Too often, teen girls can be passed over for leadership positions because of gender biases that work to keep females out of leadership roles and stop them from believing they belong in those roles. Encouraging girls to become confident leaders is essential for creating happier, healthier, and more successful teenage girls. The Making Caring Common Project from the Harvard Graduate School of Education has compiled five tips to help parents reduce and prevent gender bias.
One of their tips is to work to build a girl’s confidence and leadership skills as a way to help them combat gender biases they may encounter. Often, girls don’t feel comfortable with public speaking for fear of being judged or being seen as “bossy,” which is a common gendered criticism of outspoken females. In order to counteract this fear, parents can show girls a wide variety of positive role models and actively encourage girls to feel confident and comfortable with their own voice.
Read the full list of the tips and ways to put them into action here.
To learn more about addressing our own bias, check out this awareness and kindness practice from meditation teacher Vinny Ferraro in August issue of Mindful.
