Teens learned about goal setting, career options and reproductive health during “Take a Girl Child to Work Day” at Ipas South Africa.

Photo property of Ipas.

Sixteen-year-old Thato dreams of being a politician — someone who can make decisions and a difference in the lives of her fellow South Africans.

A student at a Catholic boarding school, Thato got a start on achieving her dream in late May when she attended “Take a Girl Child to Work Day” at Ipas South Africa’s office outside Johannesburg. At the observance, she and 16 other teenagers learned that before they can become decisionmakers, they must start with making healthy decisions for themselves and that it’s never too early to start thinking about their career options.

“Take a Girl Child to Work Day” began in South Africa in 2003 when telecommunications company Cell C established the day to expose girls to various professions; to encourage them to set high goals for themselves; and to recognize their potential to be leaders.

Ipas South Africa began celebrating the day in 2006, and during the second annual day on May 24, 2007, it welcomed 17 girls from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in Gauteng province for a daylong program that focused on how nongovernmental organizations can provide job opportunities and a chance to better the community. The theme of the day was “Take initiative. Time for action.”

Joy Payi-Dhlomo, Ipas South Africa’s program associate involved in its youth programs, said: “The passion for working with young people has always motivated me to seek and get involved in initiatives that uplift the lives of the youths in my country. When Ipas SA started the adolescent project [in the North West Province], we thought it fitting to be involved in other interesting and worthy initiatives by other organizations, like Cell C’s ‘Take a Girl Child to Work Day.’”

Using Ipas South Africa as an example, staff members took the girls — all ages 16 or 17 — on a tour of the facility and explained their different positions and how they all fit into Ipas South Africa’s mission of improving women’s access to reproductive health care. While the girls got to hear about the jobs available in Ipas and other NGOs, they also got to see real examples of women at work — as activists, researchers, office administrators, program coordinators — and even got some on-the-job training with instruction on operating computers and the switchboard.

In keeping with Ipas’s work, the day also included frank, adolescent-appropriate discussions about sexual and reproductive health and rights. The teens learned about sexual violence; rape; unwanted pregnancy; and their right to a safe, legal abortion under the country’s landmark Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) Act, which is one of Africa’s most progressive laws on abortion.

Empowering women and girls is an effective way to produce change on individual and societal levels; and for these girls, knowing about reproductive health is key to their futures and that of their country.

Gender-based violence and HIV are leading public-health problems in South Africa, and young girls are extremely vulnerable to abuse and exposure to infection. According to national police statistics cited in a 2004 Human Rights Watch report “Deadly Delay: South Africa’s efforts to prevent HIV in survivors of sexual violence” 40 percent of rape survivors who reported their case to the police between February 2002 and March 2003 were girls younger than eighteen, with 14 percent being 12 years or younger.

Sexual violence had already touched the lives of some of the participants. One 18-year-old high school student from Soweto wrote a poem describing abandonment by her mother, subsequent abuse by relatives and her search for happiness:

…when I’m alone at last I would count all the chances
that were lost 4ever
but it was history with the slamming of the door
and I made myself so strong
and I never wasted any of my time
I want no more sadness

As the girls shared their challenges, they also shared their aspirations. Each participant made her own personal initiative plan and presented it to the group.

Young Thato said: “I would love to become a politician. I am working hard in school to get into university so I can follow my dream. I [aspire] to be successful in my studies and work hard for my dreams and show the world that I am a powerful and strong woman.”

Another student named Prudence wished for a profession that would allow her to do good for others. “My dream is to become an accountant and have money so that I can help the disadvantaged children [whose] parents have died.”

Mpumi’s goals tied directly into Ipas’s work. She said: “I want to be [a] world-famous gynecologist. What really inspires me to choose this kind of job is because you are bringing life to the world, someone who can maybe change the world into a better place. I believe that, if all women work together, we can fight all the violence we have in our country and stop all the trauma.” 

In five years, Ipas South Africa will reunite all the girls who have participated in the program to see how far they have gone in achieving their goals.

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For more information, contact media@ipas.org