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When I think of that insecure, very tall, very strong girl I once was, I wish I could say to her: “You are perfect just the way you are. Your strength is your most beautiful asset. Your voice and your opinion are important and valuable. And that is the message I strive to instill in everyone.” Today’s girl, including my daughter.
The way forward is not easy, but it is clear. We need to reframe the way we view and support girls’ development. It’s not about empty praise or protecting them from challenges. It’s about creating environments where they can explore, fail, learn and grow. It’s about emphasizing resilience, critical thinking, and advocating for oneself about one’s appearance or grades.
As we work to build a more confident generation of girls, we must also create a world that values their voices, opinions, and leadership. We need to show girls that being “too loud” or having “too many opinions” is not a flaw – it is a strength. We must teach them that their ideas matter, that their differences can lead to better solutions, and that their unique perspectives are valuable.
Our girls deserve to grow up knowing their worth, believing in their abilities, and feeling empowered to shape their future. It is time that we commit to fostering a generation of confident, capable young women who are ready to take on the world – not as they think it wants them to be, but as their true, authentic selves.
It has been said, “The future is female.” Let’s make sure it’s a future where every girl — the early ones, the late ones, the athletes, the artists, the quiet ones, the loud ones — knows her power and isn’t afraid to use it. This is the world I needed as a girl, this is the world I’m working to create through two decades of research, and most importantly, it’s the world I’m determined to build for my daughter and every other girl today.
Together, we can turn the tide on this crisis of confidence. Our girls depend on us. Let’s not let them down.
Lisa Hinkelman, Ph.D., is a nationally recognized researcher, speaker, and author who has spent nearly 20 years researching girls and adult education—first as a professor at The Ohio State University and currently as founder and CEO of Ruling Our eXperiences (ROX). , a national non-profit organization focused on creating generations of confident girls. She is the author of the groundbreaking research report The Girls Index, a national study of more than 17,000 girls, and her best-selling book, Girls Without Limits: Helping Girls Succeed in Relationships, Academics, Careers and Life, is published by Corwin. He presses.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
