I travelled by myself for the first time when I was 6. I flew from California to Maryland to visit my grandmother. I had a great time flying across the country alone. I even got a little ice cream sundae after drawing a picture for the flight attendant assigned to check on me (pro tip: this no longer works in your late 30s).
There’s a great picture of me getting ready to board that flight. I’m in an aquamarine polo shirt, holding a light pink jacket in one hand and my boarding pass in the other. I had pigtails and badly-cut bangs (sorry, Mom) and a look on my face that definitely screamed “Ugh, no pictures please!”
I love the photo because it reminds me how convinced I was that I could do anything. Fly across the country? No problem. Go to the moon? Sure. Become president of the United States? Why not.
As a young kid, I had no idea how lucky I was to have parents who told me I could be whatever I wanted to be. Even if deep down they feared my dreams were impossible, they always told me to just do my best and go for it. It wasn’t until I started school and went out in the world that I learned just how ready the world was to put up barriers.
As I got older, I became increasingly aware of the double-standards when it came to things like jobs and education. For instance, when I applied for grad school in England in my mid-20s, many people’s first reaction was excitement for me to meet my future spouse there. I asked a male friend who had also done his Masters overseas if he ever received that response. He gave me a blank stare – so, clearly not. And then when I returned to the US after grad school and applied with a staffing agency, I was immediately handed an administrative application (not the technical one) and advised to leave out my Masters degree because it might be “too intimidating” for clients. The kicker was overhearing a male applicant being praised for his MA in the next room.
Lingering bias
To mark the 2021 International Day of the Girl on October 11, the LEGO group teamed up with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media on research capturing the views of parents and children across 7 countries on creativity. The goal was to see whether parents’ perceptions of creativity were different depending on whether their child was a boy or girl. The key findings suggest that parents are 6 times more likely to think of scientists and athletes as men and over 8 times as likely to think of engineers as men rather than women.
So despite girls reporting increased confidence in participating in “male” activities like playing football or coding, societal stereotypes continue to hold them back.
For all the progress that’s been made in the sciences and the equal rates of women and men in law and medicine, we still have a ways to go when it comes to qualifying – or somehow minimizing – women’s professions with their gender. Do you ever hear anyone say “male doctor” or “male engineer”? No, you don’t. Because it sounds dumb. And as I previously wrote about, I want my 5-year-old niece to grow up in a world where “female engineer” sounds just as dumb.
Girls just wanna have fun…and rights
Such a world is possible, but it involves more than cheerleader-y “girls are awesome” platitudes.
We need to continue dismantling gender stereotypes when it comes to parenting and “commercial” things like toys and fashion (i.e. enough with the pink and blue marketing already). We need to confront discriminatory attitudes and behaviors that treat women and girls as anomalies in certain spaces rather than equal participants. We need meaningful policy changes to strengthen health and education and break down the systemic barriers inhibiting women and girls’ representation. Increased, consistent investment in programmes targeting girls’ education and participation is also critical, as is enforcement of laws relating to such initiatives (like Title IX in the US). Effective accountability – globally and locally – for fulfilling commitments wouldn’t hurt either.
It’s obviously hard to unpack these issues in a single blog post. But it’s time the world sees that girls’ rights and participation isn’t “cute” or a “soft issue” or just a nice thing to do. They’re a vital part of any thriving, just society. It’s why days like International Day of the Girl are not only important but necessary.
Who run the world? Girls.
I know 6-year-old me lives inside me somewhere. She’s still holding a boarding pass, ready to take the world by storm. As I look at this picture now, I realize how much this girl went through to be the woman I am today. I also realize how much I want to be like her when I grow up – and how much I want her to be proud of me.
What does International Day of the Girl mean to you?
