Neither did I until I opened Facebook on my phone and saw the banner:
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even know there was an International Day of the Girl and I’m going to bet many of you didn’t either. Established by the United Nations in 2012, IDG’s goal is to both shed a light on the issues faced by our young girls throughout the world and empower them to go beyond status quo and that glass ceiling.
In honor of Wednesday’s IDG, Global Goals released this powerful video set to Beyonce’s “Freedom,” and if you’re not crying or wanting to fight for our young women around the world, you’re a robot set out to destroy mankind and must be stopped…by these girls.
Ending violence against women, giving each girl in the world an education, ending child marriages and human trafficking by 2030? We can do it. We must do it.
But unfortunately, the International Day of the Girl was overshadowing by growing reports of that human feces, Harvey Weinstein and his sexual assault on women for the past three decades. As more and more women are coming forward, it is clear that the International Day of the Girl is something that needs to be 365 days of the year because if we still have women who feel they have no voice, we have a long way to go.
So what can we do? How do we empower our daughters, granddaughters, nieces, students, and neighbors? I have a few ideas.
Teach Them How to Have a Bold Voice
When I was a teacher, I would have my first day of school discussion with my students. I covered the basics: respect is a two way street, stop writing just your name and last initial on your paper – you’re in high school, not first grade, don’t ask me if you could go pee – just say you have to use the restroom because I don’t need to know what you plan on doing in that stall.
But I also told my students, especially my female students, that when they answer a question, they answer it with a bold voice. I didn’t care if the answer was wrong, I wanted the voice to rang with authority.
So, what is a bold voice? It’s not screaming or yelling, but it’s when every word emanates with power and ownership. Sentences don’t trail off because she doesn’t think someone is listening or end with a vocal question mark when there wasn’t a question to begin with.There’s limited “maybes” and “oh, okays.”
How do we teach it? Communication is both listening and speaking, but we sometimes forget the listening part. For our young girls, many of them just need someone to listen, to allow them to talk. Sometimes it may be for advice, and other times it may be for a soundboard. They need a place where they won’t be silenced, that what they have to say – no matter how mundane it may feel like to you – has value and worth.
But it also begins with us. Modeling is a powerful teaching tool, because no matter how many times we say, “Be strong” or “Stand proud,” many of young girls need to be shown what that looks like.
https://youtu.be/XjJQBjWYDTs
I’m a chronic apologizer. I say “sorry” almost every day: for knocking on my principal’s door when I need to talk about a student, when I call my brother to ask a favor, or even when I disagree with someone (“I’m sorry, but the squiggly eyebrow trend is society’s downfall”). As women, we have a tendency to say “sorry” more than our male counterparts. Even worse, we’re more likely to say, “It’s okay” to situations that are definitely not okay.
I know these are simple words that are engrained into our everyday lexicon, but what are we teaching our young girls when they hear that on a constant basis? What are we showing them when we incessantly apologize for something we didn’t do wrong?
Our thoughts and words have worth. Let’s make sure our girls know that their voice carries the same powerful weight.
Fight for Adequate Sex Education
I know sex education is a touchy subject, especially when it comes to our young girls. There’s the fear that once a student sees that video or hears the word, “penetration” or “ovulation,” he or she is going to leave the classroom and become the next Teen Mom cast member.
That’s not true.
But this is true: according to the National Conference of State Legislature, only 24 states require that schools teach sex education. Let me rephrase that: 26 states do not require any type of sexual education curriculum in public schools. Y’know, because if kids don’t know about something, they’re safe.
Oh wait, that’s bullshit.
NCSL also reports that although teen pregnancy may be declining, sexually transmitted infections is not. In fact, half of STI cases reported in the US are from young people ages 15 to 24.
So why is the fight for sexual education curriculum so vital for our young girls? Well, let me take a page out of Schoolhouse Rock:
Sex education curriculum allows our students, especially our young girls, to understand their changing bodies, how contraceptives work and debunks myths of sexuality that are typically perpetuated by society and culture.
It also promotes positive attitudes towards the human body – something that many young girls struggle with as they are inundated with a barrage of messages about sexuality and physical beauty. Most importantly, sexual education gives girls the tools and resources to have those courageous conversations with their partners, giving them a way to express themselves when they are feeling pressured or manipulated into something they don’t want to do, and stand strong when their rights are being threatened.
For those who feel that a comprehensive sexual education curriculum is overstepping the bounds of public education, please remember that these young girls may not be having those talks at home. If it is not in a safe school setting and it’s not at home, I shudder to think of where are children may be learning about sexuality.
Promote STEM Participation
Remember Teen Talk Barbie? You know, the one that told little girls that “math class is really tough?” Nothing more was said after that, no words of inspiration or messages about perseverance – just that math class was tough but shopping is fun! National women’s groups criticized the doll for promoting stereotypes about girls and math. It was pulled from shelves across the country, and most likely replaced by a Barbie in board shorts and high heels, holding a surfboard. Totally realistic.
That was over twenty years ago, and although Barbie has since moved on, our girls are still struggling. Each year, more and more young girls find math and science to be “tough” and rate it as their least favorite subject. In fact, girls are more likely to feel less confident in math and science even if they perform on par with their male peers, and begin losing interest in science and math as young as seven years old.
The future may be female, but it’s also science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
STEM programs in our public schools provide the opportunity for our young girls to realize that math and science are not a boys only club. They allow students from all backgrounds to discover their inner researcher and innovator, and spark that fire that could lead to our next Marie Curie or Jane Goodall.
But many of our girls won’t join a STEM club or register for a STEM class until we encourage them, until we stop complaining about how frustrating this new Common Core math is, and until we start showing them that yes it may be “tough,” but that’s where determination and perseverance can lead to success.
By the way, when I was researching STEM programs in the United States, I found myself on the White House’s website. There I found the “Women in Stem” section. When I clicked on it, I was dismayed by what I found:
Our girls deserve more than an archived post.
They deserve a future.
