It’s time to stop treating girls like they’re inferior to boys

For years, doing things ‘like a girl’ has been linked to weakness, inferiority, and emasculation.

Being a girl has meant caution, self-censorship, and limited bodily motility.

It has also discouraged progress in certain areas of study and scholarship, particularly the fields of science, technology, maths and engineering (STEM).

Ideas of girls being ‘naturally’ good at certain things (such as caring, dancing, and decorating) and ‘naturally’ bad at others (physical sports, building, and science) are reinforced in every toyshop around the world creating further messages of what girls should be and do.

Two ad campaigns circulated on social media over the last two weeks have begun to challenge the language we use when we talk about what being a girl means, and what it could mean, for the better.

The Always video campaign examines common perceptions about what it means to run, throw, kick, and fight like a girl.



The Verizon ‘Inspire Her Mind ad’ examines the subtle ways that girls are dis-incentivized from pursuing STEM careers by the cues they are given about what they should be doing instead.

These campaigns are finally doing something right.

It’s time to stop saying ‘amazeballs’ and start saying ‘amazevag’.

It’s time to stop referring to being like a man or a boy as better than being like a woman or a girl.

There are an infinite number of things to celebrate about being a woman and it’s time we start recognizing them.

Time to start telling different stories about women. Time to recognize that when we criticize our bodies in front of our daughters, nieces, and other young girls we teach them that there is something wrong with them.

When we diet, dumb ourselves down, refuse to learn to fix things/defer our authority to men those girls learn that they should do that to. And so do little boys.

It’s time to start a process of radically celebrating ourselves and making sure that the next generation of women and ourselves are more confident, fearless and powerful.

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