construction of a girl child essay

Gender Construction and Child’s Play Essay

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Adult Influence on Children’s Play

Gender construction and child’s play, adult idea of socialisation, reference list.

Adult discourse on toys often dwells on the notion of discoursing on gender difference. Toys are over sexualised by parents, media, toy-makers, scholars, teachers, etc. to disseminate an early lesson on gender difference to children. Thus, boys play with toys made and marketed for them and girls play with indoor toys like Barbie. Gendering of colour, sports, clothes, television shows, and toys are a few example of areas of adult discourse on young minds. Selective and controlled exposure of children to media and television viewing helps to construct a gender specific view about toys and games.

A child’s growth and movement are controlled and observed through the panopticon system that allows adults to carve their preferences and gender specific ideals. This deliberate attempt to control a child’s personal space applies to determining what toys they play with. Adults have a strong influence on the gender construct and the nature of socialisation that a child engages in, therefore, defining their idea of play (Witt 1997).

Parents influence their children to play or not to play with Barbie dolls has great impact on defining the children’s sense of gender role, and socialisation (Rand 1995). Parents begin a process of creating gender role through specific construct right from the time children are aware of gender and gender differences (Kane 2013). Adult’s idea of children and childhood, gender roles, and socialisation has a strong influence on the children’s play.

This essay puts forth the argument that adult ideas of childhood, gender, and socialisation frame the meanings of children’s play, particularly with reference to Barbie dolls. This is done in three sections: first deals with the adult influence in creating constructs of gender and therefore play/game among children, second discusses the gender role and influence of children’s desire to play with Barbie dolls, and third describe the roll of socialisation in influencing children’s desire to play with Barbie dolls.

Parental influence on children’s behaviour, play orientation, and psychological development has been well documented by scholars. The first relevant book that should be discussed in order to understand the influence of parents on framing children’s exposure to popular culture is that by Katherine McDonald. McDonnell (2000, p. 16) tries to explain the challenges that parents go through while trying to understand their children’s needs.

In the book, McDonald points out that many parents always struggle to guide their children through the path that they believe will make them successful in life. Witt (1997) points out that a child’s first exposure to gender and gender roles is through the parents. Parents even treat a girl child differently from a boy child (Witt 1997). Witt (1997) argues that parents have a strong influence on children’s gender-specific activities such as playing with dolls for girls and sports activities for boys. Hence, parents create a gender-specified demarcation between a girl and boy child.

In understanding the childhood of their children, adults often face a problem that arises when they realize that their children do not share their approach of thinking. According to McDonald (1994), it is not possible for a child to think like an adult. In this context, McDonald argues that a conflict arises when a parent tries to impose his or her worldview on the child. According to McDonald, a parent may want to regulate what a child views for fear that their minds may be polluted.

Other parents struggle to identify the kind of toys that their children may find most interesting. While some parents feel that they are failing to give their children what they need to experience a positive development, others always feel that their children are demanding more than they should have at their tender age. Clearly, McDonald stresses on the impact of parental control on younger children and points out that in most cases, the parents make decisions regarding the child’s toy preference.

Other authors like Kane (2006) believes that parents have a strong influence in constructing gender of their children in creating a gender identity among them. The influence of parents in defining the childhood pastime of children is abundantly described in their effort to monitor and define their television viewing. McDonald (1994) points out that parents in their attempt to define kid culture often find themselves in a dilemma when it comes to allowing their children to watch violent movies. This causes a moral panic among the parents.

Parents are not unanimous about the influence of Barbie as a toy for children. Some believe that Barbie dolls have a positive influence on children while other others believe that they have a bad influence on children. The bad effect of Barbie is believed to be negative impact on body image and gender roles, are usually voiced by parents and scholars. Thus, adults perceive a child’s toy to play a complicated role in moulding the child. Hence, they conceive children to view and perceive things the way adults do. For instance, Rand (1995) points out in the beginning of her book that she was herself never allowed to play with a Barbie doll and her mother never bought one for her. This narration demonstrates the adult’s perception of a child’s world.

Further, adults often believe that boys playing with Barbie dolls are ‘queer’ or gay (Rand 1995). Thus, a degree of effeminacy is associated with boys playing with dolls, and more specifically Barbie dolls. If the argument that, boys who play with Barbie dolls are ‘queer’ is assumed true, there should not be any scope of alarm or panic due to this. However, by disassociating toys for boys and that for girls, adults have created a platform for segregation of the gender, leaving no space for the third gender to grow in the upbringing of the children.

Gendering a child’s identity is done even through the games children play. Gender construction is paramount in the lives of children as their whole identity is based on their sex. Through a very simple exercise, McDonald (1994) shows that cartoons shown on television have more superheroes and few (almost zero) super-heroines. In the book, McDonald (1994) points out at the gender construct and segregation of gender roles in the cartoons watched by children.

She points out that in most of the cases, the heroes are male, subconsciously creating a discourse of the insignificance of a girl child. In other words, she implies that a girl child adheres to the popular gender roles in these cartoons thus, reducing the relevance of these cartoons to a girl child. Recently, there have been attempts to make some of these cartoons relevant to the girl child by introducing the heroines that they can easily identify with in these cartoons. However, McDonald (1994) points out that such introductions have created more defined gender roles.

Witt (1997) who studied gender construction specifically points out that the inference of parents in creating such distinction between toys for boys and that for girls is not uncommon. Witt (1997) argues that more girls’ rooms are painted pink and have dolls while boys rooms are painted in blue and are stuffed with cars, sports equipment, and tools. Thus, the adults in the family, who unsuspectingly define the gender of their children, decide the choice of toys made by children. Volkom (2003) believes that children usually emulate the behaviour of the adults who share their gender. Children use these observations then to shape their own behaviours.

Gender distinction is first discoursed and constructed through parents. Children internalize the gender discourse emitted by the parents more quickly than that by the outer world. The reason for this is due to their exposure to gender through parents who are the earliest connecting point with the outer world. They internalize gender from parents at a very early age and become acutely aware of the adult sex roles. Thus, Witt (1997) believes that children create their own gender expectations at a very early age and are often unmovable from their beliefs.

Gendering of toys was an essential fragment of differentiating girls from boys at an early age. Kane (2013) discusses the icons of femininity used to demarcate the toys of boys and girls. The notion of femininity in society was based on the presence and discourse of masculinity in society (Kane 2013). The usage of dolls, especially Barbie, as a symbol of femininity, with its long slender legs, and flowing blond hair, created an icon of femininity. Girls playing with Barbie, and essentially idolizing Barbie believed that the ideal feminine attributes lay in the physical demeanour of the doll. Further, in case of boys, parents usually hold a negative attitude towards boys wearing frilly or pink coloured clothes, thus, creating an image of masculinity that is imprinted in the mind of the children (Kane 2013).

Gender construct of adults are instilled on children, thus, creating gender identity among them. Children learn about gender difference at a very early age and participate in gender stereotyping due to their exposure to popular media, peers, and most importantly parents. Gender construct plays a strong role in the choice of game that children choose to play. Boys usually prefer to play with cars, tools, and outdoor sports while girls are more inclined towards playing with dolls like Barbie and engaging in domestic activity. This stark difference in game preference stems from the parental discourse.

In the book Barbie’s Queer Accessories , Erica Rand points out that her mother would never allow her to play with Barbie dolls. Her reason for disapproving Barbie dolls was because she, like many other like-minded mothers, did not want her daughter to have “pointy-breasted teenager who literally couldn’t stand on her own two feet” (Rand 1995, p. 4). This effect of playing with Barbie dolls has been documented by many researchers who believe that this creates a body image idolization among adolescent girls who try to attain the Barbie-like figure which they pressure to be the perfect body-type (Kuther & McDonald 2004).

The study conducted by Kuther and McDonald (2004) presents a pervasive picture of boys and girls playing with Barbie. The researchers found that playing with Barbie dolls were a process for girls to “enact adult social scripts” while the boys was mostly engaged in “destructive play … disfiguring” the dolls (Kuther & McDonald 2004, p. 50).

Researchers have found a strong relationship between the parents’ belief of play and the socialisation skills of children. Social adaptation of children is derived from group play. Researchers believe parents have a strong influence in shaping this social skill of children. Parent’s perception of child play has a strong influence on the social competence of the child (Lin & Yawkey 2014).

Lin and Yawkey’s (2014) study demonstrates that parents with a positive attitude towards child’s play help in developing strong social competence in children. Hence, when parents have a positive perception of their child’s game, it helps to develop the child’s social skills. Intuitively one can assume that when parents are encouraging about the games that the children are playing helps in developing their social skills. Thus, when parents show approval towards gender-stereotyped games, children find it more comfortable to play with.

Adult influence on defining child’s game is immense. Adults create a concept of gender and gender defined games that children eventually adopt. Adult discourse creates the perception of Barbie as a toy for girls. Children adopt and imitate the perception and behaviour of adults and soon believe that Barbie dolls are specifically for girls and little boys, at a very early age, avoid playing with them. Due to the severity of the adult discourse, children often associate playing with Barbie as an effeminate trait among boys. Adult interference in children’s play and toy-choice robs them of their decision-making capability.

Choice of toys, therefore, influences the perception of gender role. Barbie dolls thus become a toy for girls. Hence, adult interference and influence specifically creates the concept of toys for boys and that for girls, thus, branding Barbie as a toy made for girls. Adults also include mass media and the manufactures of the toy who confirm to this concept of girls’ toy who specifically use gender discoursed colours and forms to make and promote the toy, thus associating it with the ideal of femininity. The moral panic over Barbie dolls only creates a generation of children who are crippled with the inability of independent decision-making faculty.

Kane, EW 2013, ‘”No way my boys are going to be like that!” Parents’ responses to children’s gender nonconformity.” Gender & Society 20.2 (2006): 149-176.’, in Gender and Women’s Studies in Canada: Critical Terrain , Canadian Scholars’ Press, Toronto.

Kuther, TL & McDonald, E 2004, ‘Early Adolescents’ Experiences with, and Views of, Barbie’, Adolescence , vol 39, no. 153, pp. 39-51.

Lin, Y-C & Yawkey, TD 2014, ‘Parents’ Play Beliefs and the Relationship to Children’s Social Competence’, Education , vol 135, no. 1, pp. 107-114.

McDonnell, K 1994, Kid Culture: Children & Adults & Popular Culture , Second Storey Press, Toronto, Ontario.

Rand, E 1995, Barbie’s Queer Accessories , Duke University Press, London.

Volkom, MV 2003, ‘The Relationships Between Childhood Tomboyism, Siblings’ Activities, and Adult Gender Roles ‘, Sex Roles , vol 49, no. 11, pp. 609-618.

Witt, SD 1997, ‘Parental influence on children’s socialisation to gender roles’, Adolescence , vol 32, no. 126, pp. 253-259.

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What is a girl? What is girlhood? The answers to these questions are not as straightforward as they might first appear. The word girl appeared in the Middle Age more than 700 years ago. At that time it was written as “gyrle,” meaning a child or a young person of either sex. Since then, the word has taken many forms such as “girle,” “gerle,” and “gurl.” During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the word girl started to refer specifically to a female child, or a young, unmarried woman. From the 1640s, “girl” could also mean “sweetheart.” Stemmed from the word “girl,” girlhood as a word appeared later in the mid-eighteenth century. Since the beginning, it was coined with the reference to the state of being a girl or the childhood of a girl. 

Then, what exactly is the state of being a girl? How do we define it? Definitions of girlhood change and vary widely than ever in nowadays society. We often think of age as the key determinant of girlhood, but even this is more complicated than one might think. When does girlhood end? Does it end with adolescence? When one turns eighteen? Does girlhood extend even until one is in their mid-twenties? Part of what makes defining girlhood so challenging is that age is not the only factor that defines girlhood. It is also a social and cultural construct, meaning that different societies often construct their own unique meaning of girlhood. 

In this exhibit, we worked with girl studies scholars and self-identified girls/women to explore various historical and modern definitions of girlhood. We also look at case studies, particularly from Asia, that are both stereotypically and subversively girl. We  chose to let contributors speak for themselves – our text is minimal and limited to introducing each section.

As you explore, ask yourself: Do you agree with how someone else defines “girl” or “girlhood?” What about your own experiences is similar to or different from experiences found throughout our museum? If you had to be interviewed like this, what would you say?

Education Guide

Use this education guide to interact with the exhibit, gain a deeper understanding of diverse girlhoods, and think about the meaning of gender identities today.  Activities in this guide are aligned to U.S. and/or U.K. educational standards. They are designed to be used by students and teachers as school lessons or enrichment opportunities.

Historically “Girl”

Different conceptions of girlhood have been constructed and changed over time and across cultures. In many cases, definitions of girlhood reflect the shifting political and cultural needs of societies. For example, at the end of the nineteenth century, Egyptian girlhood was often defined by other milestones, like first menstruation or marriage, not just a girl’s age. In early twentieth-century Europe the period of girlhood became longer, as more girls had more access to education. Even now, it becomes more difficult to draw a sharp distinction between girlhood and adulthood, in large part because girls are involved in seemingly adult experiences across the globe, from labor to sex work.

Since each culture has their own definition of girlhood, it is impossible to lump all kinds of girlhood into one definition. We highlighted key examples of both historical and contemporary definitions of girlhood across different time periods and regions for our audience to explore. As illustrated by these diverse definitions, it is clear that, in the midst of social pressures and constraints, girls are constantly developing their own culture to challenge and redefine the concept of girlhood and empower themselves. 

Ancient Greece

Confucian china.

Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD)

Compared with other later dynasties in China, Han girls were relatively free in public life. Girls were welcome to engage in industries such as business, medicine, divination, and performance. Girls from royal families also could be conferred a rank of nobility. For example, Emperor Guangwu once conferred his three granddaughters as “Little State Sovereigns”. However, the Han Dynasty also witnessed that Confucianism affected the cultural construct of girlhood when Confucian moral values, which ​demanded girls to be chaste and obedient, gradually became the mainstream of society.

Ever since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who chose Confucianism as the mainstream philosophy of China, Confucianism-led education began to invade the construct of girlhood. The right to public education became no longer available to girls, and they could only receive family education. Confucianism advocates the idea that women as homemakers are inferior to men who are breadwinner. Therefore, the goal of female education was to instruct a girl to put her heart and soul into supporting the intellectual and professional development of their male relatives-their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons.

In Western Han Dynasty, Lie Nu Zhuan, a collective biography of female historical figures, introduced girl readers to six types of virtues. Being loving, thoughtful, and chaste were among the most important virtues that girls were expected to possess. Another classic reading for girls was Nv Jie, written by Ban Zhao, a female scholar in the Eastern Han Dynasty. She believed that women should give priority to assisting their husbands. Girlhood became a site to instill the ideology of proper female behaviors, and these values ​​reincarnated into countless moral books and stories for girls of future generations.

