Merkel meets schoolgirls ahead of national Girls' Day

BERLIN, March 27 (Xinhua) -- girls from schools around Berlin were invited by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to a kick-off event for Germany's nationwide girls' DAY on WednesDAY.

On March 28, companies, organizations, universities and businesses across Germany will offer around 100,000 taster sessions for girls' DAY, helping girls to explore professions in technology, crafts, IT, science and industry.

The aim of girls' DAY is to provide girls and young women in Germany with insights into career opportunities and engage with female role models in sectors that have traditionally been male-dominated. The so-called "girls' DAY jobs" are professions in which women make up less than 40 percent of the workforce.

Merkel said that for many girls, participation in girls' DAY was the beginning of a career choice. About every third participant at previous girls' DAY had started an apprenticeship or an internship with a company they met during the event.

In Germany, significantly more boys than girls opt for so-called MINT (mathematics, informatics, natural sciences and technology) occupations. As an example, Chancellor Merkel noted that among people who began a dual training program as IT specialists last year, only 7.6 percent were women.

"Career decisions should be independent of gender, and we want to help young people to orient themselves to their talents and interests - and not to outdated role models," said Barbara Schwarze, chairwoman of the Competence Center Technology-Diversity-Equal Chances and member of the executive committee of Initiative D21, which help organize girls' DAY every year.

Merkel has been inviting German schoolgirls to the German chancellery on girls' DAY since 2006.