17 Aug 2017 | By Sun International
Take a Girl Child to Work Day: GrandWest Inspires Girls to Dream
The Take a Girl Child to Work Day® initiative is an annual corporate social investment event. While the idea behind the initiative is to take your daughter to work for the day, it has become known as South Africa’s largest collaborative act of volunteerism. Since inception in 2003, participating corporates have been organising for female school pupils — usually from disadvantaged backgrounds — to spend the day at their place of work with the aim of empowering the girl child.
Despite advances in legislation, the majority of women in South Africa still suffer from gender inequality and are underrepresented in the workplace, especially in corporate leadership positions. The rationale behind the Take a Girl Child to Work Day initiative is that, for many girls, the day spent shadowing top executives and entrepreneurs opens up a world of hope and inspires young women to work hard to achieve their dreams.
The initiative is organised by Cell C and endorsed by the South African Department of Education.
Take a Girl Child to Work Day at GrandWest
Take a Girl Child to Work Day, now in its 14th year, encourages and motivates girls to think about future career possibilities by exposing them to diverse fields of work, work environments and positive role models. Eighteen grade 10 and grade 11 girls considering a career in the entertainment and hospitality industry were treated to a day at GrandWest, as part of the Take a Girl Child to Work Day initiative, on 25 May 2017.
The girls, from Heideveld Senior Secondary School in Heideveld, Khulani High School in Langa and Intsebenziswano High School in Philippi, enjoyed first-hand insight into the inner workings of the GrandWest complex.
‘With the aim of inspiring young girls to dream, believe and achieve, we treated them to an exciting day at the complex where they were offered guidance by hosting departments and exposed to the working environment,’ said Heidi Edson, manager of Group Socio Economic Development at GrandWest.
The Take a Girl Child to Work Day Cape Town learners experienced first-hand the diverse career opportunities in various departments at GrandWest, from information technology, finance, marketing and payroll to human resources, food and beverage, entertainment, and the hotel.
GrandWest Programmes Empowering the Girl Child in the Western Cape
The three schools that participated in Take a Girl Child to Work activities at GrandWest are beneficiaries of GrandWest’s Corporate Social Investment department’s Schools Renovation Programme, and each received an upgraded consumer studies classroom this year.
The Schools Renovation Programme in the Western Cape, part of a nationwide initiative by Sun International, is focused on upgrading hospitality classrooms at schools in underprivileged communities, to properly equip learners to pursue further studies and careers in the hospitality sector. In 2016, four high schools received upgraded consumer studies classrooms, courtesy of GrandWest.
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