Girl Apprentices

Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Girls started working as apprentices at craft workshops at the age of 10 or 11 in many medieval European towns. Especially for girls from poor families, it was typical to leave their parents and home at such an early age to look for employment. When a girl left home for work, she was also breaking the parental control that she had in the domestic space as a young girl. Loosened adult control and increased income often introduced the girl into the transition from girlhood to her adulthood.

However, girl apprentices rarely acquired complete economic independence, or fully transitioned to adulthood in reality. They remained with a special role in the world of work: girl apprentices were seen as labor with ability to learn and provide, meanwhile they were also treated as children who required adult control. For example, in Ireland, girls working in mills and factories usually got a small portion of their wage. The rest of their wage would be directly paid to their families.

Enslaved Girls

16th to 19th century Americas and Europe

In the American South in the decades before the Civil War, there were around one million enslaved girls under the age of 16. Their girlhood was a unique construction where race, age, and gender under slavery had an intertwined influnced on their everyday lives.

In her autobiography, The History of Mary Prince , British abolitionist Mary Prince talked about the hardships that she, as a young enslaved girl, suffered and the brutalities of enslavement. Enslaved girls received harsh punishments similar to those carried out to adults. If they made a mistake when working in cotton or tobacco plantations, they could be whipped brutally. Another mistreatment they frequently faced was sexual exploitation. These abuses, like Mary Prince said, were both physically and emotionally tormenting.

Escaping slavery was of course very difficult, and compared to enslaved boys, enslaved girls had even fewer opportunities to attain freedom. Instead, they learned to fake illness or work slowly to show their resistance. Stories and games also became a way for young people to resist their enslavement. Younger enslaved girls sometimes transformed old games by adding transgressive messages into them. For example, a jumping rope song from enslaved girls went, “My old mistress promised me/Before she dies she would set me free/Now she’s dead and gone to hell/I hope the devil will burn her well.”

Pre-19th century

Before the nineteenth century, girls in India, similar to girls in other parts of the world, were expected to learn and take on housework at an early age. Home school was a popular choice, and the learning content often centered mostly on domestic tasks rather than vocational skills. The definitive moment that marked the end of girlhood was not landing a job or finishing schooling. Rather, most of the time it was marriage that ended girlhood. 

Although the beginning of girls’ puberty was the ostensible milestone of girls’ eligibility to enter into marriage, child marriage was a common phenomenon before 16th century. Rig Veda , the oldest and most important of Hindu holy texts, was cited in a number of nineteenth-century texts. These texts documented that child marriage occurred and intensified with scriptural exhortations’ endorsement of pre-puberty marriage. 

In the 20th century, increased female legal age for marriage successfully expanded the length of girlhood in India. In 2006, the government of India prohibited child marriage. Girls in India are having more control over their own bodies and lives. The rate of child marriage plummeted since then,  but child marriage still exist – there are more underage brides (under 18 years old) in India than any other countries in the world.

Student Girls

18th and 19th century Europe

Should young girls learn to read? This question would generate little controversy today, but it provoked strong debates and negative reactions in Europe before the 18 th and 19 th centuries.

Young girls had access to books in many European countries in the 18th century, especially in the Netherlands, Germany, and England. While some “literary ladies,” or women authors of pedagogical books, and other educationalists encouraged young girls to read and develop their own intellectual interests, this “female curiosity” was regarded as dangerous by many authors in the 19 th century. Even for girls who wanted to read, the options were not very abundant: most books available for girl readers were advice books. 

Instead of reading and developing their intellectual interests, girls were instead encouraged to learn domestic skills. Young girls in middle- and upper-class families usually had the chance to study various academic subjects with tutors and governesses, but this education was simply meant to prepare girls for marriage.  The goal of education was to create the ideal girl who, according to the authors of advice books, would be a delightful and informed companion for her husband. 

Black Girls in Jim Crow South

Late 19th and 20th century

What was it like to grow up as a Southern Black girl under Jim Crow laws that legalized racial segregations in the Southern United States? Witnessing state-sponsored racism and white supremacy, Black girls came to develop and understand their identity under several interwinted forces: gender, race, place, and justice. 

Southern Black girls in this period were seen constantly negotiating two main influences. One was the racialized violence from Jim Crow South. Black girls often found themselves unable to protect their bodies from the violence of white men. At the same time, Black girls were told to be pure, virtuous, and dignified as a way to gain respectability. Black girls’ constant negotiation was revealed in their girlhood. For example, they were not expected to show rebelliousness as an adolescent girl. Instead, they had to learn to be respectable, protect their puriness, and defend themselves against racial violence. Growing up in Jim Crow South, many black girls were motivated to fight for their rights to their own bodies and agency. 

Girls and White Slavery

Pre-World War I in Europe and North America

In the Victorian and Edwardian period, important keywords of girlhood were purity and self-sacrifice. Girlhood was frequently associated with the color white and flowers like lilies and snowdrops. However, the development of suffrage movements in the 20th century (check out our “young suffragettes” exhibition to learn more!) challenged traditional ideas of girls as innocent and angelic. 

Guardians of this “pure, innocent girlhood”, often together with anti-suffragists, insisted on illustrating girlhood as a period where young girls needed male’s protection. They alleged that girls were at the risk of falling prey of white slavers who would force them into prostitution, human trafficking, and sexual salvery. This public anxiety on girls’ safety spread in the UK, Europe, and North America. Girls were often told to be alert to the dangers of being kidnapped by white slavers. 

For feminists, this idea of white slavery deprived young women of their agency. Feminists’ anger over the sexual oppression behind white slavery stories and a desire to remedy it was one factor motivating women to obtain vote. The Western concept of girlhood in this period was thus full of contradictions and shaped different political interests and claims.  Scholars’ studies have shown that most of these stories about white slavery were rumors, but the image of girls as sexual victims endures even to the present day. 

“It” Girl

Early 20th Century

Since the 1980s, “It” girl has been perceived as an attractive girl who flaunts her sex allure and strongly associated with celebrity, fame, and beauty. The earlier definition of an “It” girl in the early 20 th century was different. “It” girl then referred to a girl who achieved popularity and fame, but without advertising her sexuality.

The first and original “It Girl” was one of the most successful and popular silent film stars, Clara Bow. With her big eyes and babyface, Clara quickly won the love of America. For the audience, what was more engaging than her physical beauty on the screen was her non-traditional personality. She was cheerful, breezy, confident and lively. Her hit changed the previous perception of girls and girlhood: the public became not only more accustomed to modern young women having active career development outside home, but also comfortable with the increased diversity of girls’ sexual expressions. Meanwhile, early debates on girls’ acquiring sexual knowledge were also going to start.

Flappers & Ms. Modern

Between the period of the First and Second World Wars, girlhood became a site where social debates on young women’s appearance, habits, and sexualities took place. “Miss Modern”, a girl who was determined to cast  aside conventional ideas of femininity, went on the stage.

While cutting hair was seen as incredibly offensive to the established values about girlhood and femininity in the Victorian and Edwardian era, Miss Modern enthusiastically took short hair into fashion trends. They also generously brought cheap cosmetics and giddy clothes back to their home. They consumed cigarettes, music, and alcohol. They went dancing, singing, also biking and camping. They were also called flappers. Their habits – especially seeking sexual pleasure – somehow fed the imagination of the public. In turn, they were portrayed as man-hungry girls with “easy virtue”.

Through the 1920s, girl workers also occupied a large amount of newspaper coverage when they entered into new professions such as aviators and engineers. Young women, by challenging the male-dominant hierarchy in both the job market and traditional girlhood image, started to jauntily rewrite the definition of girlhood and femininity by themselves. Birth control and contraception aides became more available during the two World Wars. Easier access to them benefited girls to make decisions on their own body. Miss Modern’s girlhood might be perceived as wild, rebel, or even dangerous by some, but she was also able to keep sensible and practical.

Good-Time Girls

In the mid-1930s, “good-time girls” came into the public sight. They were described as similar girls with the earlier Miss Modern. Both good-time girls and Miss Modern were fond of cheap cosmetics, perfume and fashionable clothes. They watched a lot of Hollywood movies and often dreamed about fame and luxury. 

If Miss Modern’s pursuit for economic and personality independence somehow earned them a reputation, good-time girls became almost like a folk devil in the eyes of the public, who criticized young women for their pleasure seeking and consumption. It was a period when liberal attitudes toward female sexuality suffered backlash. The portrayals of good-time girls, often frivolous and cunning girls preying on soldiers for favors, uneased the society so much that criticism of young girls’ sexuality increased and lasted. 

From the mid-1930s, the moral panic over good-time girls and girlhood in Europe and North America continued into the post-war period. Girls’ appearance, makeup, clothing, and sexualities were carefully vetted by the public again and again. However, girls also proved that the real situation could be very different from the public imagination that they were victims of “being loose or seduced”: some of them actively sought a chance to transition the romantic experience to livelihood; some genuinely relished the lifestyle of partying.

Patriotic Girls in Arab Nationalism

circa 1900-1950, Arab countries

At the beginning of the 20th century, Arab nationalism rose with the goals of eliminating the influence of the West in the Arab world. Because Arab nationalism identified women as the “bearers of the nation”, anti-colonial movements gradually became a platform that provided girls with a potential new way of publicly expressing themselves, even though this way was limited and not free.

In traditional Islamic societies, girls only took on a reproductive role as care-takers in a family. But anti-colonial movements recognized girls as home-front warriors. In other words, girlhood somewhat broke away from the traditional hideout from public gaze, and it gained increased meaning and social value with girls in anti-colonial movements. In Iraq, the youth movement al-Futuwwa saw girls as future patriotic mothers and caregivers. Using al-Futuwwa as a public platform, more and more girls participated in national, political discussion and made their voice heard. In Egypt, the political participation of women from all walks of life had affected the changes in Egypt’s political situation to a certain extent. By participating in demonstrations, strikes and even assassinations, Egyptian girls supported the Egyptian nationalist party, the Wafd Party, and the country’s independence movement.

As the society started to support their political role, Arab girls, too, shouldered national responsibility in this time period. After having achieved independence, Arab girls would step into the next period of their journey: fighting for their rights as citizens and developing the new Islamic feminism.

College Girls

20th century

As time goes, girls have gained increased access to education. Apprenticeship and home education become less and less popular options. Instead, public schools and colleges welcomed more and more girls. With new ideas on girls’ education, girlhood also became a distinctive, separate period between childhood and adulthood with increased social publicity.

One of education’s functions in separating childhood and adulthood was extending girlhood. Although girls would still be supervised by house wardens and academic supervisors, their time spent in school, especially in colleges, has significantly prolonged the girlhood before stepping into adulthood. For many girls, the abundant academic resources that colleges offered equipped them knowledge to prepare better before stepping into the adult world. For some, entering into colleges meant delayed marital age, which, in turn, implied more independent girlhood time on their own. For example, for Dutch Afrikaner South African girls in the early 20th century, being a “college girl” promised having a carefree time to get aways with “adult responsibilities” and go for glowing college adventures.

Beatlemania

1950s and 1960s

In the 1960s, mainstream voices in the English society hoped to protect the sexual purity of young people. They constantly advocated a happy life after marriage, implying that girls should shun away from sex before getting married. However, girls at this time were far different from Victorian girls. They grew up with easy access to public secondary education. A lot of them had jobs and were financially independent. As new girls, they were also consumers with strong spending power. They were eager to break free from the shackles of society on youth’s and women’s sexuality.

During this period, pop, rock and jazz music won countless girls’ love, together with many conservatives’ aversion. While girls sought pleasure and empowerment from modern music, the latter saw them allures of leading girls to go off the rails. The Beatles took this tension to a new stage: so many girls were obsessed with this band that many of them spent money and publicly confessed to them. This intense fan frenzy, which was also called beatlemania, was actually an unprecedented open expression of desire from female groups. When society contemptuously, or aggrievedly, called these beat girls as fangirls with no brains, did it ever cross their mind that beatlemania could be an outcry from the girls who challenged societal oppression on teenage girls’ sexuality?

Nütongzhi

1960s to 1990s, Taiwan

Nütongzhi (Chinese: 女同志) is a Taiwanese term referring to lesbians. Nütongzhi were generally divided into “T” and “P”. Interestingly, this categorization of T/P was started by Taiwanese gar bar owners. Before 1985 when the first lesbian bar in Taiwan opened, gay bars were the only place where Nütongzhi could hang out with their partner without being judged for their sexual orientations. 

“T” refers to those girls who came to gay bars with short hairs and tomboyish outfits. They often have classic masculine personality traits, such as assertive and competitive. “T”’s partner, who usually seem more feminine than T, is called P or Po (Chinese: 婆, meaning wife). Before 1990s when feminism and gay movement evolved in Taiwan, T and P played a very important role to define a girl in Nütongzhi community. Apart from T and P, some Nütongzhi prefer calling themselves Bu Fen (Chinese: 不分, meaning not applicable), to claim that they identify themselves as neither T nor P. Bu Fen rejected to label themselves and fall into the traps of gender stereotypes. 

With the widespread spread of the Internet and the increasing appearance of other identity names such as transgender and bisexuality, the self-recognition of the younger generation of lesbians has become increasingly diverse. This means that they will experience more and more complex progress when establishing self-identity. Growing up, they constantly try to learn, conform to, or even deviate from diverse identity categories such as T, P, Bu Fen, Nütongzhi, etc.

How far is too far for feminism to go? When Miss Modern and flappers came on stage in the 1920s and 30s, moral panic surfaced with a blizzard of criticism that girls had gone too far. So did it happen when girls broke down more and more gender stereotypes in the 1970s. So did it happen again when girl power rose up and ladettes dominated newspaper headlines in the 1990s. 

Who were ladettes? They had many labels: noisy, confident, boyish. They drank too much. They took their clothes off without scruple. They enjoyed traditionally masculine sports. In a word, they were the girl version of “traditional” men who boozed, boasted, and sometimes behaved vulgarly. The conservatives criticized them that they strayed too far no matter from the traditional ideal of woman or from a new, independent woman. 

But has feminism, or ladettes, gone too far? Ladettes only demonstrated the flipped-over version of the old, binary gender norms where active boys lead, quiet girls follow. When girls behave completely like a lad, this became a whole new story about girlhood. Girls were making their own decisions, taking up space that was traditionally solely preserved for men, and demanding more and more true equality.

Early 2000s

Tween is a blend of between and teen , but exclusively refers to teenage girls. The age range of tween is blurry, with the common reference to 8-13 years. As an age category, tween emphasizes on the time period between a girl’s childhood and puberty. She is too old for toys and games, but too young for boys and sex. 

