companies in the high technology sectors, such as Airbus Deutschland, Deutsche Telekom, IBM, Alcatel SEL and AOL volunteered to open their doors to female high-school students. For one day, girls were released from school to accompany their parents or special mentors to participate in working life. Besides the purpose of familiarising girls with the career opportunities, skill requirements and work duties of a range of mostly technologically sophisticated workplaces, the programme also aims to allow students to develop contacts and networks for future application to an apprenticeship programme or a job.

The 'Girls' Day' programme, which also maintains its own website, is run by an alliance consisting of the federal Ministry for Education and Training (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft), the federal Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend), the German Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB), the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (Bundesvereinigung der deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände, BDA), the Federal Employment Service (Bundesanstalt für Arbeit, BA), and the D21 initiative (a group of employers in the computer sector). The event proved to be much better received than originally expected. Participating organisations were pleased with the results and plan to conduct another 'Girls' Day' in 2003.

Improving women's employment prospects

In the long run, the 'Girls' Day' alliance plans to support female students in choosing a career in the high technology sector. While jobs in high technology are considered to be better paid, to provide better opportunities for promotion and to be relatively stable in times of economic crisis, a majority of young women are still locked into rather low-skilled service occupations. Women's two most frequently chosen occupations for apprenticeship training are still clerical worker and hairdresser. According to a report commissioned by the federal government from the Institute for Economic and Social Research (Wirtschafts- und sozialwissenschaftliches Institut, WSI) in 1999, 54% of all female applicants for apprenticeships choose just 10 out of a total of 400 possible occupations. The most favoured occupations included sales merchant, clerical officer, doctor's assistant and shop assistant. This gender-specific orientation towards certain occupations also holds when school leavers are asked about their personal career plans. As the table below indicates, strong differences also hold when we differentiate between east and west Germany.

Source: Federal Ministry for Education and Research.

This pattern seems rather surprising, given that throughout recent decades women have made tremendous progress in terms of their school education. As a result of this 'catching-up process' female students outnumber their male classmates in higher-level schools and on average also receive better grades than male students. While the WSI study referred to above assumes that the 'gendered' pattern of job aspirations is caused and maintained by a bundle of factors, most prominently the influence of parents, schools and professional career counselling, there seems to be agreement that comprehensive initiatives such as the 'Girls' Day' are required to draw young women into high technology occupations.

Responses

From a trade union perspective, one of the major aims of 'Girls' Day' is to contribute to a turnaround in the job orientation of young women. According to a statement by the DGB vice-president, Ursula Engelen-Kefer, 'Girls' Day' should open students' eyes to new careers and occupations, helping them to familiarise themselves with these new opportunities. This view is supported by Christine Bergmann, the minister for family, senior citizens, women and youth, who argues that high skills enable women to take their future into their own hands, as well as to enjoy equal opportunities within domestic partnerships.

In a press statement, the BDA president, Dieter Hundt, argues that improving female employment in the high technology industries will also benefit the German economy in general. According to Mr Hundt, Germany cannot afford to lose the talent of successful female high-school graduates. While there is a lack of qualified applicants in technology and science occupations, there will be excellent career opportunities for women.

Commentary

Although it might be widely assumed that, given the rise of the 'service economy', people who hold jobs in manufacturing are losing out, developments in Germany seem to provide an example to the contrary. Precisely because an overwhelming majority of them opt for work in the service sector, young women suffer from comparatively low wages, and poorer working conditions and job stability. While the transformation from manufacturing to services, many researchers argue, is proceeding at a high speed, patterns of gender-based discrimination remain stubbornly stable and unchanging. Even more surprising - given the fact that major social forces such as governments, unions and employers' associations agree that women's exclusion from high technology occupations (in manufacturing and in services) has negative effects on both the economy and on women's employment perspectives - women's prospects still seem to deteriorate as soon as the school doors close behind them. While the 'Girls' Day' initiative might provide a good tool for changing the labour market orientation of young women, it remains to be seem whether this is enough to remove the barriers to equal labour market participation. (Martin Behrens, Institute for Economic and Social Research, WSI)