Press release 023/2007 PDF / 73 KB
26 April is ”Girls’ Day” when girls can learn all about exciting occupations at the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). They can have a closer look at the structure and engineering of the new office building in Dessau, conduct experiments on the effect of noise and noise abatement, tour a model waste treatment facility, and observe the work of a female information technologist up close. They can experience how successful women are as professional engineers and scientists. The UBA has also invited boys to Girls’ Day - "Future Prospects for Girls". Five will experience a work field that traditionally has hardly ever been occupied by men: the executive secretary office of a female department head. ”The project provides the Agency with a good opportunity to get young women interested in professions in environmental protection”, said UBA President Prof. Dr. Andreas Troge.
The UBA deals with a broad range of issues covering climate and resource protection, renewable energies, noise abatement, traffic annoyance, environment and health, water pollution, or environmental chemicals. Just what daily work in these fields looks like will be observed for a whole day by 35 girls and five boys from Dessau and its surroundings. The UBA and its offices in Dessau are participating for the first time in the nationwide action which has taken place since 2001.
The goal of the action day is to give young girls especially an insight into different technical and scientific professions and to awaken their interest by touring and participating. Girls opt for ”typically female” professions at a disproportionately high rate, choosing for example to become a physician’s assistant or to pursue language and cultural studies. They choose technical or science careers much less frequently. Girls’ Day aims to encourage girls to consider a profession that does not fit the supposedly traditional female mould. Girls’ Day shows companies and public offices what personnel resources they can tap into in the future.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth are sponsors of the national coordination of Girls’ Day. Other supporters of the project are Initiative D21 e.V., a public private partnership of over 300 enterprises and other organisations in the IT sector, the Confederation of German Trade Unions, the German Federal Labour Office, and the Confederation of German Employers" Associations (BDA).
Dessau, 25 April 2007