It’s rather easy to detect that tweenhood becomes a new idealized period of girlhood: tweens are described as (mostly) white, beautiful, and innocent. They should not be sexualized and commodified. This idealization seems like a social projection of the idea that young girls are fragile and constantly need protection. On the other hand, tweens are also a specific group of girls that corporates and consumerism often market at. Clothes, magazines, dolls often brand themselves as tween’s perfect choice to catch up with fashion trends. Such marketing reflects that tweens, as young girls, constitute consumers with spending power who make their own purchase choices. Having such a contradictory status, tween girls continue to navigate their identity under the influence of social ethos, feminism, and consumer culture.

Migrant Girls

20th and 21st century

With the advent of modern society and technological progress, migration, whether it happens voluntarily or involuntarily, has become more possible and more frequent than ever. Consequently, the group of migrated girls are growing and receiving increased attention. However, it’s impossible to generalize their experience: race, class, even familial control, so many factors can profoundly shape a migrated girl’s girlhood. If anything, the keyword of their experience might be identity negotiation. 

Many migrated girls found that the migration was such a radical change to their life that their original identity became incompatible with the new environment after moving. In order to “fit in”, or at least get used to the new life, negotiating between the old and new identities became a common theme of their girlhood. Some migrated girls negotiated “street” and “decent” cultures in a dynamic, vibrant setting. Some tried to understand the difference between a new culture and their own. For example, immigrant girls and refugee girls in Western countries are often educated based on ideas of ideal Wesetern girlhood. Representations of girlhood of their culture, or simply representation of a migrated girlhood, are not abundant.

Harajuku Girls in “Cool Japan”

2002 to Present

Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched their concept of “Cool Japan” in 2002, aiming to brand and export Japanese soft cultural superpower. The Cool Japan project focused specifically on youth culture where girl culture was an integral part. Typical girls in Cool Japan flyers and campaigns are easy to recognize: school girls, girls with kimono, etc. These images overlap a lot with popular girl characters in otaku culture. They conformed to conventional femininity norms with acceptive girl sexiness. 

“Harajuku style” is one of the most well-known styles that became an epitome of “Cool Japan”. Girls in Harajuku style mix traditional Japanese clothing with Western attire to create a unique, dazzling, colorful outfit. With traditional Japanese clothes, girls seem to conform to and maintain a traditional image of girlhood. But by mixing totally different styles of clothing, Harajuku style girls signal that their contempt for mainstream fashion – they dress whatever they wish and declare their self-expression and enjoy girl culture without being judged.

Indigenous Girls in the West

21st Century

Colonial practices have affected Indigneous girls for centuries–and continue to influence  their lives today. In residential schools,  white settlers tried to impose white, European, and Christian gender roles on Indigenous communities. They also imposed binary notions, such as white/others and “civilized” and /”primitive” on Indigenous society. 

Today their lives are shaped by things, such as treaty rights, colonial gender policies, and cultural and territorial decolonization. For example, in Canada, Indigenous girls suffered long-term discriminatory treatments, including the Indian Act and residential schools, and these issues are finally receiving some attention. However, compared with settler girls who frequently appear in the public eye, Indigenous girls and their experiences are not often discussed. In face of systemic racialized colonialism, Indigenous girls were constantly seen as “others” who are excluded from the Western notions of girlhood girlhood. Nowadays, Indigenous girls also have to fight against romanticization or representations that portray them as drunk, passive, or foreign. After centuries of colonization, oppression, and forced assimilation, many Indigenous girls struggle to reconnect with values and cultural practices of Indigenous communities. Their rejection of being victimized or misrepresented shapes Indigenous girlhood today.

Gender: Social Construct, Dyke March in Dolores Park. Photo by Steve Rhodes via Flickr.

“girl” as a social construct.

Who decides what a “girl” is? Generally speaking, society. But society’s definitions have varied, as we’ve already seen. So why do definitions change over time?

The social construction of gender theory is a way to research and frame these definitions. The theory emerges from social constructivism, a school of thought which proposes that everything people “know” or see as “reality” is partially, if not entirely, socially situated. This means that our definitions are based on the beliefs and reactions of those around us – people in our society. 

According to Lumen Learning , “A social constructionist view of gender looks beyond categories and examines the intersections of multiple identities and the blurring of the boundaries between essentialist categories. This is especially true with regards to categories of male and female, which are viewed typically as binary and opposite. Social constructionism seeks to blur the binary and muddle these two categories, which are so frequently presumed to be essential.”

Exploring this, we interviewed girl studies scholars about how they define and study girlhood. Click the toggles below to reveal their answers.

How would you define ‘girlhood’? Do you have any anecdotes which you believe summarize girlhood?

Linda Arnell: The word or category of ‘girl’ has various meanings, but is often related to a child of a specific gender and age, and most commonly as a term defining adolescent females. However, I also understand it as a social (western) construction, and the way in which the term girl is given meaning is also intertwined with notions of ability, ethnicity, sexuality, and class, etc. When conducting research, my perspective on the category of girl includes everyone who identifies as such, regardless of the sex assigned at birth, even though I often include an age limit related to ideas of childhood, adolescence, youth, or what it means to be a child or to be young.   The word or category of ‘girl’ has various meanings, but is often related to a child of a specific gender and age, and most commonly as a term defining adolescent females. However, I also understand it as a social (western) construction, and the way in which the term girl is given meaning is also intertwined with notions of ability, ethnicity, sexuality, and class, etc. When conducting research, my perspective on the category of girl includes everyone who identifies as such, regardless of the sex assigned at birth, even though I often include an age limit related to ideas of childhood, adolescence, youth, or what it means to be a child or to be young.

Anastasia Todd: In my work on disabled girlhood, I mostly define girlhood in terms of what it is not. Girlhood is not a “common-sense” ahistorical, static, biological “life-stage.” But rather, it is a shifting category of analysis that is constituted through and by systems and relations of power. Another way I like to think of girlhood (as I do disability) is as an assemblage, not just as an attribute of a body. Notwithstanding the academic definition, I think girlhood means many different things to many different girls. Reflecting on my own girlhood, which was very privileged in many ways, I mostly think back to feelings of anxiety, joy, discovery, desire, belonging, and exclusion. My newest streaming television obsession has been the show PEN15, which I believe does an excellent job capturing and relaying some of my own affective experiences of girlhood, as a millennial growing up in the United States.

Anghara N. Valdivia: This is a huge question. So much history and theory. At its core “girlhood” is a privilege, as very few people in the world have the luxury of living through a “girlhood.” It is a gendered category that is also age specific—somewhere after infancy through the end of adolescence. Clearly patriarchal cultures use the term “girl” to refer to a wide range of ages—sometimes even middle age or elderly women. Ideally, girlhood encompasses solidarity, mutuality, creativity, and learning to have agency in the world as a gendered, aged, racialized and classed subject. There are multiple and competing girlhoods.

Ann Smith: For me girlhood is the state of being a girl, cisgender, self-identified, trans non/binary, lesbian, queer etc.  Typically, girls are aged 18 and under.

Sneha Krishnan: Girlhood is fluid – while sociologists might define it as a time ‘before’ adulthood, ‘girl’ subjectivities have been used by women and children in various ways to play with time. Between 2012 and 2013 I did ethnographic research at a hostel – boarding house – for girls in Southern India. The young woman who lived in this hostel were all university students, roughly between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. In legal terms they were ‘adults’. But they all called themselves ‘girls’. As I learned, being ‘girls’ allowed them to keep one foot in a child world of playfulness and fantasy: the things they did in their ‘girlhood’ didn’t really count, I was told. Nothing was serious. So ‘girlhood’ was a way of inhabiting what Saidiya Hartman has called ‘waywardness’ – openness to radical possibilities beyond the narrow horizons dictated by social circumstance.

Jennifer Helgren:   I think it is important to separate girl and girlhood, child and childhood, boy and boyhood. Girl refers to actual girl children whereas girlhood refers to the constellation of ideas that describe the expectations, norms, and attributes associated with female children in a given society. We must recognize as a girl any child who identifies as a girl even when their family and community do not accord them this recognition.  My own research has focused heavily on girls’ organizations. I see these mainstream, popular, and, in many ways, prescriptive organizations as crucial to forming modern concepts of girlhood. Their leaders develop programs that speak to the culture’s beliefs about what girls are like. Girls responded with varying degrees of receptivity, which, in turn, shaped the trajectory of the organizations.

Louise Jackson: I define ‘girlhood’ as a shared identity, culture and sense of community that is created by girls themselves – although of course it has also been created for them by others (including by adults). As a historian (of gender, youth and childhood) I love reading The Girl’s Own Paper – published in the UK from 1880 right through to 1956 – and looking for girls’ own voices. Its readers were encouraged to send in essays, letters and other contributions on topics that mattered to them. In 1882 Bertha Mary Jenkinson, aged 14 year and 7 months, was so concerned about a previous article, which described higher education as wasted on girls, that she wrote a spirited letter to the editor. She argued: ‘a woman’s education must go on all her life exactly the same as a man’s .… Unless a woman is educated she certainly cannot be his equal or companion’. Equal access to education for girls remains crucial in the world today.

Marnina Gonick: My definition of girlhood would be to resist any singular definition. Definitions can be  dangerous, because to define is to create borders around an idea. As a result, there are always exclusions. I think girlhood should be seen as an expansive category with porous boundaries. Instead of defining girlhood as a biological or temporal feature, I think it is necessary to understand it as a cultural and social phenomenon that is constantly in flux. We need to use an intersectional analysis, that is one that takes into account how gender and age intersect with other social markers such as race, class, nationality, ability, sexuality etc. Girlhood is an “idea” that has material effects on how childhood is understood and lived, how gender is created and experienced and how identities are fashioned. Each of these (childhood, gender and identity) are a relationship to the “idea” of girl, which is never fully achievable.

Mary Celeste Kearney:   I define “girlhood” in several ways: 1) as the subjective experiences of those who identify as “girls”; 2) as the period in life one identifies as “girl”; and 3) as the discursive construct used by social institutions and individuals to categorize those deemed young and female/feminine, which is commonly performed and reconstructed by those who identify as “girl.”  I tend to define “girl” via demographic categories and based on the combination of gender, age, and status of financial dependency—so, those people who identify as female/feminine and young who are still financially dependent on their parents or guardians.  Typically, this means female/feminine youth between the ages of 0-18, whether cisgender or trans. That said, historically “girl” has also been used to refer to young women older than 18, and it still is.  Indeed, the term “girl” is often used among women of all ages when they are in women-only groups, as well as by many gay and bisexual men in relation to the feminine members of their groups. The fluid use of “girl” across these various social groups points to lack of one essential meaning as well as its relationship to the social construction of identity.  As I wrote in my 2009 article, “Coalescing,” which focuses on the development of girlhood studies as an academic field: “[T]here are many ways to be a girl, and these forms depend on not only the material bodies performing girlhood, but also the specific social and historical contexts in which those bodies are located” (19).

How do you think globalization has affected how we define girlhood?

Linda Arnell: Firstly, I think that girls around the world, with the help of technology and the internet, have had the opportunity to share their experiences, opinions, and life situations with others in other parts of the world. We can also see how girls’ voices and activism have had a global impact in ways that have not been possible before, but, at the same time, girls are also affected by the negative consequences of globalization in various ways. Furthermore, I think that the effects of globalization have influenced girlhood scholars to broaden their perspectives and to look beyond their own context and understandings of girlhood. I hope that globalization, in this sense, will contribute with dialogues and knowledge that transgress national borders.

Anastasia Todd: Being attuned to globalization helps to decenter white, Western girlhood as the universal frame for studying “girlhood.” An engagement with transnational feminism allows us to think more thoroughly about how neoliberal capitalism has structured the realities of girls across the world in different and similar ways.

Angharad N. Valdivia: This is a weird question. Clearly the study of girlhood has to be specific. We cannot generalize from the US/Anglo situation to the rest of the world. Hopefully all girlhood scholars acknowledge this. Contemporarily there are such visible girls on the world arena—Malala, Greta, etc.—that we need to understand how it is that their visibility is being constructed. We also need to acknowledge that certain girls are rendered more visible than others. For example, many indigenous girls have been speaking for years about environmental degradation, yet Greta captures the global imagination. Issues of class, race and nation are important. “Globalization” means different things to different people. If we define it as the contemporary flow of people, culture, and goods across nations, we have to acknowledge uneven power distributions, enduring colonial vestiges, etc.

Ann Smith: It has broadened our understanding of what constitutes girlhood in different countries and cultures.

Sneha Krishnan: I think it would be a mistake to see the present moment of globalisation as exceptional. As above, I think the ways in which it defines girlhood (as racialised, as vulnerable, and within other geopolitical stories about modernity, civilisation and rescue) all have a much deeper history in the story of imperialism. So I think historic globalisation – in this I’m referring to imperialism that began in the late 15th century – has profoundly shaped and indeed created the conditions under which ‘girlhood’ as a category makes sense.

Jennifer Helgren: Globalization has brought increased attention and resources to girls’ education and to microeconomic projects for young women around the world. We see that, for example, in the Girl Effect—an independent nonprofit launched in September 2015 by Nike Foundation, in collaboration with the NoVo Foundation, United Nations Foundation, and others. Its goal is to end poverty globally by funding girls’ education, health, and other opportunities. It is based on a belief that girls’ successes lift their countries out of poverty. The unstated reverse, however, puts an incredible burden on girls–girls who have sex or marry early mires their countries in ongoing distress and hardship. So new attention is going to girlhood but some of our normative framings of girls as either ideal citizens and saviors or as delinquents who undermine through their sexual choices remain stuck in place.

Louise Jackson: It’s crucial to think in a global (as well as longitudinal) context and to recognise that what it means to be a girl is both geographically and historically specific. Access to rights has been structured through ideas about age as well as gender, and the age at which one is deemed to be a girl or woman depends on the contours of where and when. There is no universal experience of ‘girlhood’ given that race, ethnicity, and access to resources profoundly shape life-chances and the sharing of identity.

Marnina Gonick: I think there are two contradictory movements involved in the relationship between globalization and girlhood. On the one hand, globalization has allowed us to see how the concept of girlhood varies in different social and geographic locations. This gives weight to the idea of girlhood as something that is socially constructed in alignment with economic, cultural and regional factors. On the other hand, globalization has also brought a homogenizing factor to notions of girlhood.  With the circulation of American popular culture, through TV, movies and music there is an increasingly narrowing of discourses around girlhood which puts limitations on how the concept is understood and lived.

