October 11^th is International Girls’ Day. It was established by The United Nations in 2011 as a special day to focus on the rights of girls and the challenges that girls meet worldwide. There are still millions of girls who are unable to access education, and have difficult lives with little opportunity to follow their dreams. In Australia most girls have a lot of freedom to play, to study, to have friends and to decide what kind of career they will follow or study to achieve. Even here though, girls are often treated unequally and as adults they often get lower pay and meet discrimination because of their gender. The expectations society has for girls is lower than for boys and as a result they feel excluded from sport, from jobs and from many activities that boys enjoy. They also feel judged on their appearances and too often made to feel that beauty is the only aspect that matters.

When I read that preschool girls have high confidence and feel that they can do anything but by the time they are 19 less than half of our girls have that feeling, it took me back to my own childhood. From a very early age I wished I was a boy. I was very aware that boys had more fun, more adventures and more choices than girls. As I grew older I felt this even more keenly. When I said I wanted to be a farmer, everyone thought I meant I wanted to marry a farmer. That was not at all what I wanted. Attitudes and opportunities are certainly much better than that now, but there are still many challenges for females to meet. It is so easy for people to follow stereotypes when buying gifts for small children and the marketers are so clever at promoting toys and activities that are gender focused. When the ads are all about dolls, the girls want dolls.

Girls say they want

• to be treated more like boys
• to be taken seriously
• not to be treated like Barbie dolls
• not to be judged for what they wear or what they do
• to be able to choose any career that is open to boys
• to know they are as good as boys and can achieve any dream they have
• to be respected as strong, independent people

Tags: behaviour, education, emotional wellbeing