5
SPRING 2015
Hairdressers to help
tackle domestic violence
Students from hairdressing and
beauty therapy courses are to be
trained to spot and tackle the signs
of domestic abuse in a pioneering
initiative being piloted at Ayrshire
College.
“Hair and beauty salons offer
an opportunity to spot the
signs of abuse and advise
women on what help is
available.”
The charity organisation Medics
Against Violence are rolling out
workshops to the beauty industry and
Ayrshire College students are
learning to recognise and suspected
domestic abuse and help signpost
women to support services.
Marla Baird, Equality and Inclusion
Manager at Ayrshire College said “It’s
a grim fact that one in four women
will be affected by domestic violence
in their lifetime, and that many
women don’t feel able to tell anyone
about this. Hair and beauty salons
offer an opportunity to spot the signs
of abuse and advise women on what
help is available.”
The College welcomed BBC Scotland
to the first workshop involving our
beauty therapists, which was shown
on Reporting Scotland and is
available on our website.
Click here to
view the video
DELOITTE CHAIRMAN URGES AYRSHIRE
WOMEN TO ACHIEVE THEIR DREAMS
Our accounting and business
students were thrilled to welcome
Deloitte Chairman David
Cruickshank and Angela Mitchell,
a partner at the accountancy
firm, for a special motivational
talk focusing on gender equality
within the workplace.
The 30-minute presentation
highlighted the many exciting
opportunities available to women
in business. The talk was part of the
‘Equality Across the Board’ series
of debates, co-ordinated by
Speakers for Schools in partnership
with The 30% Club.
women by the end 2015. When they
started, 12.6% of board members
were female, that figure is now up to
23%.
David is a member of The 30%
Club - a group that launched in the
UK in 2010 with a goal having 30%
of FTSE-100 boards comprised of
David Cruickshank was elected
Chairman of Deloitte in 2007. After
his talk, he said “I just hope we have
managed to remove some of the
The pair spoke to the students and
college staff about the challenges
women have faced to make it into
high profile positions. They
encouraged staff and students to see
their potential in leadership positions.
The mainly female audience of over
50 students had the opportunity to
put questions to David and Angela
on a wide range of topics.
invisible barriers that there are, and
that women ask questions like ‘why
can’t I do that?’ or ‘maybe I should
look at doing this instead of
something else’. In a short session,
you can’t influence a person’s life
chances but I hope we’ve opened
some doors.”