Claire Reindorp is chief executive officer of Young Women’s Trust, the leading national organisation working to build better futures for young women aged 18 to 30 on low or no pay. An experienced third-sector leader, she has a strong track record of developing high-impact programmes and services with local communities and marginalised groups. Claire joins following more than 25 years working in senior roles in organisations including Peabody Community Foundation, Refugee Council and Crime Concern and she continues a longstanding commitment to tackling inequalities, both through practical support and building longer-term coalitions for change.
“At a time in life when young women should be growing, learning, and taking chances, they’re instead too often stuck in a struggle just to get by. At Young Women’s Trust we believe we should be aiming for much, much more for girls and young women, who have so much potential.”
Passionate about supporting marginalised groups
I studied human sciences at university, where I was a college woman’s officer and volunteered to drive a woman’s night bus (badly) around the city! Since then, I have worked in the charity sector in a range of roles including youth work, family support, running services for refugees and developing community-led anti-poverty programmes. I joined the Young Women’s Trust as CEO in January 2022.
My role at YWT is to ensure we make the greatest possible impact on the lives of young women aged 18 to 30 and tackle the income gap they face. On a day-to-day basis, my work is very varied, from working with young women and the staff team to shape our strategy, building relationships with decision-makers and funders, to speaking in the media to highlight the challenges young women face.
Girls tend to outperform boys in education but this isn’t translating into equality in the workplace. This needs to change…
At YWT, our real focus is on young women aged 18-30 and on the world of work specifically. However, we do know that girls tend to outperform boys in education – at every stage from early years, through GCSEs and A-levels all the way to degrees – and yet this isn’t translating into equality in the workplace.
Men earn more than women with the same qualifications within five years of completing their degree across all subjects. And in the 18-30 age group, on average, young women earn a fifth less each year than young men. So, girls are taught to work hard and they do well at school – but yet they enter the world of work to receive the message that they’re worth less.
A big reason for this is that young women are more likely to be in lower-paid jobs and sectors of the economy – things like retail and caring roles, and are more likely to get stuck in lower-paid jobs. While we need to encourage stereotypically ‘male’ industries, like STEM, to open up opportunities for more young women, we also need to make sure that so-called ‘women’s work’ is fairly paid and highly valued.
In addition to this kind of job segregation, young women still face discrimination in the workplace, and this is holding them back from progressing, reaching their potential, and earning what they should. They’re taking on more unpaid work, such as childcare, and are more likely to be stuck in part-time and low-paid work.
At a time in life when young women should be growing, learning, and taking chances, they’re instead too often stuck in a struggle just to get by. At Young Women’s Trust, we believe we should be aiming for much, much more for girls and young women, who have so much potential.
Research findings: shocking reading
Our Annual Survey looked at the experiences of 4000 young women, 1,000 young men and over 900 HR decision makers. It reveals the extent of the financial difficulties young women are facing in 2022 as they come out of a pandemic and into a cost-of-living crisis. It makes for shocking reading.
More than half of young women (52%) say they are ‘filled with dread’ at the state of their finances. Many are having to make impossible choices, between feeding their kids and eating themselves, and between heating and eating. They’re taking on more debt, and struggling to make their money last until the end of the month.
The survey showed us that young women are facing multiple barriers to employment and progression at work. Around a quarter said they’d been paid less than their male peers to do similar work. And two in five have faced discrimination at work or when looking for work.
In terms of employers, they backed up this picture. We captured data from HR decision makers which showed that almost a third were aware of instances of young women being discriminated against in the workplace over the last year, with a shocking 20% of HR decision makers believing that men are better suited to senior management roles – this is yet another barrier holding back young women at work.
Change IS possible … and YOU can help
We believe the big solutions lie with government and with employers. Young women need more flexible working opportunities, they need rights to flexible working from day one, and they need a childcare system that’s affordable and that works for them. We also need to call out the sexism that is holding young women back.
These are the things we will be campaigning on at Young Women’s Trust, to get young women’s voices and needs heard. Change is possible! We’d love your readers to join us in adding their voices to these campaigns, by signing up on our website — here’s the link to our campaigns page, and you can also sign up to our newsletter and follow us on social media (you can find all the links at the bottom of this piece).
If you’re a woman with a management or leadership role in the workplace, think about what you could do to support younger women to progress and thrive. This could be through advocating for policies like a right to flexible working from day one, advertised in job descriptions so young women don’t have to ask (something they find harder to do than young men).
It could be offering mentoring for younger women. We’re working on some resources for employers at the moment so watch this space, and if your workplace is already offering support or progressive policies that are having an impact on young women, we would love to hear about good practice so that we can share and celebrate it!
At Young Women’s Trust, we offer free coaching and CV feedback to help young women get into work, build confidence, and reach their full potential. If you are a young woman (aged 18-30) who needs help finding work or making the next step in your career please get in touch – and if you know young women who would benefit, please spread the word.
Visibility and power
As far as we are concerned anything we can do to get young women’s voices heard and their experiences recognised is a positive thing. Young women lack the visibility and power in our society to address the problems that affect them. And yet they have so much to contribute. So, days that enable young women to raise their voices, to be seen and heard, and to show what they have to offer, can be really helpful. Though we must also see this translated into real action – both from politicians and employers – to enact the changes that girls and young women need.
We’re looking forward to joining in with International Day of the Girl on social media – but really it’s our work all year round to build a fairer future for young women that we’ll be focusing on.
Coming up next
We’re developing our new strategy at the moment, looking at how we can make the biggest difference in closing the income gap for young women, get their voices heard and create an equal world of work. We’re working with some amazing young women to develop that, and can’t wait to share it early next year! The biggest thing that excites us about that is the potential to unleash young women’s amazing energy and talents to lead change for themselves.
In the meantime, we’re continuing to run and develop our free coaching service to help young women get into work, build confidence, and reach their potential. And our Research Centre, which shines a light on the reality of young women’s lives, is working with some amazing young women as ‘peer researchers’ on a project to understand more about young women’s experiences of discrimination in the workplace and what can be done about it.
