We devote a good chunk of our blog space to decrying marketers and media for the way they represent girls. We quote psychologists and academics about the way these messages might negatively affect our daughters’ lives. We continue to fight gender inequality as women and mothers.  And in other parts of the world, the discrepancy between the rights of males and females is even more striking.These inequalities deny the daughters of the world a fair chance. They endanger their futures, and sometimes their lives.

This is why a growing group of supporters is fighting to make today, September 22, Day of The Girl. A day for girls to be celebrated. A day for the world to take a look at how we can do a better job of caring for our girls, and giving them the very best chance for success.  A day for us all to ask ourselves:  What are you doing to make girls’ worlds bigger and better?

“We want the freedom to be ourselves, and to be treated as equals, regardless of sex. We want legislation and programs that ensure the rights and dignity of girls everywhere. We want a National Day of the Girl to explore gender discrimination and advocate for equality for every girl in the world. We want to create positive, concrete changes in how all girls and women are treated and perceived. We are asking President Barack Obama to support our year-long campaign to claim a day for girls everywhere.”

Today is the culmination of a year-long campaign to raise awareness for girls’ issues nation-and world-wide. If you have a daughter, or want to help improve the situation for girls around the world, here’s how you can help:
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Does Tide hate tomboys?

At first watch, I was supremely annoyed by a new Tide commercial that seems to imply that it sucks to be the mom of a tomboy.

However, on the second viewing I wondered if the commercial isn’t making fun of the prim and proper mother and her ridiculous ideal of “feminine”. We’re supposed to chuckle at her and sympathize with the daughter, right?

Either way, the stupid commercial is waking waves all over the Internet. Continue reading »

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Does Pat really represent some version or vision of a societal goal?

Fighting gender stereotypes is all the rage these days. First came news of the couple raising their child without revealing it’s gender (it’s okay to call it an It, right?) and now a preschool in Stockholm, Sweden, is instructing children not to utter “him,” “her,” “boy” and “girl.”

The move is being made in an attempt to eliminate gender bias. If the goal is for girls and boys to be friends (or frenemies, as the case so often is), then apparently gender-specific pronouns serve to harm the relations between the two.

At Egalia, which is a taxpayer-funded school and not a private school, books are read that feature gay and lesbian couples and single parents and adopted children, while classics like Cinderella and Snow White, which are “rife with gender stereotypes,” are banned.
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For women, mid-life crises come early

Ladies first! New research on mid-life crises finds that more and more women are having them, and having them younger than our male counterparts. Women ages 35-44 were most likely to be in crisis.

That’s right, you can have a midlife crisis in your 30s. Welcome to the modern world, where everything moves faster. Supposedly the pressure on working women is so intense, we burn out a decade before men do.

What is a mid-life crisis, anyway?

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Are you tougher on your daughter than your son?

Are you quicker to correct and criticize your daughter while you are more accepting of your son’s mistakes and flaws?  If so, join the crowd.

According to a new survey, a whopping 88% of mothers admit that although they know it’s wrong, they are tougher on their daughters than their sons. Continue reading »

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Working moms still paid less than working dads

A report released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office has some disturbing news for working women – and particularly for working moms. Some highlights:

Women’s progress into the ranks of management have been minimal over the last decade: In 2007, about 40 percent of all manager were women, up just one percentage point from 2000, whereas women comprised 49 percent of all non-management workers.

Although women now earn 80.2 cents for every dollar that men do – up from 62.3 cents in 1979 – the gap is far wider for female managers who have children. Managers who are moms earn about 79 cents for every dollar paid to men who are dads, a gap that hasn’t budged since at least 2000, according to the New York Times.

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In Afghanistan, boys have much more freedom than girls

If you think it’s challenging to raise girls in this country, you might spare a thought for parents of daughters in Afghanistan, where giving birth to a daughter, rather than a son, is — sadly, terribly, horribly — considered a failure on her parents’ part, and where girls are deprived of many of the freedoms granted to boys.

A fascinating piece in Tuesday’s New York Times examines a startling practice that has grown out of this sad state of affairs: parents who dress their girls as boys, passing them off as sons for years until they reach puberty. Continue reading »

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