Mary Celeste Kearney:  Great question and one all girls’ studies scholars should think more about. I know I do!  The concept of girlhood has long been tied to capitalism, as girls are understood as a lucrative consumer market. Originally that was because girls grow into women, and the assumption was that all women become mothers who make purchases on behalf of their own families. So if advertisers and manufacturers could solidify girls’ brand loyalties early on, those companies would have assured consumers for life. Yet since the mid 1930s, in the United States at least, there’s been a recognition that girls want to consume products made just for them and their needs, and so the girl consumer market was born. This has happened at different times in different countries, but the United States has been a major player in globalization as a result of its power in the world and capitalist values, as well as its production and distribution of media.  Globalization has led to a more universal sense of girlhood, although it is one that has been based on the most privileged girls in the U.S. and other Western societies. (Check out the history of the Barbie doll made for different countries.) It remains to be seen how much other countries can resist the West’s—and more specifically, the United States’—definition of girlhood by producing their own girl-centered media and other forms of culture.  Japan comes to mind as a nation with a very strong girl culture that has impacted not only other Asian countries, but also those in the West (think of Hello Kitty, manga, anime, etc.).

Would you describe girlhood as a construct (social or other)? Please explain.

Linda Arnell: Yes, one way to understand girlhood is to approach it as a social and/or cultural construction, intertwined with notions, not only of gender and age, but also aspects like ability, ethnicity, sexuality, and class, etc. But for me it is also important to understand girlhood as a lived experience, thus affecting the lives of girls every day.

Anastasia Todd: I think that girlhood is both a construct as well as a material-affective reality. Girlhood has meant many different things in many different historical, political, social, and geographic contexts. This doesn’t mean that girlhood is not “real” per se, it just means that the way we conceptualize girlhood changes. By thinking about how girlhood is constructed, it calls attention to the fact that there is not just one universal experience of girlhood. It is important that we think intersectionally and transnationally about girlhood. Not all girls are figured as innocent or in need of protection, for example. Certain girls, by virtue of their race, class, ability, citizenship, etc. experience the world in vastly different ways than the white, Western girl that populates many of our imaginaries as “the Girl.”

Angharad N. Valdivia: Of course it’s a social construction—as is gender and this is gendered category. Nonetheless it bears actual political consequences, resource allocations, and explanatory power.

Ann Smith: In some contexts girlhood is a socially controlling construct. For example, in some cultures girlhood ends only with marriage regardless of the age of the girl or woman concerned. Thinking of an adult woman as a girl leads to treating her as a child.

Sneha Krishnan:   Yes – girlhood is a historical and social construct. Like other categories of gendered subjectivity, it is performative: in that it is produced by the repeated ‘doing’ of girlhood in the clothes girls wear, in how they hold their bodies, and how they talk, and walk and what they do with their time. All societies didn’t always have a concept of ‘girlhood’ or if they did, its meanings have varied very widely over time. For instance, in the early 20th century, the legal age of consent for married women in most parts of the world was somewhere in their mid-teens at the latest. This would be considered very young these days. Similarly, for instance, black and white girls were not attributed with the same attributes of innocence and fragility in the US in the late 19th century.  Black girls were widely seen as lacking the capacity to feel – as insensate – and hence incapable of reform and self-development. On the contrary, white girls were seen as pure and innocent: figures at the heart of national culture and the fantasy of the American family.

Jennifer Helgren: Girlhood is both a biological phenomenon and a social construct. As a historian, I see girlhood taking on different meanings at different periods. That is what a social construct does. Moreover, girlhood among different ethnic, racial, and class groups has had different associations and meanings. Therefore, girlhood is a social construct that intersects with various other identities.

Louise Jackson: Yes. ‘Girlhood’ – what it means to be a girl – is shaped through culture.

Marnina Gonick: Yes, as my answers above indicate – I think girlhood is a construct with real material effects. This idea comes from a broader field of study of the theoretical body of work that suggests that all identities are created within social contexts that shape the meanings of these identities.

Mary Celeste Kearney: Yes, that’s what I was getting to in my definitions of “girl” and “girlhood” in the prior question.

To what extent is the definition of girlhood constructed through inclusivity and plurality?

Linda Arnell:  To achieve plurality and inclusivity when defining girlhood, today’s notions of the category ‘girl’ need to be discussed, and may be also reconstructed and broadened in various ways. I hope that girlhood scholars will take the opportunity to be part of this, to advocate for greater inclusion, and discuss and question notions of, for example, femininity and age that constrain and limit people from living their lives on equal terms. I also hope for this change not only to be one of definition, but also one of social change, questioning the social, political, and power structures.

Lillemor, one of the girls participating in my research on girls’ violence, gives one example of how social norms, and notions of gender, affect the lives of girls:

Lillemor: I think it’s really sad, not because it should be okay for girls to fight, because it’s not okay to fight, but it’s stupid that it’s seen as something special, as if it’s not special if guys fight, because it’s like girls have to behave in a certain way, but guys can behave any way they want. Linda: And what’s in a certain way then? Lillemor: We shouldn’t fight, and we shouldn’t be loud, and we shouldn’t sleep around, and we shouldn’t do anything like that. Linda: How are you supposed to behave then? Lillemor: Yeah, we have to be nice and perform in school and we can’t fight. I don’t know, we should just be like this stereotypical girl, we’re not supposed to be seen or heard, and we’re not supposed to be violent, but nor should boys.

Anastasia Todd: I think for many people, girlhood is imagined in a very rigid and “common-sense” way. I would say scholars of girlhood are trying to push folks to reconsider girlhood as something that does not just signify “women in training” or is conceptualized strictly in terms of age (under 18). For many of us who do work on marginalized girlhoods, I think we attempt to conceptualize girlhood in an increasingly capacious way. In my own work, I try to attend to the materiality of the body as well as recognize how interlocking systems of oppression structure girls’ lives in asymmetrical ways.

Angharad N. Valdivia: It all depends. There is no one definition. Undoubtedly, like so many other constructs, and as is Liberal Feminism, the bulk of attention has been on white, middle class, cis-gendered girls from the Global North. However there is also great productivity in inclusive research.

Sneha Krishnan: ‘Girlhood’ has historically been a troubled category. And it has been a category riven with histories of race and class exclusion. But ‘girlhood’ has also been claimed by those on the margins of this category as a site from which to inhabit a radical politics of gender.

Jennifer Helgren: One of the expectations of mainstream educators in the twentieth-century United States was that the ideal girl citizen was tolerant and accepted inclusivity. The youth organizations that I study all offered up some version of this model, especially after World War II. Still, the clubs were set up through neighborhoods, schools, and churches, all of which were by custom or law segregated. Girls’ leaders sought to avoid controversy and played down their own political role by accepting local policies regarding segregation. This meant that they accepted the formation of groups, in most regions of the U.S., along segregated lines. At the same time, girls’ organizations regularly used a universalizing language to describe girlhood that obscured the realities of how white supremacy structured daily lives.

Louise Jackson:  As a normative goal or intervention in the world today, then yes – but we have to work hard to ensure this is always the case.  If you’re referring to ‘girlhood’ as a term that has been used to describe groups in the past (and thus as a label placed on girls by others), then we need to be attentive to the power dynamics at play. For example, preconceived assumptions about class and sexual status in nineteenth-century Britain were used to deny some girls the protection accorded to others.

Marnina Gonick: I think it depends on the context.  In some contexts there has been a lot of progress in expanding representations of girlhood.  While in others, the dominant version of white, middle class, heterosexual, cis gendered girlhood is still firmly implanted. I also see that progress is not linear. Where there are advancements there are also retreats. This is an issue that requires on-going work and effort.

Mary Celeste Kearney: That depends on who’s defining girlhood! Many white people, girls’ studies scholars, included have been remiss on not paying attention to the many categories of identity that intersect with gender with regard to both girls and girlhood. And girlhood studies has been dominated by white scholars for a long time, so we have not been as attentive to diversity, plurality, and inclusivity as we should have been.  Fortunately, more research by indigenous scholars, scholars of color, queer scholars, and disabled scholars is bringing light to the many different ways girlhood is constructed in relation to the various categories of identity that intersect with gender and age. And that work has challenged white scholars to engage in those issues as well.

Lolita dresses at New York Fashion Week 2016. Image via Vogue magazine.

Case study: lolita fashion.

Lolita fashion originated in 1970s Japan, influenced by the clothing of the late-Victorian period and having heavy elements of Rococo, Baroque, and Gothic styles. Some of the common elements consist of lace, bows, embroidery, corsets, and underskirts. Fantasy or “otherworldly” literature such as Alice in Wonderland also play a huge role in Lolita fashion. While many of its detractors say that Lolita has a direct link with the controversial 1950s novel of the same name (which details a young girl and older man’s relationship), the name itself does not have a direct link to the book and many modern Japanese are not familiar with it at all. Indeed, while Lolita subculture does emphasize kawaii  femininity and acting like a playful child, it is a genre rooted in the growing economy of Japanese society and many Japanese women participate in the subculture as more of a fashion statement.  Lolita dresses can be divided into three categories: sweet, gothic, and classic. A lot of the dresses express the aesthetic of femininity, cuteness, and refinement. Lolita culture became more widespread in Japan in the 1990s, becoming a worldwide phenomenon by the 2000s. It spread to neighboring countries like China and South Korea around 2000. In 2016, model and president of the Japan Lolita Association, Misako Aoki, appeared on stage presenting a Lolita dress during the New York Fashion Week. Increasingly, due to the internet and social media presence, Lolita “tea parties” and “dress rehearsals” are being held worldwide and attract a cult following. While Lolita dresses can be a type of “girl” expression, it is not the only reason why many Lolita enthusiasts wear them. Both men and women nowadays are using Lolita fashion to express themselves and enjoy the feeling the dresses bring to them.

Decora and Gothic Lolita Fashion

In this episode of Girlspeak , Dr. Megan C. Rose talks with guests Kurebayashi and Rei about decora and gothic Lolita fashion in Harajuku. From discussing the rise of these fashions as distinct Japanese social phenomena to building a cafe that appeals to decora and gothic Lolita audiences, our guests provide unique insights into these subcultures and how girls participate within them.

About Our Guests

  Dr. Megan C. Rose   is an Adjunct Associate Lectuerer in Sociology and Social Science and Policy at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Her research explores the value of creativity, cute theory, critical femininities and inclusion. She is currently investigating the experiences of kawaii and gothic alternative communities in Japan, as well as marginalised groups in the Australian Higher Education system. Megan is currently developing a new portfolio of postdoctoral research that involves collaboration and co-authorship with stakeholders in kawaii and gothic alternative communities, as well as a study of feminist activism that uses kawaii imagery to mobilize political actors.

Haruka Kurebayashi is an internationally known model and mentor for Decora-chan girls via her   blog ,   Instagram ,   Twitter , and   YouTube . Originally from Shizuoka prefecture, Kurebayashi launched her brand 90884 in 2013 and is a frequent model for fashion magazine KERA .

Rei Saionji   is a Tokyo native and explorer of Japanese culture and tradition. She is the author of 2 Hours Drive from Tokyo .

Case Study: Chinese Girl Groups

The Chinese music industry in the 2000s saw an increase of girl groups. One of the most prominent groups of the genre, S.H.E, formed in 2001 in Taiwan. They quickly gained popularity with the release of their first album, Girl’s Dorm.  In the next decade, they became an iconic girl group with a huge fanbase in Taiwan and mainland China. S.H.E consists of three singers: Selina Jen, Hebe Tian, and Ella Chen. Their personalities are distinct and many audiences find their mannerisms very natural. Their songs talk about different experiences and emotions that girls will face in their lifetime, as such the majority of their fans are girls because their songs are so relatable. A lot of their songs, such as “Are You Alright,” “Magical Journey,” and “Keep Smiling” talk about the friendships between females. Others, such as “Shero” and “A Girl Striving to be Independent” encourage girls to be strong and independent. Due to S.H.E.’s influence, many other girl groups formed around this time. For example, Twins is a Hong Kongese girl group created in 2001 consisting of Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi. Because many of their notable songs deal with school life, they became the representative for all female students dealing with certain issues.

S.H.E. is a Taiwan group formed by three girls with their first debuted album “Girls Dorm” 女生宿舍 in September 2001

Gender today.

For this exhibit, we chose a broad definition of “girl” that attempts to include both modern and historical definitions of childhood: “self-identifying females under the age of 21.” It is the same definition that Tiffany uses in her edited volume, A Girl Can Do: Recognizing and Representing Girlhood (Vernon Press, 2022) . Open the toggle below for her explanation.

Our Definition, Explained

First, the girl must self-identify as female – embracing historical and modern girls whose sex may not be naturally female. This opens doors to viewing “girl” as a self-defined category, in part influenced by cultures in which “girl” is applied to adult females who embrace the term as their own as well as emerging realizations of gender fluidity and multiplicity. […]

Complicating this gendered experience is our second factor: age. For this volume, I define girlhood as the period of life from birth to age 21, in order to prioritize the early life experiences of girl culture. This is a chronological category…. The use of chronological age is a modern phenomenon, emerging in seventeenth century Europe to define who bore political rights and who did not. […] Prior to the imposition of chronological age, the category was measured in milestones defined by cultural – not political – tradition. Such milestones are also flexible. […] The imposition of Western age norms has disrupted these cultural systems, imposing a chronological age system that seeks to show maturity – and imposes power imbalances by dictating that some people (women, people of color, colonized peoples) never mature. […]

For girls, their gender and youth combine into double discrimination (termed gendered ageism ) that is then compounded by other demographic categories into an intersectional system of oppression.

For this exhibit, we chose to look beyond academia and out into the real world. What do girls living the experience of girlhood today feel about their social category? What does being a girl mean in the 21st century? What makes girlhood unique, special, and memorable?

Special thanks to Genisus Holland and the Girls for A Change participants who took our survey and whose answers are featured below.

What does being a “girl” mean to you?

What is your favorite thing about being a “girl”?

What is something about being a “girl” that you wish more people knew about?

How would you say society views girlhood in your country?

Can you think of and describe a defining moment of your girlhood? Perhaps a time when you felt a strong connection to being a “girl” or when you felt distanced from the way society expects “girls” to be.

Exploring Girlhood as Curators

In this episode of GirlSpeak, Girl Museum’s curatorial and education interns Asha and Yuwen talk about their experiences in preparing for this exhibition and how they came to view “girls” and “girlhood” through their work with us.

This exhibition was curated by Yuwen Zhang, Asha Hall-Jones, and Tiffany R. Isselhardt with assistance from Josie Evans and Dr. Elizabeth Dillenburg. Graphic design by Janey Robideau. Special thanks to our contributors, who provided key insights on girlhood and its meanings.

Recommended Reading

The titles below are recommended by our curatorial team for their exemplary explorations of gender and girlhood. Click the picture to be taken to Bookshop.org, where you can buy the book while supporting indie bookstores and Girl Museum.

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Essay on Girl Child

Students are often asked to write an essay on Girl Child in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Girl Child

Importance of girl child.

Girl children are precious. They are future mothers, leaders, and contributors to society. A girl child brings joy, love, and happiness in the family. They are equally important as boys.

