For as many advances that have already been made for gender quality, the disturbing truth is that there is something seriously stopping girls from reaching their full potential. So the Girl Scouts have launched a new billion-dollar program to do something about it.
The Girl Scout organization recently commissioned a survey of 1,001 girls ages 8 through 17 to determine how girls in America view the concept of leadership. The study — conducted by GFK Roper — found that only three in nine girls think that women can succeed in business to positions of leadership. And many believe that women more burdened by family than men as they try to succeed in their careers.
So what's stopping girls from succeeding? The girls cited a myriad of negative influences such as peer pressure to not stand out, a lack of role models and mentors, and unhealthy images in the media about beauty.
To combat these negative influences and help girls knock down barriers to success, the Girl Scouts are throwing their clout behind a new campaign called To Get Her There, aimed at cultivating the female leaders of tomorrow. According to the site, the campaign will focus on a three-pronged approach: supporting girls in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers, preventing bullying, and promoting healthy images of women.
The aim of To Get Her There is to create equal representation of women and men in all leadership sectors of society within a generation.
A generation! Can you imagine? That means this initiative will directly affect my daughters. And your daughters. And our daughters' daughters.
I quite literally got chills when I saw the public service announcement for this campaign:
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