Girls Can: Empowering the Next Generation of Girls in Career and Technical Education

Gender segregation and the under enrollment of girls in career and technical education programs are pervasive problems in New York City and across the country. Although robust federal, state, and local legislation exists to protect women and girls from discrimination in education, stereotypes about "proper occupations" for men and women deter many girls from pursuing educational opportunities that can lead to lucrative, nontraditional careers. Legal Momentum's Pipeline Project works to increase the number of New York City middle and high school aged girls who enroll in and complete educational programs focused on skilled trades. Through this work, Legal Momentum hopes to forge systemic change to end the long history of gender segregation in these programs. The Capstone team conducted a process evaluation of the Pipeline Project's recruitment and retention processes and provided Legal Momentum with recommendations on how it can improve the program.