Challenges Faced by Girl Child

Sadly, girl children often face discrimination. They may not receive equal opportunities for education, healthcare, and other essentials. This needs to change.

The Role of Society

Society plays a big role in shaping a girl child’s life. It’s our duty to protect, respect, and empower them. We should strive for gender equality and ensure they have a bright future.

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250 Words Essay on Girl Child

The girl child: a beacon of hope and change.

The girl child, often overlooked in many societies, holds the potential to bring about transformative change. She is not a liability; instead, she is an asset, a beacon of hope, and a pillar of strength.

The Power of Education

Education is a crucial tool for empowering the girl child. It is not merely about reading and writing; it’s about equipping her with knowledge, skills, and confidence to break the shackles of societal constraints. An educated girl child can contribute significantly to the socio-economic development of a nation.

Challenges Faced

Despite the potential, the path of a girl child is often strewn with obstacles. Gender bias, discrimination, and lack of access to education and healthcare are some of the challenges she faces. These challenges are not only detrimental to her but also to the overall progress of society.

Role of Society

Society plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of the girl child. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that every girl child is treated with respect and dignity, and is provided with equal opportunities. It’s high time we shed our prejudices and embrace the power of the girl child.

The Way Forward

The way forward lies in creating a conducive environment for the girl child to thrive. Providing quality education, ensuring her safety, and promoting gender equality are some of the steps in this direction. Let us remember, empowering the girl child is synonymous with empowering the nation.

500 Words Essay on Girl Child

The importance of the girl child.

The girl child, often marginalized and subjected to various forms of discrimination, plays a pivotal role in society. It’s essential to acknowledge and promote the importance of the girl child for the development of society and the nation at large.

Historical Perspective

Education: a fundamental right.

Education is a fundamental right of every child. Yet, millions of girls worldwide are denied this right due to societal prejudices and economic constraints. Educating a girl child is not merely about imparting knowledge but also about equipping her with the skills and confidence to make informed decisions. An educated girl can contribute to her family, society, and nation’s economic development. This connection between a girl child’s education and societal development underscores the need for gender equality in educational opportunities.

Healthcare: A Key to Empowerment

Healthcare, particularly for the girl child, is another area requiring significant attention. Girls face unique health issues, especially during adolescence, and these need to be addressed with sensitivity and understanding. Adequate healthcare can ensure that girls grow into healthy women capable of contributing positively to society.

Legal Protection and Social Empowerment

The economic impact of empowering the girl child.

Empowering the girl child has far-reaching economic implications. A study by the World Bank suggests that every year of secondary education correlates with an 18% increase in a girl’s future earning potential. Thus, investing in a girl child’s education and health can significantly contribute to economic growth.

Conclusion: The Way Forward

The future of our society depends on how we treat and value our girl children today. Empowering the girl child through education, healthcare, legal protection, and social empowerment is not only a moral obligation but also a strategic necessity for societal development. By ensuring that girls have equal opportunities to grow, learn, and thrive, we can create a more balanced, equitable, and prosperous society.

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ROLE OF THE GIRL CHILD IN A CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY: LEVERAGING ON GIRL CHILD DEVELOPMENT FOR NATION BUILDING

• December 2021
• Conference: Elile Students International Conference of Girl Child
• At: Eastern Obolo

• Akwa Ibom State University

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The Importance of the Girl Child Essay – Nurturing a Brighter Future

The world is a canvas painted with diverse colors, and each color contributes to the beauty of the whole picture. Similarly, the presence of both boys and girls in society brings balance and completeness. However, there was a time when the girl child was not accorded the respect and opportunities she rightfully deserved. In this essay, we will delve into the profound significance of the girl child and how nurturing her growth paves the way for a brighter and more equitable future.

Table of Contents

Importance of the Girl Child Essay – Empowerment through Education

Education is the beacon that illuminates the path to progress. Providing quality education to girls is not just about offering them knowledge; it’s about empowering them to become leaders, thinkers, and contributors to society. When a girl is educated, she gains the tools to make informed decisions, challenge stereotypes, and break down barriers. Educated girls grow into empowered women who can drive positive change in their families, communities, and the world.

Breaking the Chains of Discrimination

For years, societies across the globe have grappled with gender discrimination. The girl child has often been marginalized, denied equal rights, and subjected to harmful practices. However, times are changing. Advocates for gender equality are working tirelessly to break these chains of discrimination. By empowering the girl child, we shatter the glass ceiling, proving that there are no limits to what she can achieve.

Agents of Economic Growth

The girl child is not just a passive recipient of opportunities; she’s a dynamic force that propels economies forward. When girls are educated, skilled, and engaged in the workforce, they contribute significantly to economic growth. They become entrepreneurs, scientists, doctors, and leaders in various fields, driving innovation and progress. Investing in the girl child’s education is an investment in a nation’s prosperity.

Eradicating Early Marriage and Fostering Health

In some parts of the world, girls are married off at a young age, denying them the chance to grow, learn, and fulfill their potential. This practice perpetuates a cycle of inequality. By recognizing the girl child’s right to a safe and healthy childhood, we can eradicate early marriages and promote better health outcomes. When girls are healthy, they can pursue their dreams and contribute to society’s well-being.

Building Resilience and Leadership

Girls are natural-born leaders. Throughout history, we’ve witnessed countless examples of girls stepping up to lead their communities and advocate for change. Nurturing the leadership qualities of the girl child prepares her to address challenges head-on, find innovative solutions, and inspire others. By providing platforms for girls to develop their leadership skills, we create a more inclusive and effective society.

Cultivating Empathy and Social Change

Girls often exhibit remarkable empathy and compassion. They have the potential to become powerful advocates for social change, addressing issues such as poverty, inequality, and environmental sustainability. When the girl child is encouraged to voice her opinions and take action, she becomes a catalyst for positive transformation, creating a ripple effect that touches lives far and wide.

Role Models for Future Generations

The girl child of today is the role model for the generations that follow. When we celebrate her achievements, we send a message to young girls that their dreams are valid and achievable. By offering equal opportunities to girls, we shape a world where they can thrive, leading to a cycle of progress that benefits everyone.

In the tapestry of life, the girl child’s role is as vital as any other thread. Her presence enriches society in countless ways, from contributing to the economy to fostering empathy and social change. Nurturing the growth of the girl child is not just a moral obligation; it’s an investment in a brighter, more equitable future for all. As we continue to champion gender equality and empower the girl child, we weave a narrative of progress, unity, and boundless potential.

Hello! Welcome to my Blog StudyParagraphs.co. My name is Angelina. I am a college professor. I love reading writing for kids students. This blog is full with valuable knowledge for all class students. Thank you for reading my articles.

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Essay Curve

Essay on Girl Child – Examples, 10 Lines to 1200 Words

Essay on Girl Child: In many parts of the world, the birth of a girl child is often met with disappointment and discrimination. From gender-based violence to limited access to education and healthcare, girls face numerous challenges simply because of their gender. In this essay, we will explore the importance of empowering and protecting girl children, and the ways in which society can work towards creating a more equitable and inclusive environment for girls to thrive. Let us delve deeper into the issue of girl child rights and the urgent need for change.

Table of Contents

Girl Child Essay Writing Tips

1. Start with an engaging introduction that highlights the importance of addressing issues related to girl child in society. You can start with a thought-provoking quote or statistic to grab the reader’s attention.

2. Provide background information on the challenges faced by girl children in various parts of the world. This can include issues such as gender discrimination, lack of access to education, child marriage, and gender-based violence.

3. Discuss the importance of empowering girl children and the benefits it brings to society as a whole. This can include improved economic opportunities, better health outcomes, and increased social and political participation.

4. Highlight the role of education in empowering girl children. Discuss the importance of providing quality education to girls and the impact it can have on their future prospects.

5. Address the issue of child marriage and its impact on girl children. Discuss the negative consequences of child marriage, such as early pregnancy, limited educational opportunities, and increased risk of domestic violence.

6. Talk about the importance of creating a safe and supportive environment for girl children to thrive. This can include implementing laws and policies that protect their rights and providing access to healthcare and social services.

7. Provide examples of successful initiatives and programs that have been implemented to empower girl children. This can include scholarships for girls, mentorship programs, and advocacy campaigns.

8. Discuss the role of individuals, communities, and governments in promoting the rights and well-being of girl children. Highlight the importance of collective action in creating a more equitable and inclusive society.

9. Conclude your essay by emphasizing the need for continued efforts to empower girl children and create a more gender-equal world. Encourage readers to take action and support initiatives that promote the rights and well-being of girl children.

10. Proofread your essay carefully to ensure it is well-organized, coherent, and free of grammatical errors. Make sure to cite any sources used in your essay to provide credibility to your arguments.

Essay on Girl Child in 10 Lines – Examples

1. Girls are often discriminated against from a young age, facing challenges in education, healthcare, and opportunities for personal growth. 2. Many girls around the world are denied access to education, limiting their potential and perpetuating cycles of poverty. 3. Child marriage is a common issue affecting girls, robbing them of their childhood and forcing them into adult responsibilities. 4. Girls are more likely to experience gender-based violence, including physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. 5. In many cultures, girls are seen as less valuable than boys, leading to neglect and lack of resources for their well-being. 6. Girls face barriers in accessing healthcare, leading to higher rates of maternal mortality and other health issues. 7. Despite these challenges, girls have shown incredible resilience and determination in overcoming obstacles and achieving their goals. 8. Empowering girls through education and opportunities can have a ripple effect, benefiting families, communities, and societies as a whole. 9. Investing in girls’ rights and well-being is crucial for creating a more equitable and just world for all. 10. Every girl deserves the chance to thrive, to be valued, and to reach her full potential.

Sample Essay on Girl Child in 100-180 Words

The girl child is often neglected and discriminated against in many societies around the world. From a young age, girls are often seen as inferior to boys and are denied the same opportunities and rights. This can lead to a lack of education, early marriage, and limited career prospects for girls.

It is important to recognize the value and potential of the girl child. When given the opportunity to thrive, girls can excel in all areas of life and contribute positively to society. By investing in the education and empowerment of girls, we can break the cycle of poverty and inequality that often holds them back.

It is crucial to create a supportive and inclusive environment for girls to grow and succeed. By promoting gender equality and providing equal opportunities for all children, we can ensure that every girl has the chance to reach her full potential and lead a fulfilling life.

Short Essay on Girl Child in 200-500 Words

The girl child is often seen as a vulnerable and marginalized member of society. From a young age, girls face discrimination and inequality in various aspects of their lives, including education, health, and opportunities for personal and professional growth. This essay will explore the challenges faced by the girl child and the importance of empowering and supporting girls to reach their full potential.

One of the biggest challenges faced by the girl child is access to education. In many parts of the world, girls are denied the opportunity to go to school and receive a quality education. This lack of access to education not only limits their personal growth and development but also perpetuates cycles of poverty and inequality. Without education, girls are more likely to be married off at a young age, face higher rates of maternal mortality, and have limited economic opportunities.

Health is another critical issue facing the girl child. Girls are often at a higher risk of malnutrition, disease, and violence compared to boys. Lack of access to healthcare services, including reproductive health services, puts girls at risk of early pregnancy, unsafe abortions, and other health complications. Additionally, girls are more likely to be victims of gender-based violence, including sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking.

Furthermore, the girl child faces limited opportunities for personal and professional growth. Societal norms and expectations often dictate that girls should prioritize their roles as caregivers and homemakers, limiting their ability to pursue their own interests and ambitions. This lack of autonomy and agency can have long-term consequences on girls’ mental health and well-being.

Empowering and supporting the girl child is crucial for creating a more equitable and just society. When girls are educated, healthy, and empowered, they are better able to contribute to their communities and societies. Investing in girls’ education and health not only benefits the individual girl but also has a ripple effect on her family, community, and country as a whole.

There are several ways to support and empower the girl child. Governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders can work together to ensure that girls have access to quality education, healthcare services, and opportunities for personal and professional growth. Additionally, addressing harmful gender norms and stereotypes is essential for creating a more inclusive and supportive environment for girls.

In conclusion, the girl child faces numerous challenges and obstacles in her life. However, by empowering and supporting girls, we can create a more just and equitable society where all individuals have the opportunity to reach their full potential. It is crucial that we prioritize the well-being and rights of the girl child to ensure a brighter future for all.

Essay on Girl Child in 1000-1500 Words

Introduction

The girl child is often considered as a vulnerable section of society due to various social, economic, and cultural factors. Despite the progress made in terms of gender equality and women empowerment, girls still face discrimination and challenges in many parts of the world. In this essay, we will discuss the importance of the girl child, the challenges they face, and the ways to empower and protect them.

Importance of the Girl Child

The girl child is an essential part of society as she plays a crucial role in shaping the future. Girls have the potential to become leaders, innovators, and change-makers in various fields. They have the right to education, healthcare, and equal opportunities to fulfill their dreams and aspirations. Investing in the girl child is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic decision for the progress and development of a nation.

Challenges Faced by the Girl Child

Despite the progress made in terms of gender equality, girls still face numerous challenges in many parts of the world. Some of the common challenges faced by the girl child include:

1. Discrimination: Girls are often discriminated against in terms of access to education, healthcare, and opportunities. They are considered as inferior to boys and are denied equal rights and opportunities.

2. Child Marriage: Child marriage is a common practice in many parts of the world, where girls are married off at a young age without their consent. This not only deprives them of their childhood but also puts them at risk of early pregnancy and health complications.

3. Gender-based Violence: Girls are often subjected to various forms of gender-based violence, including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. This not only affects their physical and mental health but also hinders their overall development.

4. Lack of Education: Many girls are denied access to education due to various social, economic, and cultural factors. This not only limits their opportunities but also perpetuates the cycle of poverty and inequality.

5. Limited Opportunities: Girls often have limited opportunities to pursue their interests and aspirations due to societal norms and expectations. They are expected to prioritize their family and household responsibilities over their own dreams and ambitions.

Empowering the Girl Child

Empowering the girl child is essential to ensure their rights, opportunities, and well-being. Some of the ways to empower the girl child include:

1. Education: Education is the key to empowering the girl child and breaking the cycle of poverty and inequality. Girls should have equal access to quality education and opportunities to pursue their interests and aspirations.

2. Healthcare: Girls should have access to healthcare services, including reproductive health services, to ensure their physical and mental well-being. This will help in reducing maternal mortality rates and improving overall health outcomes.

3. Economic Empowerment: Girls should be given opportunities to participate in the economy and earn a livelihood. This can be done through skill development programs, vocational training, and entrepreneurship initiatives.

4. Gender Equality: Gender equality should be promoted in all aspects of society to ensure equal rights and opportunities for girls. This includes challenging gender stereotypes, promoting women’s leadership, and advocating for gender-sensitive policies and programs.

