70 Together with social par tners, associations and other Vorarlberg companies, in 2011 Blum developed an initiative entitled “I kann’s! I trau mer ’s zu!” (equivalent to “She believed she could, so she did!” ) . The premise of the project is to identif y oppor tunities to improve male -dominated companies and professions, in order to successfully at tract and retain girls in STEM professions. She believed she could, so she did! The initiative aims to take traditionally male -dominated sectors and make them at tractive workplaces for girls. For instance, marketing concepts and adver tising campaigns have been implemented that are aimed explicitly at girls. Af ter all, how are girls supposed to feel a campaign applies to them if the posters only feature boys? V isibilit y is key. Gender- sensitive and neutral language also helps because it makes these professions seem a real option for girls, especially in German-language apprenticeship adver ts where the names of prospective professions are of ten only stated in the masculine form. Raising awareness is another major factor. Now, more than 10 years later, the focus of the initiative has shif ted to highlighting commonalities. As par t of “ She believed she could, so she did!”, a checklist has been created to help companies make their work environment more female - friendly and other companies have since joined the initiative. Working for Blum Lena Andreis, now a trainer and team manager herself Of course, I thought about whether I would be able to do all this as a young woman. But it hasn’t been a problem at all. Wherever physical strength is required, there are lifting aids and, if necessary, I can also count on my team.
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