Girls*Day and Boys*Day
Both "Girls*Day - Girls' Future Day" and "Boys*Day - Boys' Future Day" are actually held throughout Germany on the fourth Thursday in April. Due to the Easter vacations, the Future-Days have been moved to April 3 this year.
This day of action is dedicated to career guidance for girls and boys and is aimed at pupils from the fifth grade onwards. Both Girls*Day and Boys*Day are organized by the Kompetenzzentrum Technik-Diversity-Chancengleichheit e. V. (BAFzA n. d.). Girls*Day was introduced in 2001 and goes back to the idea of the American "Take Our Daughters To Work Day", which was first held in 1993 and where schoolgirls visit their parents' workplace for a day (Girls’Day n. d.a). Since the introduction of Girls*Day, 2.4 million places have been made available for girls in Germany (Girls’Day n. d.b). Boys*Day was introduced some time later in 2010 in the tradition of Girls*Day and is the follow-up to the ‘New Paths for Boys’ project (Boys’Day n. d.).
Enabling stereotype-free career guidance
The aim of the day of action is to break down gender stereotypes with regard to career, training and study choices and to introduce pupils to a wide range of professions. For one day, girls and boys have the opportunity to gain an insight into professions and training and study courses in which their own gender is underrepresented. For the girls, these are professions in the technical and scientific fields, while for the boys it is mainly professions in the social, educational and nursing fields (BAFzA n. d.). The pupils can take part in various events, workshops, internships and activities offered by companies and businesses as well as universities. The experience that the girls and boys gain on the day enables them to choose their future career based on their interests and not on role expectations.
Girls*Day is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ), among others; Boys*Day is only funded by the BMFSFJ (ibid.). Both Girls*Day and Boys*Day are part of the "Klischeefrei" initiative, which stands for decisions on career, training and study choices free of gender stereotypes.
Girls*Day and Boys*Day at TU Dortmund University
TU Dortmund University also takes part in Girls*Day and Boys*Day. Every year, pupils visit the campus under the motto "Discover TU Dortmund University". While the Girls*Day program was designed for 30 participants in 2003, just ten years later 145 schoolgirls were already taking part in Girls*Day at TU Dortmund University. Between 120 and 180 girls now attend Girls*Day at TU Dortmund University every year. Departments and institutions with a technical or scientific focus open their doors and show the girls their daily work in lectures and workshops that invite them to experiment and try things out for themselves.
The Department of Rehabilitation Sciences offered a Boys*Day program for interested boys for the first time in 2009. Since 2013, Boys*Day, like Girls*Day, has been coordinated centrally by TU Dortmund University's Equal Opportunities Office. All departments with a low proportion of male students now participate in the program.
During the pandemic, TU Dortmund University offered pupils a digital Girls*Day and Boys*Day program. The resulting digital campus tour can still be used today by pupils from all over Germany to discover TU Dortmund University.
Last updated: March 2025
Sources (in German)
Boys’Day (n. d.): Häufige Fragen (FAQs). Last accessed 25.03.2025.
Bundesamt für Familie und zivilgesellschaftliche Aufgaben (BAFzA, n. d.): Girls’Day und Boys’Day. Last accessed 14.04.2021.
Girls’Day (n. d.b): Girls‘Day in Zahlen Last accessed 25.03.2025.
Girls’Day (n. d.a): Häufige Fragen (FAQs). Last accessed 25.03.2025.