Frances

“Capgemini sponsored She Can Be, an event organised by the Lord Mayor’s Appeal and Girl Guiding to show young women (aged 14 to 18) that the doors to working in the City of London are open to them.“

The inspiration for the event came about after a 2016 survey found that the majority of 17-21 year old females believe employers prefer to hire men over women. So, in an effort to change that perception, 130 young women and 25 organisations were invited to She Can Be to understand the key skills necessary to break the glass ceiling.

In the morning, 11 girl guides visited our Holborn Applied Innovation Exchange (AIE) to participate in interactive workplace shadowing. It was important to give the young women in attendance the opportunity to use Capgemini’s technology solutions for themselves, and have a go at designing their own proof-of-concepts. Later on in the afternoon, myself, the former female lord mayor and cybersecurity experts from PwC spoke to the girls, encouraged them to follow their career dreams, and pledged our actions for the future.

I’m pleased to say that the feedback we got was extremely positive. “We’re really glad the girls enjoyed their morning with us,” commented Fiona Mellors du Toit, Head of Operations, AIE. “We really enjoyed hosting them and running the session and it sounds like we put Capgemini in a good light for potential women coming into business.” One of Capgemini’s ‘real models’, Software Engineer Lead, Abi Stokes, said: “I loved it. It was really rewarding talking to girls who might hopefully follow in our footsteps.”

All in all, it was a fantastic day and I feel privileged to have met so many ambitious young women. Girl Guide Katie, 17, was one of them, who summed up Capgemini’s active inclusion mission perfectly: “Events like these show girls that it doesn’t matter – you can do anything. Ignore the gender stereotypes.” Hear more about her experience at She Can Be in this video:

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