Girls For A Change: A Positive Adult Role Model

Girls for a Change is a national organization attempting to provide young girls with the role models they need. This organization aims to help young girls become leaders in their community by pairing girls with a positive adult role model who shows them key ways to act with self-confidence. The girls develop plans to achieve change that tackle issues these girls face every day in their neighborhoods. A similar program I recently got involved with is Project Uplift, which is a mentoring program for young children. Many of these children have problems at home and are put in the program by their parents, guardians, or school counselors. I specifically wanted to mentor girls because I know first-hand how hard it is growing up in a society that

The husbands worked, paid bills, and made all the decisions. Many women were not able to even obtain a job or be seen as independent because men were the dominant figures. Harvard Business School writes, “A married woman was a dependent and could not own property in her own name or control her own earnings.” Over time, the role of women should have changed, however society, through marketing and media, still makes it seem like beauty is most important. “Girl Day” is an event created to encourage college females to enter into the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, “only one in eleven engineers is female.” Many colleges are creating programs to encourage female engineers. Specifically, Harvey Mudd College divided up its computer science curriculum into Gold, for those with no prior programming experience, and Black, for everyone else, to reduce the intimidation aspect for females. The college’s president, Dr. Klawe, supported this change and provided money for every female freshman to travel to the Grace Hopper conference. An opportunity for freshman to be surrounded by females in the computer science field. That said, young girls should have a positive role model that influences building up their self-worth, not showing them how to apply makeup or fit into tight

The media, peers, clothing designers, and even absent or irresponsible parents all pressure young girls in growing up too soon. Parents can help relieve these pressures by monitoring media intake which will lead to less makeup and television obsessions, involving their daughters in age-appropriate activities which will no longer promote older relationships, and allowing them to be a part of Girls for a Change or Project Uplift to be inspired by positive role models that support their self-worth. Once girls are older, there will be plenty of time to wear makeup and flirty clothes so there is no need to push them into adulthood so quickly. Girls should focus more on inner beauty rather than physical