Polishing for a Pittance

The Campaign Company has been working with YWCA on their ‘More than one rung’ campaign which is highlighting the barriers young disadvantaged women are facing in the employment choices they are given and the poor pay that characterises traditional female dominated apprenticeships. ‘More than one rung’ calls for the career ladder to be opened up to young women and stop them being faced with a life in which they are kept on the bottom rung of the career ladder. We are delighted to have worked with the YWCA and are currently creating a short film to highlight the campaign.

The day was a busy and varied one and started bright and early with a crowd of young women from YWCA projects across the country converging at Westminster station all dressed in vivid yellow.  The aim was to hand out dusters to bemused commuters at Westminster station bearing the slogan ‘Polishing for a Pittance!’ The dusters were a great symbolic gesture and certainly caught the attention of the commuters who took a great interest in what the young women were doing.

After the large supply of dusters had been quickly depleted, attention moved towards Parliament where the young women had the opportunity to lobby MPs and share their own personal experiences.  The MPs being lobbied included Jenny Willot, Nia Griffith, Dawn Butler and Sally Keeble. Baroness Estelle Morris also was present and took questions from the floor. The questions were both interesting and shocking and highlighted the plight that many young women face when they enter the world of work and they limited choices which young women from disadvantaged backgrounds face. However the event was very much a positive one with young women passionate and determined to bring about change.

Many of the young women from the YWCA projects across the country also gave interviews to publicise the problems they have faced and how these barriers could be removed.  Their stories were both moving and inspiring to other young disadvantaged women. The footage is in the process of being produced into a DVD which will be used at Rise to create awareness of the campaign.