One of our most favorite days of the year at Where Women Work is International Day of the Girl, celebrated annually on 11 October.

Each year we celebrate the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts #TeamGirl campaign that focuses on the power and potential of girls. WAGGGS knows that girls are already powerful, yet they sometimes need a helping hand to reach their fullest potential. That's where Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting comes in - where all girls can be their own superheroes and use their power to change the world. That's why Where Women Work is a strong supporter of #TeamGirl.

Across the globe, International Day of the Girl provides a great opportunity to reinforce the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls, empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.

Here are some of the companies striving to make the world a better place for girls. 

Honeywell inspires girls to pursue STEM careers

Diversifying STEM industries is the best way to encourage innovation, which is why it’s so important to encourage girls from a young age to be enthusiastic about STEM subjects. Prime Employer Honeywell is helping girls in India achieve their career dreams with the help of the Avasara Leadership Institute so that everyone, regardless of gender or background, has a chance to succeed in STEM.

Vodafone teaches girls to code

Coding is becoming one of the most in demand skills across industries as an increasing number of businesses now rely on computer code. Half of all programming openings are in industries outside of technology, such as finance, healthcare and manufacturing, while recent research found that coding has become a core skill that bolsters a candidate’s chances of commanding a high salary.

Vodafone, with the support of not-for-profit social enterprise Code: First Girls, provides free coding training for 1,000 14-18-year-old girls across 26 countries in Europe, India, the Middle East, South Africa and Australasia as part of its #CodeLikeAGirl Programme.

Vodafone employees also cycled across the length of England to raise £1 million for Vodafone’s Girl Fund which support charitable programmes that use technology to address some of the biggest issues affecting girls today. 

Amazon gives students a glimpse behind the scenes

Amazon has been giving curious students an opportunity to learn more about the way the company works by inviting them on tours of some of their key sites. This is great support from Amazon supporting the career pathways of girls. 

Ahead of the inauguration of its new EU headquarters in Luxembourg, Amazon gave local school children the chance to see the new site before it officially opened. The children, all from Schoul an der Dallt, were invited to take part in a creative workshop and tour the new building. 

Meanwhile, Amazon’s AWS Get IT is an initiative that aims to encourage more people from diverse backgrounds, particularly girls, to gain practical digital skills  Hear from Programme Marketing Manager Ramat Tejani about why Amazon’s initiative is making a huge impact.

BD harnesses skills of its Women’s Initiative Network to help young people

BD’s Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) is a global, associate-led program that supports women at all levels with the skills, knowledge and experience to help advance their careers.

One of their great events was a career day at the BD San Diageo office where they welcomed both girls and boys in foster career to learn about career opportunities from BD employees.

BD gave also Girl Scouts in New Jersey a special behind-the-scenes tour of their site, where the girls got involved in some fun and educational STEM-related activities.

84.51° parents bring kids to work to participate in STEM activities

‘Bring your kids to work’ days are nothing new but pioneering company 84.51° hosted one with a twist: children got the chance to participate in fun STEM-related activities, from making binary code bracelets to exploring the company’s VR studio, to inspire them to explore STEM careers. 

Sounds like a day to remember!

Northrop Grumman inspires students about space

Northrop Grumman is truly investing in the girls of today to help them become the women innovators of tomorrow. In 2018, the company contributed nearly $20 million to STEM organizations that provide education opportunities for young people, particularly girls. These initiatives include Space Camp and providing teacher training.

McDonald’s reduces barriers to youth employments

McDonald’s initiative Youth Opportunity aims to reduce barriers to employment for two million young people by 2025 through pre-employment job readiness training, employment opportunities and workplace development programs. 

Rio Tinto’s Robot Wars inspires girls in Australia

It’s important that STEM education is also fun, and it doesn’t come more fun than Rio Tinto’s RoboCup one of several educational programmes that Rio Tinto supports across Australia.

Each year, hundreds of students from across Western Australia descend on a vast gymnasium at Perth's Curtin University to act out the ultimate Hollywood blockbuster fantasy – a robot war. In this epic two-day event, the RoboCup Junior WA Championships, teams from schools from across the state guide their robots through a series of challenges to prove they've built the smartest, strongest cyborg on the block.

AECOM opens its doors to inspire young engineers 

AECOM invited 50 children into its London campus for an Open House day to find out more about the amazing engineering that goes on behind the scenes of daily life. The children took part in fun, hands-on activities delivered by members of AECOM’s engineering teams throughout the day to help them learn about different specialisms of engineering and find out more about what a career in engineering would be like.

“Stereotypes about a career in engineering or construction are still rife, but the reality is very different. It’s important for young people to discover the exciting and intellectually challenging work engineers do to build a better world, from using virtual reality to the basic principles of building bridges and electrical conduction,” said David Barwell, AECOM Chief Executive, UK & Ireland.

Schneider Electric supports engineering and science events for girls

In a bid to motivate a future generation of engineers, Schneider Electric supports the FIRST Robotics programs for school pupils. With over 500,000 participating students in 100 countries, FIRST Robotics is a truly diverse program that, with the help of Schneider Electric, will nurture our future problem-solvers.

Arcadis hosts workshops to encourage girls into STEM 

Arcadis understands the importance of inspiring the next generation of female engineers. That's why Arcadis supports its women in presenting at conferences and hosting talks and workshops for girls around the world to teach them about the industry and to encourage them to fulfil their potential, regardless of stereotypes or perceptions about women in engineering.

In Delaware Valley University, Alexandra King and Emily Movsesian from Arcadis US presented at the Girls STEM conference. With more than 100 middle-school aged girls from across the Philadelphia region in attendance, the pair presented about their paths to becoming environmental and water resources engineers, and their roles at Arcadis.

EBRD forms partnership with UNICEF to increase opportunities for girls

There’s power in collaboration to make things happen, which is why EBRD has formed a new partnership with UNICEF to help create opportunities for young people, particularly girls, in the Bank's regions of operation.

The EBRD partnership pledges to increase access to skills, employment and basic services, particularly regarding school-to-work transition and connecting secondary education and training to employment and entrepreneurship.

F5 teaches girls to code to help close gender gap in technology

Diversity leads to innovation, and no industry benefits more from innovative ideas than the tech industry.

F5 is playing an important part in diversifying the tech industry by sponsoring the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program, which offers girls 300+ hours of immersive computer science instruction.

Nottingham Trent University hosts Ada Lovelace Day celebrations for local girls

University of the Year Nottingham Trent has an ongoing commitment to inspire girls to pursue STEM careers, like its Ada Lovelace Day celebrations where the University welcomed local school girls to participate in fun STEM-related activities to help challenge stereotypes.

Medtronic Student Employer Exploration Day teaches girls about tech careers

It’s important to get girls interested in STEM at a young age so they can nurture that passion and carry it into their careers. Medtronic’s Student Employer Exploration Days (SEED) gives girls the opportunity to explore technology careers by touring science labs at Medtronic facilities.

Do you want your work to make a positive impact?

With these Prime Employers, your work can make a difference in helping girls around the world meet their full potential.

If you’re interested in joining a company that gives back to the community and especially supports the advancement of girls, research the latest career opportunities available.

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