5. Protection from Violence: Girls should be protected from all forms of gender-based violence, including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. This can be done through legal reforms, awareness campaigns, and support services for survivors.

The girl child is a valuable asset to society and should be empowered and protected to fulfill her potential. By investing in the girl child, we can ensure a brighter future for all and create a more inclusive and equitable society. It is essential for governments, civil society organizations, and individuals to work together to promote the rights and well-being of the girl child and create a world where every girl can thrive and succeed.

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The Girl-Child in India: Play, Pedagogy, and Promise

*The Girl-Child in India: Play, Pedagogy, and Promise Review-article on Ruby Lal, Coming of Age in Nineteenth-Century India: The Girl-Child and the Art of Playfulness (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. xvii plus 229 pp.).

More than twenty-five years ago, the Indian economist and public intellectual Amartya Sen helped ignite a debate on the “endangered” status of girls and women in Asia and Africa when he argued that 100 million women were “missing”, a third of that number from India alone. Discrimination against girls in India begins, as is now commonly known, in the womb itself. I recall reading, some three decades ago, a report about a hospital in Bombay where 50,000 fetuses had been aborted: one, just one, fetus was male. Sen was by no means the first person to have broached this subject: indeed, the girl-child in India had, by the 1970s, already been the subject of numerous government committee reports, but there was still little awareness of the various largely invisible forms of discrimination that affected girls and women adversely. The various government commissions may, not all that ironically, have helped to bury the problem; but India is attentive to the likes of Amartya Sen, who has wide recognition in educated liberal circles in the West and has been lionized in India. Just three years after Sen’s article was written, the Government of India outlawed prenatal sex discrimination with the passage of the Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act [1994]. Soon thereafter, one could see the following sign at least some hospitals: “Here pre-natal sex determination (Boy or Girl before birth) is not done. It is a punishable act.”

It is Indian feminists rather than Sen, of course, who must be credited with whatever little reforms the Indian state has undertaken in the matter of rights of unborn girls, female children, and women. Those who are familiar with the Indian principle of jugaad, which means, among other things, making do with the situation at hand, bending corners, and finding a way out, would not be surprised to hear that sex selection still takes place. It is not merely the case that most Indian laws are seldom and certainly imperfectly implemented, though this is part of the story: more than ten years after the legislation was passed, only 400 cases had been registered under the 1994 act, and a mere two convictions had been procured. What is more germane is that under the guise of aiming to screen for birth defects, amniocentesis is still carried out without any fear of penalty. At Amritsar’s New Bhandari Hospital, for example, amniocentesis is widely practiced and openly advertised. Kanan Bhandari, who is herself a gynecologist and married to the hospital’s proprietor, defends her clinic’s practices by distinguishing between amniocentesis and the “medical termination of pregnancy of fetuses older than 20 weeks.” However, the measure of the girl-child in India can be taken in myriad other ways. In many Indian households, to take one illustration, girls eat after boys, and women after men; moreover, girls are given less to eat than boys, and they may be given smaller portions of milk, eggs, and poultry.

Considering what the sociological literature on the girl-child has to say, the work of the historian Ruby Lal comes as a breath of fresh air. Her monograph on the girl-child in 19th century India is of an altogether different genre, even if it is similarly animated by the desire to make visible certain forms of experience that undergird the lives of what she describes as the girl-child/woman. By the early 19th century, the colonial state in India had embraced the view that a civilization was to be evaluated, and placed in a hierarchical scale, on the basis of how it treated its women. India was found sorely wanting in this respect: colonial texts offered lurid accounts of the practice of sati (widow-immolation), female infanticide, child marriage, and the prohibitions placed on widow-remarriage, even among widows who had not yet achieved puberty and had never consummated their marriage. We need not be detained here by such considerations as whether the position of women in Britain was all that much better, and whether the sexual exploitation of girls was not rampant, particularly in view of the vulnerability of working-class women under the new conditions of industrialism. In Britain, as in India, girls generally had little access to education. Likewise, there is by now a sufficiently large literature which has alerted us to the politics of representation and the difficulties that inhere in unmediated readings of colonial narratives What is most germane is that throughout the 19th century, the picture painted of Indian girls and women was generally one of doom and gloom, ensnared as they were by domesticity, servitude, or the iron laws of patriarchy that bound them to be unflinchingly obedient (as in the classic formulation of the Hindu law-giver Manu) to the authority, successively, of father, husband, and oldest son.

In Coming of Age in Nineteenth-Century India, Ruby Lal argues for a very different reading of the spaces available to girls and women for the expression of their subjectivity in 19th century north India even as “entire stages and spaces of female lives” were “wiped out” (39). While she is mindful of the duties imposed upon females, and recognizes that many of her subjects found the spaces of freedom fleeting, she nevertheless takes it as her task to argue that a certain playfulness informs female lives, thus “allowing forms of self-expression and literary creativity that are not dependent on masculinist definitions of fulfillment” (39). For too long playfulness has been seen as the prerogative of males, as their “exclusive province”, but Ruby Lal attempts to understand it also as “a nonpaternal practice of the feminine” (55). To delineate the contours of such “playfulness”, she distinguishes between “making” a “woman”, which she characterizes in India and other societies as an invariably “male project”, and “becoming” a woman which allowed greater room for negotiation (30-34). Becoming a woman, in her view, is not a mere “teleological proposition” (33), one that takes us from a girl to a young woman and then to the exalted state of motherhood and finally the aging matriarch. Her hyphenated girl-child/woman figure points, in fact, to her interest in the idea of liminality—and where there is the liminal there is also the transgressive.

The ethnographic substance of Lal’s argument is played out in four chapters where she considers the space of the forest, the school, the household, and the rooftops. She turns to an early 19th century text, the tale of Rani Ketki by the writer Insha-allah Khan (1756-1817) where the hero and the heroine meet in a forest. She recognizes, of course, that parallels can be drawn with the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and the scholar of Indian literature has to take great pains to ensure that these great pan-Indian epics do not colonize our understanding of texts and practices drawn from very different times and denude them of their local particularities. Ruby Lal is not only sensitive to these considerations but shows how the trope of play is at work in this text: as she points out, “the claim of writing a story in the Perso-Arabic script without using a single word of Persian or Arabic becomes all the more a claim about authorial agility and playfulness” (65). In a similar vein, she describes Insha as “a theorist of playfulness” who systematized Urdu grammar and placed a heavy emphasis on decorum while being “committed to linguistic and gender playfulness” (69). But what is singularly important for her argument is how the characters are constantly leaving behind the mohalla (the neighborhood) and the duties concomitant to respectable family living for the forest. Lal describes this as a movement from the spaces of pedagogy to the spaces of pleasure.

The most distinct space for pedagogy, initially for boys alone, was of course the school. By the third quarter of the 19th century, textbooks for girls had come into shape. Lal’s narrative at this juncture revolves around Raja Shiv Prasad, an inspector of schools in the Benares region and a writer of books such as Vamamanranjan, or ‘Tales for Women’. In 1856, when he first assumed his post, there were no schools for girls; within a decade, 12000 girls had been enrolled (98). The matter of textbooks, particularly those focused on the study of history and morals, is too complex to be given any lengthy consideration; but Shiv Prasad’s textbooks are of interest to Ruby Lal since she seeks to understand how girls navigated the space of the school and received the learning that would enable them to engage in various forms of self-making. The emerging centrality of the school in the 19th century as a form not only of socialization of children, but as a technology of governance and as a mode for creating national subjects, can scarcely be doubted. Against such a backdrop, Lal’s analysis of the school as a site for “playfulness” is less than persuasive; indeed, the greatest strength of this chapter resides in her discussion of the debates surrounding “the standardization and the homogenization of languages, scripts, religions and communities” in late 19th century India (124).

Lal’s chapter on the “Woman of the Household” has similarly little to say on (to borrow from the subtitle) the “art of playfulness” and is focused on “a number of significant texts concerned with the upbringing and training of respectable (sharif) girls and women” (125). These texts, not surprisingly, were concerned rather with the duties of girls and women, the modes of respectability, and the protocols of domesticity. Her gaze extends to several texts, the “dominant motif” of which is sharafat or respectability (137); one of the texts in question has a section entitled “Concerning the Chastisement and Regulation of Wives” (139), not really a subject calculated to inspire hope that girls and women could readily escape the constraints placed upon them. A much more promising space for tasting forbidden fruit was the rooftop of the home, which Lal in an imaginative stroke describes as the “the forest” that is transplanted. The rooftop was the extension of the home, used by women and servants, to take one illustration, to put up the day’s washing; however, in another register, it was also the place, not just for dalliances, but for reading and writing. The scholar who is attentive to the practices of reading in India would do well to devote some attention to Indian homes with their rooftop terraces. It was similarly the rooftop from which women, when they were still forbidden to take part in the political life of the nation, observed marches and demonstrations. Drawing on Fatima Mernissi’s memoir of growing up in Fez, Morocco, in the 1940s, Ruby Lal quotes her to suggest what possibilities came to mind atop the terrace (198): “So every morning, I would sit on our threshold, contemplating the deserted courtyard and dreaming about my beautiful future, a cascade of serene delights. Hanging on to the moonlit terrace evenings, challenging your beloved man to forget his social duties, relax and act foolish and gaze at the stars while holding your hand, I thought, could be one way to go about developing muscles for happiness. Sculpting soft nights, when the sound of laughter blends with the spring breezes, could be another.”

While Lal’s close readings of the texts and the literary history of 19th century north India yields some arresting insights, her argument seems forced at times just as her neglect of a large swathe of literature that may be useful for her arguments is puzzling. More than six decades after it was first published, Johan Huizinga’s Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture (1950) has still not been superseded in its depiction of the civilizing function of play and the play-forms that are encountered in poetry, philosophy and art. Considering Ruby Lal’s interest in the categories produced by aesthetics, even Huizinga’s analysis of the play element in the baroque and the rococo could have been productive for her own work. If Huizinga seems too far removed from the Indian context, though his canvas extends to the Mahabharata and the Upanishads, Indian readers might ponder over the relation between the Indo-Islamic or Urdu literature that she peruses and the stories that proliferate in north India on the playfulness of the gopis or the village women who engaged in constant play with the god Krishna. As Ruby Lal doubtless knows, the mythopoetic world in which Krishna and the gopis are immersed was construed by the most positivist of the Indian nationalists as one of the principal sources of India’s subjection to colonial rule.

Ironically, then, for a book that promises to open up our understanding of the “art of playfulness”, Ruby Lal’s monograph gives insufficient play to the idea of play itself. Nevertheless, her social history of play and pedagogy, refracted through the lens of the girl-child/woman, is not without promise. Whatever the limitations of education in India, and those are severe, and whatever the merits, which are likewise considerable, of the meta-critique of education as the indispensable element in the liberal pharmacopeia, the education of the girl-child in India still remains the first door leading to a more enhanced and dignified conception of human life. The criminal neglect of the girl-child and woman in India will haunt the nation for decades to come. However, as Lal’s study amply shows, girls and women have displayed remarkable ingenuity and resilience alike in giving play to spaces to make them less restrictive. It is in the imaginative dialectic of play and pedagogy, as it were, that the promise of Indian girlhood and womanhood will come to fruition.

[Adapted from a review published in The Journal of Social History 49, no. 3 (Spring 2016), 752-54.]

Cultural India

Save girl child & importance of girl child in indian society.

India is rising. Our country is zooming ahead in all fields that count at break neck speed. The boom in economy, innovative technologies and improved infrastructure are testament to that. Women have provided considerable contribution to this progress, with them taking up every possible job. From preparing the morning breakfast to sending the Orbiter to Mars, they have made their presence felt in every sphere of life. Yet in every strata of the Indian society, there still remains a cloud of apprehension and insecurity when a girl child is born. Discrimination against a girl begins at her conception and shapes up to be the monster she has to fight every moment of her waking existence. Her second rate citizenship is reflected in the denial of fundamental needs and rights and in such harmful attitudes and practices as a preference for sons, female genital mutilation, incest, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, discrimination, early marriage, less food and less access to education. Deep-rooted patriarchal perceptions project women as liabilities. There lurks in the Indian conscience, a foul monster of hypocrisy, when the Kali-Durga-Lakshmi worshippers take no time in putting women down or dismissing them as a mere afterthought.

Reasons for The Flawed Sex Ratio

Traditions and rituals outline the existence of the Indian girl child. Amidst uproars of gender equality and enforcement of laws protecting their wellbeing, female infants are still found dumped in trash, by the dozens. Unborn fetuses continue to be sniffed in the womb and terminated without second consideration if their existence is even hinted at. As more and more female fetuses are still being selectively aborted after illegal pre-natal sex determination, the number of female infants per 1000 male infant is rapidly declining. Skewed sex ratio is a silent emergency. But the crisis is real, and its persistence has profound and frightening implications for society and the future of mankind. Continuing preference for boys in society, for the girl child the apathy continues, the child sex ratio in India has dropped to 914 females against 1,000 males, one of the lowest since Independence according to Census 2011. According to global statistics, the normal child sex ratio should be above 950:1000. While southern states like Kerala can boast of a ratio of 1084 females per 1000 males, the most alarming scenario prevails in the northern states like Haryana, Rajasthan and even Delhi, with number of girl child as low as 830 per 1000 male children.

The basic reason for this sorry state of child sex ratio (0-6 years) is the preference for a male child from social and economic perspectives. Female feticide as well as killing of female infants is the biggest contributor. The four primary reasons behind this, according to experts, are,

(1) Pre-existing low social position of women – Women are still considered second rate citizens who do not have the right to basic freedom and privileges that men enjoy. Their roles are primarily fixed as domestic help, tools for pleasure of their men and instruments for procreation.

(2) Economic burden – Outlook that a girl child is an economic burden is basically due to the prevalence of dowry system still abundant in the society. The evil practice of having to give money to the groom’s side in order to get their daughter married is a huge imposition in a country as poverty ridden as India. As a consequence, many families view every girl being born as a potential source of drainage for their hard earned money.

(3) Illiteracy – absence of education is also a contributing factor where women are continuously being blamed for giving birth to girls. Also lack of education and exposure to world keeps them from realizing the potential of their girl child.

(4) Advancement of Diagnostic Techniques – Through modern diagnostic techniques like Ultrasound and Amniocentesis, it is now possible to know the sex of the fetus as early as 12 weeks into the pregnancy. The government has placed strict regulations prohibiting pre-natal sex determination of fetuses in diagnostic centers and hospitals, but it is still prevalent under wraps, in exchange for bribes.

(5) Post-birth Discriminations Against Girls – In scenarios where pre-natal sex determination is not possible, people use brutal customs to get rid of the girl child if the need arises. Headlines like girl babies found abandoned in dumpsters, public gatherings and even trains are commonplace. In states of Rajasthan and Haryana, at many places new born girl child is drowned in boiling milk and even fed pesticides.

