Courtney Millen and Erin English-O’Connell are part of Compass Group Australia’s passionate Diversity & Inclusion team that create opportunities and break down barries for disadvantaged peoples.
Working across Australia and identifying opportunities for women to excel in their aspirations is a large part of what drives them, which is why in 2024 Erin and Courtney will embark on the United Nations Trek for Women’s Rights, a six-day fundraising walk that not only raises funds to support education and equitable opportunities, but also increases awareness of the struggles that women still face globally.
The UN Trek’s for Women’s Rights will take place from the 1- 6 June 2024 and over those six days, Erin and Courtney will walk the iconic Larapinta Trail in the Northern Territory, through the rugged landscapes of our Red Centre. The intrepid explorers will raise funds that support the UN Women Second Chance Education Program, which works with grassroots organisations and partners to reach women who have missed out on an education due to cultural barriers, gender-based violence, conflict and early marriage and childhood pregnancy. The program provides face-to-face, online and blended adult learning and skills training for women who need it most, to ensure we leave no one behind.
Half a billion of the world’s illiterate adults are women. This trend has not changed in 20 years and we know that during conflict, girls are 2.5 times more likely to drop out of school than boys and 48% of girls who are out-of-school today are unlikely to ever enrol in school.
Women who have missed out on an education due to humanitarian crisis, poverty, early marriage, and discriminatory norms, face immense barriers accessing training and job opportunities and participating in the digital world. The lack of access to quality adult education and learning opportunities for women has detrimental knock-on effects.
When education benefits women and men equally, it delivers unmatched outcomes:
- Educated women are more likely to be healthier, have higher earnings and exercise greater decision-making power within the household
- Educated mothers are twice as likely to school their children
- Every year of education increases a woman’s wage by up to 20%
- Children of educated women are 50% more likely to survive
Compass Group Australia is so proud of our people, who choose every day to make a positive change and enrich people, communities and our planet.
If you want to get involved, you can support Erin and Courtney’s Trek for Women’s Rights and help raise meaningful funds for women and girls.
Read more about our People here.
