Get involved: Inspiring Women campaign

The national Inspiring Women campaign launched on 17 October 2013. Our ambition is to see 15,000 women from a wide range of occupations going into state schools and colleges, over the next year, talking to 250,000 young women about their jobs and careers.

Since the launch of our underpinning Inspiring the Future programme, 70% of state secondary schools have signed up as a means of finding volunteers to talk with pupils about jobs and careers.

How you can get involved

This national programme is entirely free – for state schools and colleges, employers and individual volunteers – and is a simple way to volunteer for one hour a year and make a real difference to the aspirations of young women in your area.

Just register here on our secure website www.inspiringthefuture.org then schools near where you live or work, invite you to talk to their pupils.

We need to bring about a significant culture change so that it becomes commonplace that girls, wherever they live and whatever their social background, get the chance to meet a wide range of people doing different jobs, from 18-year-old Apprentices to seasoned CEOs. Whatever you job or your career stage, girls in state schools want to meet you and hear about your job.

One of our supporters Miriam González Durántez, Partner at Derchet LLP, and wife of the Deputy Prime Minister says: “Women suffer from stereotyping all over the world, including in Europe and in the UK: if we succeed in our professional lives, we’re branded “scary”; if we follow fashion, we’re “shallow”; if we like science, we’re “geeks”; if we read women’s magazines, we’re “fluffy”; and if we defend our rights, we’re “hard”. It is little wonder that girls struggle, amid so many absurd labels, to identify the right path for them. The new generation of girls are clever, ambitious while realistic, determined and curious. It is our duty to help them to achieve their aspirations, whatever they are.”

75% of women still work in the five Cs of employment; cleaning, catering, caring, cashiering and clerical. There is nothing wrong at all with that – but girls should also feel free to make a difference in science, IT, engineering or maths if that is what they like.