It can be hard to find really cool adventuress female characters in books and TV for girls. They are out there, there’s just not a whole lot to choose from. Which is one of the reasons why stumbling upon stories of female adventurers in REAL life is so great. Well if you’re looking for one such girl, look no further than 16-year-old Laura Dekker, the youngest sailor to sail around the world. Continue reading →
Imagine being a girl with a dream of being a boxer. And you follow that dream until you become a female boxer. But then, you realize that you will never get the chance to box at the Olympics, because you’re a girl. So you decide to fight. And eventually you win.
That’s was the feeling of female boxers across the globe when in 2009 the International Olympic Committee Executive Board announced that women’s boxing (the only summer sport on the Olympic docket without a female counterpart) would be added to the schedule for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. Continue reading →
Recently we talked on the blog and on Facebook about a study that was done about the difference in educational priorities for girls in areas of India where there are gender quotas for women in politics versus areas in India where there are no women in power. The differences were obvious. This post led to a discussion about the benefits of gender quotas. Girls can’t be what they can’t see, and quotas force women into positions where they can set examples for girls.
This theory was taken a step further in research done closer to home that went beyond politics and right into the effects of gender quotas in areas of science, technology, math and engineering (STEM). But currently, especially here in the United States, women are still consistently underrepresented in corporations, STEM careers as well as politics. Continue reading →
Posted in Blog, Girls and STEM, SheHeroes in the News
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Tagged Education, Gender messages, Girls and STEM, Inspire, Math, NASA, physicist, Politics, science, Women in Engineering
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Did you know today was National Girls & Women In Sports Day? If you’re unfamiliar with National Girls and women in Sports Day, here is the lowdown from their website:
“On February 1, 2012, thousands of sports educators, coaches, athletic directors, recreation directors, association members, sponsors, students, and parents across the country will show their support of the Day and of this year’s theme, “Title IX at 40: In it for the Long Run.” Continue reading →
“You can’t be what you can’t see.” – Marie Wilson
The need for more positive role models for young girls is not exactly news to us here at SheHeroes. In fact, you could say that need is the biggest part of why SheHeroes came to be in the first place. Which is why when see studies that show, in black and white, the impact positive women role models can have on girls, we want to share it.
A recent study co-authored by MIT economist Esther Duflo, was published in Science Magazine. The studied looked at families with children ages 11 – 15 in 495 villages in the West Bengal Region in India where quotas for female representation in politics have been set in place since 1993. The study examined the differences in attitude towards education and achievement in these areas against areas where there are no female leaders. Continue reading →
Wrestling can certainly be considered one sport where women still really struggle to be taken seriously, especially at the high school level. But based on stories like this it seems safe to be hopeful that things are changing. The other day I caught the story of a North Andover teenage girl, Tami Coughlin. Tami wrestles on an Elite North Andover team that boasts two straight Division state titles. Continue reading →
It seems that everyday there is a new take on the great Lego Friends Debacle. Each one is just as thoughtful and brilliant as the next. All of our favorite friends and orgs have had something to say about the incident and happily, for me personally, even moms I know in real life and chat with at my children’s school have turned their noses up at the new Lego line and the way it’s being marketed.
I’m still not exactly clear on whom Lego consulted when coming up with this new line, but it was apparently not any of the moms in my real or online life. Continue reading →
Last week I had intended on writing a blog post about the Girl Scouts. It was going to be about how they are celebrating 100 years of scouting this year and one of the coolest things we would see from Girl Scouts would be an overhaul of their badges. Last year over at SheHeroes I wrote about the outdated messages that Girl Scout Badges were sending to girls so I was overjoyed that Girl Scouts had heeded the message and were bringing in some wonderful changes. Continue reading →
Of the different things I do at my kid’s school throughout the year my favorite is by far volunteering in the library twice a week. Once with each of my children’s classes. One weekly visit with my son’s third grade class and one visit with my daughter’s first grade class. Continue reading →
Posted in Blog, SheHeroes From History
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Tagged books, Education, Gender messages, Girls, Inspiration, Inspire, reading, SheHeroes, volunteers, Women
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A really interesting story went viral today. We of course couldn’t help but spread the story ourselves by posting it on Facebook. It was the story of Jeanne Baret, a pioneering botanist, and the first woman to circle the globe. Not that we knew that until recently… Continue reading →