Despite advances in legislation, the majority of women in South Africa still suffer from gender inequality as they lack the skills to make them economically independent. Women remain under-represented in the formal economy, and more so in corporate leadership positions. This is because there are career opportunities that were previously not accessible to women, and other opportunities that individual women may not be aware of. Additionally, there are challenges and constraints faced by female South African children:
Thus, the goal of the Take a Girl Child to Work Day initiative is to "deepen the thinking of the girl child with regard to their infinite roles in society, enhance her self-esteem, inspire and motivate her to reach her full potential and through exposure to diverse careers and positive role models assist her to prepare for the world of work". Additionally, Cell C believes that the impact will be far-reaching, as "benefits will be shared as she pass them onto her children, her community and her country". Each year there is a theme for participants to focus on. For example, in 2009 the theme was "Change your world", a challenge for participants to be self-empowered and "Be the agent of the change want to see in world", taken from the quote by Mahatma Gandhi.
Level of involvement
Companies may register under different levels of involvement as defined by Cell C:
Formal partnership is offered to a limited number of companies who sign up before a given deadline. Formal partners must host a minimum of 20 learners selected by Cell C in cooperation with the Department of Education. Cell C provides transport for the learners, runs introductory workshops for the company and school, and supplies guidebooks and promotional material.
Supporting partnership is offered to companies who host schools of their choice. Companies provide their own transport. Cell C supplies guidebooks and promotional material.
Informal partnership is offered to companies who cannot host a school. Instead employees are encouraged to bring their female relatives to work.
Additional initiatives
Additional initiatives have also been set up to complement the original event:
A writing competition, where pupils answer a number of questions on a competition form.
Career Choice Expos have been held in seven provinces since 2007. Their aim is to extend the programme to the remote rural schools, and extend the impact of the event beyond the day. The expos focus on industries where there is a high level of skills shortage among women, including telecommunications, engineering, IT, mining and commerce.
The Girl Child Bursary Fund was established in 2007 to enable qualifying pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain access to tertiary education. Funds are being raised through public SMS donations and corporate donations.
Initiative Awards are presented to companies that maintain relationships with the schools they hosted, or otherwise made an effort beyond the annual event.
Alumni of the event are asked to give feedback, including their current employment status
Male children
This initiative focuses one whole day on empowering female children, because of their historical and current disadvantages. However, male children are not ignored. They are asked to reflect on their relationship with women, and informed about what behaviours are not acceptable. Exercises given in the handbook are explicitly aimed at both female and male children.
History
Criticisms and concerns
The criticisms and concerns of any corporate social responsibility initiative also apply to this one. Cell C does not directly counter any concerns on its website, but proposes many positive outcomes and seeks feedback from participants. In her article Girl children in the workplace - reflections of a mother in the workplace, Illana Melzner argues that the initiative does not address the demands and responsibility of motherhood, nor encourage equal parenting. Given that 80% of women under 50 in South Africa are mothers, she feels that this is the cause of under-representation, rather than a lack of awareness. She feels the responsibility of male partners is not given any attention, and suggests scope of the initiative be expanded to "Take a Girl Child to Work and Make a Boy Child Cook the Food, Look after Small Children, Clean the House and Do the Shopping Day". Finally she notes that Cell C itself does not offer day care facilities for its employees, and like many South African corporations, has unequal parental leave.
