When I think about access to education, I do not just think about classrooms, qualifications or traditional routes. I think about access to confidence. Access to ambition. Access to possibility. Access to the kinds of skills, networks and real-world experiences that help a young person believe, “That could be for me too.”
In my role as COO at Enterprise Nation, I spend a lot of time thinking about the future of work, entrepreneurship, digital adoption and the skills people need to thrive in a changing economy. Through Girls in Movement, I see those same questions through another equally important lens: how do we make sure girls have the confidence, visibility and support to step into the futures they are fully capable of shaping?
Because the truth is, girls do not lack potential. What they too often lack is access to the pathways, examples and encouragement that help potential turn into action. The latest insights from The Careers & Enterprise Company make this visible at scale. During the 2024/25 academic year, more than 330,000 learners from 1,425 schools across 44 Careers Hubs completed the Future Skills Questionnaire (FSQ), creating the largest dataset of its kind on learner career readiness and essential employability skills in England.
Girls are often entering the world of work with many of the essential skills employers are actively looking for. The FSQ data shows girls consistently report stronger development in communication, collaboration and self-management - foundational skills for leadership, adaptability and high-performing teams. The challenge is that interest and visibility don’t match that capability. Only 2% of girls say they’re interested in digital and technology (compared with 12% of boys). In construction, just 3% of girls express interest (compared with 19% of boys). That is not because girls are less capable. It is because too many are still not being shown clearly enough that these spaces are for them too.
Confidence is often the missing bridge between potential and pathway
A young person can be bright, capable and full of potential, but if she does not yet know how to speak about her strengths, navigate a process, or picture herself in a certain room, industry or role, she may never take the next step. This matters because confidence is often what turns ability into action.
What we see later in life often starts much earlier
At Enterprise Nation, we work with thousands of founders and small business owners across the UK, and many of these same patterns continue into adulthood.
Our own research has shown that female business owners are far less likely than men to describe themselves as being very active in keeping up with technology trends, with just 21% of women saying they are very active compared with 43% of men. If we want more women to adopt and shape these technologies later, we need to start earlier by helping girls see they belong in these spaces. That starts with early exposure, confident language and visible role models.
We need to think about education more broadly
Education is not only what happens in formal systems. It is also exposure. It is confidence-building. It is financial literacy. It is digital understanding. It is entrepreneurial thinking. It is communication. It is self-belief.
It is helping a girl understand not just what jobs exist, but what she could build, lead, shape or become. Sometimes the barrier is whether she has ever met a woman working in science and tech. Whether she has seen a founder who looks like her. Whether anyone has explained what a product manager, engineer, investor or entrepreneur actually does. Whether she has had the chance to practise speaking about her strengths, ask questions, build confidence and imagine herself in a room she has never entered before.
There are already brilliant STEM and careers initiatives happening across the UK, and that is hugely encouraging. But if we want those efforts to go further, girls also need to see people who look like them in the spaces we are encouraging them to enter.
This is where employers can make a real difference
The Careers & Enterprise Company's data shows that practical employer engagement matters, and that young people benefit most when they have meaningful opportunities to develop and practise essential skills in real-world contexts.
It means creating repeated, practical and visible moments that help girls build confidence and understand what is possible. That could mean fostering interview confidence, demystify recruitment processes and workplace expectations; develop mentoring and work experience; showcase diverse digital roles, provide relatable role models importantly, it means widening our own assumptions about talent.
The opportunity is bigger than the gap
Girls are already bringing many of the essential skills employers value most. The opportunity now is to make sure those skills are recognised early, nurtured intentionally and connected to real pathways. Ensuring girls can see themselves as part of the future, whether that future is in AI, entrepreneurship, finance, engineering, creative industries or something we have not even named yet.
If we want more women building businesses, shaping industries and leading innovation, then we cannot wait until adulthood to start widening access. When girls can see what is possible, they do not just step into opportunity. They expand it for everyone.