'We’ve been working alongside Steve Darling, our local MP, for over a year on a campaign about protecting women in the workplace.

As young women, we feel it is vitally important that our voices are heard and appreciated. We want to ensure that women in workplaces can speak out against challenging and uncomfortable situations. 

The issue of workplace harassment was brought to our attention by students in our school who were reporting incidents to staff and to their peers.  To gain an understanding of the prevalence of the issue, we surveyed older students from TGGS who had part-time jobs, to gain an understanding of the areas of concern they have.  What was clear from the survey was the frequency and volume of incidents that occur in the workplace and it was clear that action was needed.

We were provided with an opportunity to present this data to Steve Darling MP, and he was supportive of the need to take action to support young people in the workplace. We proposed a 10-point Charter to businesses and companies across the Bay during a roundtable meeting hosted here at TGGS to receive valuable feedback. 

When the Charter was complete, we set out on designing two posters: one for public display and another for staffrooms to inform workers about the 10-point charter. The visual design of the poster reflected the key aims as well as the locality of Torbay. 

Once finalised, on the 23rd of January, we were able to officially launch our poster campaign. The poster launch included two local MPs, Caroline Voaden and Steve Darling, a journalist from Greatest Hits Radio, stakeholders from global businesses: Whistl and McDonald’s and local businesses such as Torbay Leisure Hotels and Golden Palms Amusements.

The experience has been incredibly rewarding, and the aim now is for the campaign to gain further momentum and spread far and wide outside of Torbay!'