Present Status

While the overall sex ratio of the country has gone up since the last census in 2001, from 933 to 940 in 2011, the child sex ratio in the age group 0-6 years has plummeted from 927 to 914.

Mizoram has the highest child sex ratio at 971, very similar to Meghalaya at 970. Haryana remains the state with lowest ratio of 830 per 1000 boys. Numbers are slightly better in Punjab with 840.

At the district level, Lahul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh has the highest recorded ratio in that age group at 1013. Jhajjar district of Haryana had the scariest of the numbers, a mere 774 girls against each 1000 boys.

Among the union territories, Daman and Diu has a child sex ratio of 618, while Mahe district in Pondicherry has the highest numbers of 1,176.

Overall, data from the 2011 Census reveals that all 29 states and Union Territories have shown an increase in child sex ratio as compared to the 2001 Census. But the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Gujarat have shown a decline in the sex ratio compared with the figures of Census 2001.

This decline in child sex ration figures is cause for alarm. At the same time it demands a serious re-thinking of policies to improve it. It is a matter of consolation that the decline rate has slowed down considerably in the last few years, probably due to the side-effect of growing urbanization and its spread to rural areas.

India has been termed as one of the most dangerous place in the world for a girl child to be born. In the most current data released by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), for 150 countries, for over a span of 40 years, has revealed that India and China are the only two countries in the world where female infant mortality is higher than male infant mortality in the 2000s. The data also depicts that a girl child between the age of 1 to 5 years is 75% more likely to die than a boy child.

Female feticides and infanticides, coupled with deaths of girl child due to neglect and abuse, have skewed the sex ratio and that may have long term socio-psychological effects. The surplus of males in a society leads to many of them remaining unmarried, and consequent marginalization in society and that may lead to anti-social behavior and violence, threatening societal stability and security. We cannot ignore the implications this man-induced alteration of demographic has on the social violence, human development and overall progress of the country.

Although sounding promising, the current scenario is far from being satisfactory. Despite legal provisions, incentive-based schemes, and media messages, many Indians across all societal strata are shunning the girl child from thriving.

Provisions for Safeguarding the Girl Child

Current policies have been directed towards the symptom rather than targeting the direct root cause. Instead of addressing the basic son preference/daughter aversion and low status of women in India, efforts are being made primarily towards the eradication of sex-selection practices.

The Regulation and Prevention of Misuse of Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act came into force in 1994. It was subsequently amended in 2003 to include prevention of use of pre conception diagnostic techniques as well. It is now called the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act.

The government has introduced plans targeted at countering the common psyche of people regarding girls as burdens. The Balika Samriddhi Yojana and Sukanya Samridhi Yojana have been started by the Government in order to help the girl child prosper and not be perceived as an economic burden. Campaigns like the Save the Girl Child and the more recent Beti Bachao, Beti Padao, have been started to create awareness against atrocities faced by the girl child.

Importance of the Girl Child in Indian Society

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had opined that “Women empowered means mother India empowered” and to have empowered women in future we need to empower our girl child of today. In ancient Indian societies, women enjoyed ample freedom and respect. Present day champions of women excellence in India are numerous – from a woman Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, to the heroic deeds of Kiran Bedi, the first woman IPS officer of India, there should be no doubt that our women. Girls are proficient in balancing multiple roles and they are naturally made for multitasking. Today, girls are applying for jobs that were once considered solely for men and tackling them with élan. Not just in their traditional roles of wife, daughter and mothers, girls are even the sole bread-winner of the family. The question remains of changing our perception about girls being fragile, weak and dependent. In today’s India, they are capable of anything. With projects like the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya aimed at providing young girls an increased chance at education, an educated daughter is surely to make their family proud. Investing in the education of a young girl will contribute significantly towards eradication evil practices like child marriage, premature pregnancy, child abuse etc. which, in turn, creates the vision of a healthier nation.

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10-year-old girl dies from cardiac arrest after falling out apartment window in the Bronx: police

CROTONA, The Bronx (WABC) -- Police say a 10-year-old girl died from cardiac arrest after she fell from her Bronx apartment building on Thursday.

It happened around 5:00 p.m. at an apartment complex on Southern Blvd and E 182nd street.

Police believe the girl fell -- currently for unknown reasons -- from either the family's fourth floor apartment or from the roof and landed on the rubbery surface in a courtyard.

The girl's mother told police her sister went looking for her and found her lying in the courtyard of the building. They went down to check on her and she was alive.

The girl climbed over a fence to reunite with her family. She had no visible injuries other than a swollen ankle.

Police say at around 7:45 p.m., the family noticed the girl was increasingly having trouble breathing. The family decided to take her to St. Barnabas Hospital, where she died from cardiac arrest.

"It's heartbreaking," said neighbor Antoinette Talamone. "This could have been prevented, this could have been prevented and I'm sad, I'm very disappointed."

Investigators are now looking into the family and their actions. They have no ACS history.

ALSO READ | Grandfather suing after claiming Nassau County police wrongfully arrested him, used excessive force

