Like a Girl...
To celebrate #iwd2024, we held a session to create awareness on women challenges. As many of my colleagues have daughters, I wanted to share how and when our challenges start...from when we are little girls.
Boys are expected to be brave and adventurous, Girls are expected to be clean and perfect; boys are encouraged to swing high and jump, girls...well for girls is too dangerous to swing high and jump, they can get hurt, their dress will get dirty, and we don't want to see them crying, we want to see them always smiling and pretty, that's why we need to protect them, to avoid them any pain.
Doing things "like a girl" has degenerated to bad performance, denoting that girls do things without grit and/or determination. Ask real girls and they will tell you, and show you, what real grit and real determination looks like.
Studies show that initially there is no difference in confidence levels between boys and girls, but between age 8-14 girl's confidence starts to drop creating a confidence gap for life. Our well intended sense of protection sets the expectations for girls to be perfect and the mindset to be more cautious and to avoid risks.
In the workplace it translates to low self-efficacy, not applying for promotion, not negotiating pay raise, not being assertive...all characteristics that are normalized for women, but shouldn't.
One colleague shared that her daughter, coincidently age 8, is being made fun for being too "boy-ish" for being athletic and running "too fast to be a girl", and "too slow" when competing with the boys, so he has encouraged her to not only continue her trainings, as she enjoys it, but to train even harder, so she can beat the boys. Thank you Ken Jomura for letting me share this story, and kudos to you for empowering your daughter to do things LIKE A GIRL.
It's time to #rewritetherules and start using the phrase #likeagirl in it's real meaning, #Amazing, #Powerful, #Fabulous, and the list goes on.
#LikeAGirl : https://lnkd.in/e3bAmu5q
#TheDreamGap https://lnkd.in/e5B3xij
#tedtalk Teach girls bravery, not perfection https://lnkd.in/fEMn5PH
Driving B2C revenue & growth 💰 📈 | Keynote Speaker | Empowering Women in AI
1moMentorship is so powerful for the mentee and the mentor.