Bombardier Transportation Opens its Doors to Girls
You think girls and technology do not match? Think again. Bombardier welcomed 83 girls to various sites for Girls’ Day
(3BL Media) May 23, 2012 - “I’m interested in how locomotives are built. I’m very excited with everything today,” commented Sophie Walter, a middle school student and one of the 83 girls who visited Bombardier Transportation’s (BT) sites in Kassel, Mannheim, Hennigsdorf and Vienna on April 26 as part of Girls’ Day.
“I especially like that we are able to try everything out ourselves” said Leonie Weddig after getting first hand experience at a BT production site and discovering her interest in manufacturing work. Sophie and Leonie are only two of the thousands of school girls who take part in Girls’ Day every year in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other European countries.
The initiative aims at closing the gender gap in technology and influencing the vocational choices of teenage girls. For BT, Girls' Day has evolved into an important instrument of our recruitment strategy over the years.
What’s more, gender diversity and equal opportunity are vital components of BT’s Corporate Social Responsibility. Girl’s Day is thus part of our ongoing objective to recruit and retain more women.
Through practical exercises and engaging conversations with female engineers and apprentices, the girls experienced the high technology of sustainable mobilization in Hennigsdorf, the electro-technological in Mannheim, the practical in Kassel - by driving a locomotive - and the physical in Vienna through the Climatic Wind Tunnel. The objective was to demystify the male dominated technological and manufacturing world and encourage girls to pursue careers in the historically dominated male professions.
“We want to make Bombardier known for its apprenticeship programmes, encourage the girls to pursue a technical profession, and give them a picture of what a company feels like,” said Susanne Lindemaier, Head of the Apprenticeship Programme at BT Mannheim. “The positive feedback we got from the girls showed us that the initiative makes sense and that we will keep celebrating it in the future.”
About Bombardier
Bombardier is the world’s only manufacturer of both planes and trains. Looking far ahead while delivering today, Bombardier is evolving mobility worldwide by answering the call for more efficient, sustainable and enjoyable transportation everywhere. Our vehicles, services and, most of all, our employees are what make us a global leader in transportation.
Bombardier is headquartered in Montréal, Canada. Our shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD) and we are listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America indexes. In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, we posted revenues of $18.3 billion USD. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier.
