The Young Women’s Trust is embarking on an ambitious new strategy, shaped by the young women it works with, to support 10,000 young women in boosting their confidence and employability and make workplaces fairer over the next three years. The charity will focus on three areas of work through its research, campaigning and services: the road to work, confidence and wellbeing and a fair workplace. It will continue involving young women with lived experience in all of its work.
The Young Women’s Trust has been growing steadily since it was set up five years ago to support the half a million young women who are out of work. Last year the charity’s free coaching and CV feedback service, Work it Out, helped more than 2,000 young women take their next steps towards work or training. 93 per cent said the service had helped them and more than half had started a new job, training or volunteering within six months.
The charity is looking to build on this success by scaling up its activities and focusing its work on three key areas.
1. The road to work
The charity will increase the number of young women it supports to be work-ready through its Work It Out confidence and employment coaching and CV feedback service. It will also launch a new grants service to help with the cost of transport, tools and technology.
The Young Women’s Trust will campaign for improved support, including through Jobcentre Plus, for young women who are out of work or on low pay. It will ensure apprenticeships work better for young women by encouraging greater flexibility, improved pay and financial support and effective measures to address gender segregation.
2. Confidence and wellbeing
Through its services and by including young women in all of the charity’s activities, the Young Women’s Trust works to improve young women’s confidence, wellbeing and resilience. The charity will also help policy-makers to understand the links between mental health and being out of work or in low-paid work. It will provide employers with information about supporting young women who have low confidence or mental health issues when they apply for jobs or are in employment.
3. A fair workplace
The charity will continue to fight for fairer workplaces for young women. This will mean campaigning against the gender pay gap and the discrimination and harassment many women face at work, fighting for the extension of the National Living Wage to under-25s and fairer recruitment practices, including through salary transparency.
The charity will also develop online information and advice to make young women aware of their workplace rights and how to deal with challenges at work.
Young Women’s Trust chair Jo-ann Robertson said: “Not everyone gets the same opportunities and for many young women life is very tough. They are more likely than young men to be out of work, on low pay, in insecure employment, to have serious worries about money and to experience discrimination and workplace barriers. More than one million young women in England and Wales are struggling because they are out of work or trapped in a low-paid job.
“That’s why the work of Young Women’s Trust is so important, and why we won’t waver from our commitment to improve opportunities for young women, especially those struggling to live on low or no pay. It’s also why we have embarked on an ambitious new three-year strategy, shaped by the young women we work with, aimed at supporting them on the road to work, increasing their confidence and wellbeing and making the case for fairer workplaces. Talent exists everywhere but sadly opportunities do not – and we are determined to change that.”
Young Women’s Trust advisory panel member Jade, 20, said: ”It’s amazing to be part of Young Women’s Trust, a charity that delivers what they say they will. It’s also amazing that young women are at the forefront of the charity’s campaigns and at the heart of all the decisions they make, as they should be. I think it is important that young women are involved in this way because our views matter and it’s a way of getting real evidence of what needs to be changed to improve our lives. I’m excited about Young Women’s Trust’s plans for the future, which will mean that more young women like me will get the help they need.”
* More about Work It Out here
* The Young Women's Trust strategy 2019-2022 is here
* Young Women's Trust https://www.youngwomenstrust.org/
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