Empowering women: Creating a better future where young women can thrive

On average, young women in England and Wales earn about £4,000 less each year than their male peers of the same age, highlighting a significant gender pay gap. Working to help close this gap and create opportunities for women to build their self-belief, Young Women’s Trust collaborates with Deloitte UK to unite a network of people to champion women, help them receive fairer pay, and help create a more equal world.

Hend, a recent immigrant from Sudan, is one woman who benefits from this support. She receives coaching along with access to valuable job resources and a supportive community of women who share similar experiences.

As Hend works to strengthen her existing skills, Young Women’s Trust’s guidance bolsters her self-belief. She has the knowledge she needs to make the most of her abilities and fulfil her potential. In turn, she champions other women in her network through her work. 

The future is bright and Hend is well on her way to achieve the remarkable things she's capable of.

Financial inequality takes root early in women's careers and can leave a lasting mark on their lives. Women are also more likely to take on junior or underpaid roles, which tends to limit their earning potential and career growth. 

In a collaborative effort with Young Women’s Trust, Deloitte UK is helping to open doors for women to pursue fulfilling, and generally well-paid careers in their chosen field. From financial literacy sessions and coaching to peer and professional support networks, the charity offers resources that help young women achieve economic equity. By giving women many of the tools they need to own their future, Deloitte UK and Young Women’s Trust are helping to create conditions for lasting positive change.

Helping scale the charity’s impact for young women like Hend, Deloitte people lend their skills and knowledge towards collaborative CV reviews, supporting young women to put their best selves forward for the work they want to do.

“It’s our mission to create an equal world of work and increase young women’s incomes. We want to work with employers to make sure that young women’s talents are valued and celebrated and that they’re paid fairly for the work that they do”, says Lily Kendall from Young Women’s Trust. “Empowering this community of women, and uplifting them with Deloitte UK’s experience and knowledge, means we have a meaningful impact that helps each woman get to where they want to be in life”.

Beyond supporting individual women as they build their skills, Deloitte UK volunteers worked directly with Young Women’s Trust through the Deloitte UK Digital Connect program. The program offered a comprehensive support network, including resources, mentoring and workshops. This helped the charity to grow their impact digitally and helped reach more women who need support.

Deloitte UK also offered pro bono expertise across the charity – they facilitated workshops to help build senior leadership capabilities across Young Women’s Trust management, provided feedback on their public affairs strategy and delivered an effectiveness review of the charity’s board. In addition, Deloitte UK funded a project to design a new peer and professional network service that facilitated workshops with young women to understand their hopes, needs, and what services they would benefit most from.

Through their efforts in supporting women across each stage of their career-building journey, Deloitte UK and Young Women’s Trust are unlocking potential for thousands of women across England and Wales. 

Together, they’re shaping strategies that help drive systemic change and reinforcing the idea that collective efforts can make a difference in building a fairer, more inclusive society.