1. Girls Do Science
Last week, I was babysitting a 7-year-old girl named Sadie. I casually asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" She looked up from her project, constructing a cardboard house, and said, "Oh, I want to be an architect and a designer, and invent lots of things." And she went back to working. At her age, she hasn't been exposed to the stigma that science is for boys, and the fact that the field of science is dominated by men. She likes building and science, so why wouldn't she pursue it as a career?
7 of 10 girls are like Sadie: they're interested in science. However, only 2 out of 10 of these girls will defy stereotypes and have a science-based career. Microsoft asked bright young girls about their thoughts on this, in their video
Girls Do Science. (
This one is also really good!)
2. Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection
I read an
article on Psychology Today about how being a bright young girl can hinder you in the long run. I clicked on it, a little bit scared as to what I would read. I learned that there is an issue in the way girls are educated at school: they are praised for their perfection in a certain area, or for their innate goodness. All the while, rowdy little boys are told they can do something "if they would just apply themselves." Through no fault of their own, this leads women to think their abilities are unchangeable: that they are good in one field and bad in another. On the other hand, boys see the opportunity to improve in a field by how hard they focus or work. In the same way, this makes women believe they are to be perfect. As women feel the need to be perfect, they shy away from risks or challenges. Reshma Saujani explores this in her TED Talk, and tells us what we can do about it.
3. Tory Burch Embrace Ambition
This video, recently released by the Tory Burch foundation, was made on the basis that "ambition" in the business world is a positive for men: meaning successful or powerful. But for women, it can be used as a negative: meaning greedy, selfish, or pushy. The video is a call to action to women (and men) to "own your power, own your drive, own your dreams...embrace ambition."
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Too often women shy away from embracing what they're passionate about, the very thing that sets us apart. Passion is not something to bury; but rather we should wear our passions like the clothes on our back. Our dreams are not embarrassing or "too ambitious," we should spread them like wildfire.
Girls: know that this is your life, and no one can tell you what to do with it. So go, build that robot, build that empire, wear that outfit that makes you feel strong. Be ambitious, be confident, be kind (but take no sh*t).
meg
