5. May 2021 – SCORING GIRLS*
Last week, our vocational orientation project for girls and young women, SCORING GIRLS* Career, hosted an #IamRemarkable workshop by Google. 14 girls* got the opportunity to work on their self-promotion skills with our wonderful facilitator Jannette Flores.
When she was younger, Jannette was always told not to ‘brag’ about her accomplishments. When she entered the work force, she realised this was a major disadvantage. As opposed to many male colleagues, who openly spoke about their successes at work, Jannette felt that her work was going unnoticed by her managers.
Fact is that cultural and gendered norms impose modesty on girls and women, especially those from marginalised communities. Yet, as “our successes don’t speak for themselves”, as Jannette emphasised, this attitude needs to change. Young women need to speak up about their achievements, because if they won’t, who will?!
During the workshop, Jannette encouraged the SCORING GIRLS* to be critical of these norms and ask themselves the deceptively simple question: “What makes me remarkable?” … One girl* promptly answered: „I am remarkable because I speak multiple languages and can interact with many different people, irrespective of their origin or skin colour.” Although reticent at first, the girls* quickly started opening up to each other. They cited personal strengths, academic accomplishments, professional successes and even athletic achievements.
At HÁWAR.help we know that all girls* are remarkable. We simply empower them to achieve their future dreams and ambitions!