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Ages & Stages

Gender Identity Development in Children By: Jason Rafferty MD, MPH, EdM, FAAP There are many ways parents can promote healthy gender development in children. It helps to understand gender identity and how it forms. What's the difference between gender and sex? Being a boy or a girl, for most children, is something that feels very natural. At birth, babies are assigned male or female based on physical characteristics. This refers to the "sex" or "assigned gender" of the child. Meanwhile, " gender identity " refers to an internal sense people have of who they are that comes from an interaction of biological traits, developmental influences and environmental conditions. This may be male, female, somewhere in between, a combination of both or neither. Self-recognition of gender identity develops over time, much the same way a child's physical body does. Most children's asserted gender identity aligns with their assigned gender (sex). However, for some children, the match between their assigned gender and gender identity is not so clear. How does gender identity develop in children? Gender identity typically develops in stages: Around age two : Children become conscious of the physical differences between boys and girls. Before their third birthday : Most children can easily label themselves as either a boy or a girl. By age four : Most children have a stable sense of their gender identity. During this same time of life, children learn gender role behavior—that is, do­ing "things that boys do" or "things that girls do." However, cross-gender preferences and play are a normal part of gender development and exploration regardless of their future gender identity. ( See The Power of Play: How Fun and Games Help Children Thrive .) The point is that all children tend to develop a clearer view of themselves and their gender over time. At any point, research suggests that children who assert a gender-diverse identity know their gender as clearly and consistently as their developmentally matched peers and benefit from the same level of support, love and social acceptance. What parents can do: All children need the opportunity to explore different gender roles and different styles of play. Parents can make sure their young child's environment reflects diversity in gender roles and encourages opportunities for everyone. Some ideas would be to offer: Children's books or puzzles showing men and women in non-stereotypical and diverse gender roles (stay-at-home dads, working moms, male nurses and female police officers, for example). A wide range of toys for your child to choose from, including baby dolls, toy vehicles, action figures, blocks, etc. By age 6 , most children spend most of their playtime with members of their own sex. They may also gravitate towards sports and other activities that are associated with their gender. It is important to allow children to make choices regarding friend groups, sports and other activities they get involved in. It is also a good idea to check in with your child to learn about their preferences and to make sure they feel included without teasing or bullying . How do children typically express their gender identity? In addition to their choices of toys, games, and sports, children typically express their gender identity in the following ways: Clothing or hairstyle Preferred name or nickname Social behavior that reflects varying degrees of aggression, dominance, dependency and gentleness. Manner and style of behavior and physical gestures and other nonverbal actions identified as masculine or feminine. Social relationships, including the gender of friends , and the people they decide to imitate. Gender expression & gender identity A child's gender-specific behavior (gender expression) at any time seems to be influenced by exposure to stereotypes and their identification with the people in their lives. However, the internal sense of being a girl, boy, in between or something else (gender identity) cannot be changed. How have gender stereotypes changed over time? Our expectations of "what girls do" and "what boys do" have changed. Many female athletes excel at their sports. Girls increasingly pursue subjects traditionally thought of as "masculine." There are many famous male chefs, artists, and musicians―fields traditionally thought of as "feminine." Over time, society has recognized that stereotypes of "masculine" and "feminine" activities and behaviors are inaccurate and limiting to a child's development. Such interests also do not determine or influence one's gender identity. Plus, our ability to predict who a child is based on early preferences is not very accurate—and may be harmful if it leads to shame or attempts to suppress their skills, talents and genuine self. Still, when a child's interests and abilities are different from what society expects, they may face discrimination and bullying. It is natural for parents to have gender-based expectations for their children and to want to protect them from criticism and exclusion. Instead of pushing children to conform to these pressures and to limit themselves, parents can play an important role in advocating for safe spaces where their children can feel comfortable and good about themselves. If your child doesn't excel in sports or even have an interest in them, for example, there will still be many other opportunities and areas in which they can thrive. Regardless of gender identity, each child has their own strengths that may not always conform to society's or your own expectations, but they will still be a source of current and future success. Gender development is a normal process for all children. Some children will exhibit variations―similar to all areas of human health and behavior. However, all children need support, love and care from family, school and society, which fosters growth into happy and healthy adults. More information Gender-Diverse & Transgender Children Parenting a Gender-Diverse Child: Hard Questions Answered Sex, Gender Identity & Puberty How You Can Help Your Child Avoid & Address Bullying LGBTQ+ Health and Wellness (AAP Toolkit) , is pediatrician and child psychiatrist at Thundermist Health Centers, a Patient-Centered Medical Home in Rhode Island. He specializes in adolescent substance use disorders and gender and sexual development, and also practices in related specialty clinics at Hasbro Children's Hospital and Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital. Dr. Rafferty is an advocate in his local community and on a national level through work with the American Academy of Pediatrics on issues including the emotional health of young men, access to care for LGBTQ youth, and prevention of childhood homelessness. Essay on Girl Education for Students and Children 500+ words essay on girl education. If we look at the demographics, India is one of the most populated countries. However, the rate of girl education is quite low in the country. It is quite troubling to see the figures in a country where women are given the status of goddesses. The figures have significantly improved to an extent but there’s still a long way to go. Women were not allowed to even step out of their houses in ancient India , but times are changing. Along with changing times, people’s thinking is also changing. They wish to educate their girls and see them succeed in life. However, this is not the case in rural India which makes for more than 60% of the population. We need to identify the factors responsible for such low rates of girl education to find some solutions. Factors Contributing to Low Rate of Girl Education There are various factors that make it impossible for girls to get an education in our country. Firstly, the poverty rate is alarming. Even though education is being made free, it still involves a substantial cost to send girls to school. Therefore, families who are struggling to make ends meet fail to pay the educational expenses of their children. Secondly, in rural areas, there aren’t many schools. This creates a distance problem as they are located far from the villages. In some areas, students have to walk for three to four hours to reach their school. This is where the safety of the girls gets compromised so parents don’t see it fit to send them off so far. Furthermore, the regressive thinking of the people makes it tougher for girls to get an education. Some people still believe girls are meant to stay in their houses and look after the kitchen. They do not like women to do any other tasks expect for household ones. Other than that, social issues like child marriage and child labor also stop the girl from getting an education. Parents pull daughters out of school to marry them off at an early age. Also, when girls indulge in child labor, they do not get time to study. Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas Benefits of Girl Education If we wish to see India progress and develop, we need to educate our girl child. They are indeed the future of our nation. Moreover, when they become educated, they will not have to be dependent on others for their livelihood. One of the most important benefits of girl education is that the country’s future will be brighter and better. Similarly, our economy can grow faster if more and more women become financially strong thereby reducing poverty. Furthermore, women who are educated can take proper care of their children. This will strengthen the future as lesser kids will die due to a lack of vaccination or a similar reason. Even for women, they will be less likely to become a patient of HIV/AIDS as they will be aware of the consequences. Most importantly, educated women can result in a decrease in social issues like corruption, child marriage , domestic abuse and more. They will become more confident and handle their families better in all spheres. Thus we see how one educated woman can bring so much change in her life along with the others as well. Some FAQs on Girl Education Q.1 Why is girl education not encouraged in India? A.1 India is still a developing country. It has too much poverty and regressive thinking. It is one of the main reasons why people don’t encourage girls to get an education. Q.2 What are the advantages of educating girls? A.2 When we educate girls, we educate a whole nation. As she teaches everyone around her. The education of girls will result in a better economy and a brighter future along with enhanced confidence of the girl. Customize your course in 30 seconds Which class are you in. Travelling Essay Picnic Essay Our Country Essay My Parents Essay Essay on Favourite Personality Essay on Memorable Day of My Life Essay on Knowledge is Power Essay on Gurpurab Essay on My Favourite Season Essay on Types of Sports Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Download the App Watch CBS News 10-year-old girl dies after fall from Bronx building By Tony Aiello , Jesse Zanger Updated on: September 13, 2024 / 5:48 PM EDT / CBS New York NEW YORK - Investigators are trying to piece together all the circumstances that ended with a 10-year-old girl apparently falling to her death.  It happened Thursday evening outside a Bronx building on Southern Boulevard and East 182nd Street.  The girl may have been home alone at the time.  Sources tell CBS News New York the girl and her mother argued Thursday afternoon about using an iPad. The mother left around 4:30 p.m. for a doctor's appointment, and found the girl lying in the courtyard when she returned home.  Police are reviewing surveillance video, trying to understand if the 10-year-old was being supervised, and whether she fell from a window or the roof.  At some point, sources say the parents took the girl to the hospital where, sources say, she was dead on arrival. The medical examiner will determine an official cause of death.    Police and workers with the Administration for Children's Services are on the scene.  So far, there have been no charges and no arrests.  Residents are anxious for answers.    "Just a sweetheart. Always said 'good morning.' Sweetheart," neighbor Antoinette Talamone said.  "That's incredibly sad. Someone lost their child, cousin, little kid, probably missed by her friends at school. No, that's crazy," Bronx resident Madeleine Martinez.  The company that manages the building, Phipps Houses Incorporated, says it is heartbroken at the loss of a young child and is cooperating fully with the NYPD.  Tony Aiello serves as a CBS News New York general assignment reporter with a focus on covering news and breaking stories in the Northern Suburbs. Featured Local Savings More from cbs news. Caught on video: NYC sidewalk partially explodes Man shot by police inside Brooklyn apartment, sources say Harvey Weinstein indicted again, prosecutors say Watch Live: NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks holds briefing WATCH VIDEOS OC teacher under investigation after police say he fathered child with underage student 35 years ago ANAHEIM, Calif. (KABC) -- A Lexington Junior High School band teacher is being investigated for fathering a child with one of his underage students about 35 years ago, police said Thursday. Steve Graves, 61, was accused of having a sexual relationship with one of his students who came forward to police Aug. 26, according to Sgt. Matt Sutter of the Anaheim Police Department. At the time of the alleged relationship in the late 1980s, Graves was working at Loara High School at 1765 W. Cerritos Ave., Sutter said. Another woman contacted by detectives said she had a sexual relationship with Graves when she was his student and had a child with him, Sutter said. "Very recently, both of the victims came to this realization that all the trauma that they've suffered in their lives is as a result of the sexual abuse that they endured back in the 1980s by this teacher," said Cristina Nolan, the attorney representing the two alleged victims. Reiko, one of the alleged victims, shared a message on social media this week, saying, "The relief I feel at not having to carry SG's shame or his secret any farther, or those adults who saw, knew and did nothing (BS) is a little dizzying." Meanwhile, the Anaheim Union High School District said it's taking "immediate steps" to fire Graves, saying once the district became aware of the situation at the end of August, he was placed on administrative leave and removed from campus. "AUHSD has been fully cooperating with the Anaheim Police Department as they investigate this incident to identify any other possible instances of inappropriate behavior, harassment, or sexual misconduct by Graves," read a statement from the district. "To protect the integrity and confidentiality of the ongoing police investigation the District waited to communicate with parents and staff at his current school, Lexington JHS. District leadership met with Lexington staff on Monday [ Sept. 9 ] , sent a communication to Lexington families on Wednesday, and sent this release on Friday following an APD public statement on Thursday, indicating that they had opened an active investigation into these allegations." Graves has also worked at Ball Junior High School, Sutter said. Police were working with prosecutors to determine what, if any, charges could be filed that wouldn't be barred by the statute of limitations. "At this time, we're looking into that," said Sutter. "Again, it was a long time ago. There is a statute of limitations. I don't have an exact date for you on when that limit was reached." Anyone with information helpful to investigators was asked to call detectives at (714) 765-1623. Orange County Crime Stoppers will accept anonymous tips at 855-TIP-OCCS. City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report. Related Topics ORANGE COUNTY INVESTIGATION SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ORANGE COUNTY NEWS Top Stories Chase in LA ends after suspect drives recklessly, gets tackled by CHP Video shows Irvine PD shoot suspect accused of killing paralyzed man Man gets life in prison for murder, sexual assaults near Venice canals Trump praises Rancho Palos Verdes leaders for response to landslides Wrightwood residents asked not to use tap water due to Bridge Fire 2 hours ago VP Harris on the economy, guns in exclusive 1-on-1 interview 3 hours ago Additional charges filed against IE shaman accused of child sex abuse Ewan McGregor joins Hollywood Walk of Fame Talk to our experts 1800-120-456-456 Girl Education Essay for Students in English Essay on Girl Education If we see our India it is the second-largest country in the world, wherein in some fields we are equal to other countries, but when it comes to education for girls we are too behind, hence the rate of girl education is very very low. India is known for the study of a goddess but when it comes to the real picture it’s different. The poor people are not able to give proper education to their daughters. Education for girls has somewhat improved over the last few decades but there is still a long way to go, and for this the government should take action. In The past, people were not much interested in educating their daughters, they used to think that they should not leave home. But slowly the time is changing, people are also changing their mindset in terms of giving education to their daughters because they also want to see them getting success in their life but still not happening to people living in rural areas. Girl education is a term used in context to describe and resolve issues in the educational upliftment of women as a group. Historically in almost all major societies and cultures, women were expected to be doing household chores and all major social work were done by the men. Men used to be the ones competing for positions and resources in society. When education became a thing it was men who started to learn new things and have a formal process to get through with the education.  As the industrial revolution came into existence the ability of men which gave them an edge over women became irrelevant. Women went out and started contributing to society. But there was one problem, women were yet to achieve their fair share of education and hence were unable to compete with men for the position available.  Challenges in Girl Education Poverty: A major challenge in girl education is poverty. When families struggle to get their basic needs it becomes tough for them to send their children for education. Even if somehow they can afford some basic schooling it always prefers boys over girls to send them for education. Social Conservatism: In many developing countries the boy stays with parents throughout their life and takes care of them. While girls marry and move in with their husband and his family. This always reduces the incentive for families to educate their girls. Safety: In many countries, the safety of girls is very risky and families stop their education over their safety. This as a society is our responsibility to create a safe environment for everyone at least till they don't fear to come for education.  Religion: Some of the religious texts have girl children forbidden to have education, at least it is how the religious texts get translated by the religious people for use in daily life. This prevents families from sending their girl child for education. Many organizations have come forward to help the world with the issue involved in girl child education. This problem is more acute in developing nations as compared to developed countries. We as a nation should have to definitely work on it as India suffers most from this issue. We have the second largest population and so we have the second-largest women population and if we won't be able to bring them to the frontline with better education it will be very tough for us to compete with the world. FAQs on Girl Education Essay for Students in English 1. What are the economic implications of girl education? Women are half of the population of any country or world as a whole. If they don't have proper education then it would be tough for them to contribute to the development of the country by engaging themselves in productive work. Due to this we as a society are losing a huge workforce and if we could be able to resolve the issue then we can solve many other problems in the society and our development will surely pick up at a greater pace. 2. Which organizations are working on improving girl education? There are many organizations working on improving girl education with UNICEF leading the way. It has a tagline "gender equality in education benefits everyone". It promotes the importance of girl education throughout the world and even provides many kinds of support to countries to achieve it. It has many dedicated funds which gather money from all around the world in support of this mission. In India, the ministry of women and child development is the major body that works on resolving the issue of girl education. It has worked extensively with many NGOs to help the government with different activities related to the issue and doing a great job at it. 3. What are the benefits of girl education? When a girl child gets an education it not only helps her to achieve something in her life but also does a lot of benefits to society. When a girl gets educated she becomes more independent and doesn't rely on anyone, she gets married late and can give birth to healthy children. When she gets educated she will be able to participate in the decision making process of society which will help every one of us. This makes the society more stable and resilient which provides opportunities for every individual to fulfil their true potential including boys. 4. Where can I find more about gender equality? We, at Vedantu , truly believe that a society should be fully inclusive with equal opportunity to every one of us. Equality starts with gender equality and has a huge impact on society. We have published a lot of materials on gender equality, its issues and the possible solution to those on our website. We don't consider gender equality as a topic of education rather a topic of discussion and everyone should give their thoughts to it. Our materials are created by people from all sectors including science, math, economics, history and geography. This will help you to get a perspective from all the directions into the issue. Sign up today and start exploring the best of all the topics on Vedantu . 5. What are the growths achieved in the field of girl education? If you check the board results of all the education boards for secondary and higher secondary in India you will find that girls are doing way better than they used to do a decade back. We can also see a trend of girls dominating the topper lists of the results for the board exams.  The percentage of increase in literacy rate for women has increased more than that of the increase in literacy rate of men. We can also see women excelling in many fields all over the country and this will provide icons and idols for every girl child to look up to and in future, we will achieve gender equality in each and every field. 382 IMAGES Write an essay on A Girl Child in English || Paragraph on A Girl Child in English || #extension.com Gender Construction and Child's Play 📌 Constructs of Childhood, Free Essay Example Girl-Child Education Essay Example Write a short essay on Girl Education write an essay on girls education || essay on education of a girl child || essay on girls education VIDEO International day of girl child Oct 11 2023| About GirlChild day |Few lines on Day of the Girl Child Career Week for GIRLs Transportation & Construction GIRL Day 600-word essay 200-word content Naughty child essay Sand sculpture daily life content is too rea COMMENTS Gender Construction and Child's Play Essay Parents begin a process of creating gender role through specific construct right from the time children are aware of gender and gender differences (Kane 2013). Adult's idea of children and childhood, gender roles, and socialisation has a strong influence on the children's play. This essay puts forth the argument that adult ideas of ... I am a Girl During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the word girl started to refer specifically to a female child, or a young, unmarried woman. From the 1640s, "girl" could also mean "sweetheart.". Stemmed from the word "girl," girlhood as a word appeared later in the mid-eighteenth century. Since the beginning, it was coined with the ... Essay on Girl Child Speech on Girl Child; 250 Words Essay on Girl Child The Girl Child: A Beacon of Hope and Change. The girl child, often overlooked in many societies, holds the potential to bring about transformative change. She is not a liability; instead, she is an asset, a beacon of hope, and a pillar of strength. The Power of Education Save Girl Child Essay 100 Words Essay On Save Girl Child. Save the girl kid is a critical social awareness topic for saving girl children around the country. Adopting some practical policies and techniques can rescue a girl child to a large extent. Poverty is widespread in society and significantly contributes to illiteracy and gender inequality in India. Girls, Construction of Girls, Construction ofGirl is a gender assigned to female children at or before birth. Though there is generally a biological basis for the assignment, children born with both male and female genitalia are usually surgically altered and, in most cases, assigned a female gender. By the age of two, most children have developed an awareness of themselves as boys or girls and understand other ... PDF THE GLOBAL GIRLHOOD REPORT 2020 by "the girl child", as well as her unique potential to drive positive change and promote gender equality and peace into the future. Today, that message remains decisive: the world's 1.3 billion girls are essential in building a stronger and more just future. Girls are helping support each other and their communities through COVID-19. Essay on Save Girl Child for Students and Children 500+ Words Essay on Save Girl Child. Essay on Save Child: The existence of human life on the earth is impossible without the equal participation of both women and men. They are equally responsible for the survival of the human race on the earth. They are also liable for the development and growth of a nation. However, the existence of the woman ... Role of The Girl Child in A Contemporary Society: Leveraging on Girl Issues of girl child development have generated a high decibel of discussions in the international community in recent times. From the advocacies of Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thurnberg at the ... PDF Girl-child Education: the Key for Value Re-orientation and Nation Building The Concept of Girl-Child Education. Girl-child is defined as a biological female offspring from birth to eighteen (18) years of age.Within the context of education, many scholars have defined girl-child education in various ways. The National Child Welfare Policy (1989) as cited by Ada (2007) defines girl-child as a person below 14 years of age. Save Girl Child Essay Essay on Save Girl Child. In the vast tapestry of human existence, one thread that has often been neglected is the significance of saving the girl child. Our world is replete with challenges, but amidst them, the cause of saving girl children stands out as a beacon of hope and progress. In this essay, we will delve into the reasons why saving ... The Importance of the Girl Child Essay Importance of the Girl Child Essay - Empowerment through Education. ... Building Resilience and Leadership. Girls are natural-born leaders. Throughout history, we've witnessed countless examples of girls stepping up to lead their communities and advocate for change. Nurturing the leadership qualities of the girl child prepares her to ... Essay on Girl Child Girl Child Essay Writing Tips. 1. Start with an engaging introduction that highlights the importance of addressing issues related to girl child in society. You can start with a thought-provoking quote or statistic to grab the reader's attention. 2. Provide background information on the challenges faced by girl children in various parts of the ... The Girl-Child in India: Play, Pedagogy, and Promise Review-article on Ruby Lal, Coming of Age in Nineteenth-Century India: The Girl-Child and the Art of Playfulness (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. xvii plus 229 pp.). More than twenty-five years ago, the Indian economist and public intellectual Amartya Sen helped ignite a debate on the "endangered" status of girls and women in ... The Girl Child: A Review of the Empirical Literature Abstract. This article presents a critical synthesis of the empirical literature on the girl child. The often-cited issues faced by this population include the lack of access to education and health care, commercial sexual exploitation, and harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage. PDF The Implications of Girl-Child Education to Nation Building in the 21st Offorma (2009) defines girl-child as a biological female offspring from birth to eighteen (18) years of age. This period is made up of infancy, childhood, early and late adolescence stage of development. The girl-child is seen as a young female person, who would eventually grow into women and marry. Save Girl Child & Importance of Girl Child in Indian Society Continuing preference for boys in society, for the girl child the apathy continues, the child sex ratio in India has dropped to 914 females against 1,000 males, one of the lowest since Independence according to Census 2011. According to global statistics, the normal child sex ratio should be above 950:1000. While southern states like Kerala can ... Essay on Save Girl Child for Children and Students Save Girl Child Essay 4 (250 words) Introduction. The status of girls in the Indian society has been greatly debated for many years. Girls are generally believed to be involved in the cooking and playing with dolls while boys to be involved in the education and other physical activities from the ancient time. Father of 3-year-old Anaheim girl who died in hot car speaks out A woman charged in her 3-year-old daughter's death is "not a bad mother" and still hasn't recovered after her two other children were killed by a drunk driver 12 years ago, the girl's father said. Wales' papers: Child critically injured in hit-and-run Wales' papers: Child critically injured in hit-and-run. Image source, Daily Post. Published. ... Waterloo Road returns with a new academy status, new school building and a new head teacher. Bronx Girl Death: 10-year-old girl dies from cardiac arrest after CROTONA, The Bronx (WABC) -- Police say a 10-year-old girl died from cardiac arrest after she fell from her Bronx apartment building on Thursday. It happened around 5:00 p.m. at an apartment ... Girls' education Gender-equitable education systems help keep both girls and boys in school, building prosperity for entire countries. An education free of negative gender norms has direct benefits for boys, too. In many countries, norms around masculinity can fuel disengagement from school, child labour, gang violence and recruitment into armed groups. Gender Identity Development in Children Gender identity typically develops in stages: Around age two: Children become conscious of the physical differences between boys and girls. Before their third birthday: Most children can easily label themselves as either a boy or a girl. By age four: Most children have a stable sense of their gender identity. Essay on Girl Education for Students and Children Other than that, social issues like child marriage and child labor also stop the girl from getting an education. Parents pull daughters out of school to marry them off at an early age. Also, when girls indulge in child labor, they do not get time to study. Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas. Benefits of Girl Education 10-year-old girl dies after apparent fall from Bronx building The girl's mother returned home around 6:30 p.m. and found her daughter on the ground in a rear courtyard. The girl's injuries suggest she fell from a height. The child was rushed to the hospital ... Write an essay on A Girl Child in English Write an essay on A Girl Child in English || Paragraph on A Girl Child in English #extension.comextension.comIf you like my video please like, share and subs... Anaheim teacher under investigation after police say he fathered child ANAHEIM, Calif. (CNS) -- A Lexington Junior High School band teacher, who is on administrative leave, is being investigated for fathering a child with one of his underage students about 35 years ... Girl Education Essay for Students in English Girl education is a term used in context to describe and resolve issues in the educational upliftment of women as a group. Historically in almost all major societies and cultures, women were expected to be doing household chores and all major social work were done by the men. Men used to be the ones competing for positions and resources in society. ERIC This collection of essays offers diverse perspectives on what it means to be a male or female child in children's literature, presenting stimulating views from the field's best-known authors, illustrators, and educators. Among the authors and illustrators in the collection who talk about the creative process are: Jerry Pinckney, Katherine Paterson, Mem Fox, Cary Paulsen, Virginia Hamilton ... assignment essay homework paper phd report resume review speech thesis