Girls as young as six years old believe that brilliance is a male trait, according research into gender stereotypes. WHAT!!!?? Say it isn’t so? Well according to this article in The Guardian featuring a study co-authored by an NYU professor “Already by this young age girls are discounting the evidence that is in front of their eyes and basing their ideas about who is really, really smart on other things,” Andrei Cimpian, Associate Professor of Psychology at NYU.
As mothers we need to fight against these gender stereotypes. We need to remind our girls that they are valuable and valued. Our girls need to be reminded of their ability to achieve anything they set their mind to and that nobody, no man, no woman, nobody should ever tell them otherwise. We need to help our girls rise up and feel the accomplishments of all the women that rose up before them to set the wheels in motion for their future success. We need to teach out girls that they can be their own heroes and they don’t need to wait on a man to solve their problems, that they can do their own math and figure it out.
No more walking in silence behind a boy leading the way, step up girls and tell the boys how it’s done!! It’s our time, it’s our girls future and it needs to start now.
Today, International Women’s Day will be recognized across the world. It’s important that we show our young girls strong female role models so they know they can achieve greatness too.
Whether we show our girls through books like:
Women Who Changed the World: 50 Amazing Americans
If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks
I am Jane Goodall (Ordinary People Change the World)
DC SUPER HEROES: MY FIRST BOOK OF GIRL POWER
Amazing Women In History: inspiring stories of 20 women the history books left out
The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist
I Could Do That!: Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote
Or we show our girls shows with strong female characters like:
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Netflix has a whole list of shows with female leads HERE
So whether you are reading, watching or just talking; be sure to remind your girls that they were made to STAND OUT and NOT FIT IN!!!!!!
I need to get some of these books for my girls. My eldest especially loves learning about history and historical figures. And that Netflix trailer is the best!!