future girl essay

Future Girl

Asphyxia,  future girl , allen and unwin, september 2020, 384 pp., rrp $24.99 (pbk), isbn 9781760294373.

Reading  Future Girl  is an incredibly immersive, tangible experience. It is an  important  book, one that every young adult should read. Written and illustrated by Deaf artist and writer, Asphyxia,  Future Girl  is an Own Voices story that proves illustrated books are not just for children.

Future Girl  is portrayed as the art journal of Piper McBride, a 16-year-old Deaf teenager living in a near-future dystopian Melbourne. Her mother has raised her to hide her deafness behind oral skills and the ability to lipread. But Piper has never felt at ease communicating with hearing people and therefore has very few friends. It is not until she meets Marley, a CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult) and his wonderfully expressive Deaf mother, that she learns how beautiful communication can be. With her new-found confidence, Piper begins to carve a path away from her mother’s and learns to fight for what she needs. 

This enthralling coming-of-age story is an authentic insight into the Deaf community for hearing readers and a mighty voice for Deaf readers. Yet, although Piper is Deaf, the reader is never overloaded by that one aspect of her character. 

Asphyxia has built an eerily believable future where the government exerts its resources to constantly censor and monitor the general population. Moreover, the government has vilified ‘wild’ food, and most of the population is forced to buy scientifically manufactured food. 

When Piper’s mother, the leading food scientist, is dismissed from her job, she and Piper quickly run out of money. Piper can’t find a job to help out – no one is willing to accommodate a Deaf employee. They are forced to rent out their house and move into the backyard shed. And when high fuel costs cause a nationwide shortage in rations, they run out of food. Through Marley and his mother, Piper learns to grow her own food and to question the government’s insidiously oppressive actions. 

The novel is an object of artistic beauty. Every page is a work of art, from full-page portraits and garden maps to sketches and stencils.

Artwork aside, the most interesting concept in  Future Girl  is the dialogue. Because Piper is Deaf, much of her communication is either via lipreading (whether or not she is wearing her hearing aid) or through Auslan sign language. Asphyxia makes the reader aware that lipreading is incredibly difficult, something that popular media rarely portrays. The dialogue is written as Piper sees it (e.g., “guv the letriss situation” is how “given the electricity situation” looks when formed on the lips) so that the reader can decode language along with her. Through Piper’s experiences of exclusion and misunderstanding, a hearing person reading  Future Girl  gets a glimpse of the struggle a Deaf person faces when trying to communicate in a hearing world.

Asphyxia further creates this immersive experience by not falling for the familiar YA tropes. She doesn’t kill off the parents – in fact, the development of parental relationships is an integral part of the story. She doesn’t throw in a handsome prince to rescue Piper – Marley’s flaws create a space for Piper to learn to rely upon herself.

The idea of voice undercurrents the book. Whether signed, spoken, written, texted or spray painted on a wall, all voices matter.

This book was eye-opening about some of the issues around accessible communication for the Deaf community and the credible suggestion that young people can take action when those in power lead us down the wrong path. 

You won’t find another book quite like this one.

Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Geni Kuckhahan

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• WOMEN OF IMPACT

Why the future should be female

Our writer says it's time for women to reject inferior status, demand equality, and unapologetically revel in their ambition and success.

When I headed off to college, my mother gave me a piece of folded-up paper with a message she thought I would need. She wrote it longhand on a page torn from one of the little notebooks she kept by the phone.

It said: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

It’s a quote widely attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt , and it was a wonderful gift for a young woman setting off into the world.

I wish I’d kept that tiny piece of paper. For a time it was in my wallet, and then, after it got frayed and kind of dingy, I put it inside a sparkly bobby pin and kept it in a dresser drawer with jewelry and keepsakes. After several years and several moves, I lost track of it—but I’ve always tried to cling tightly to the idea that we have the power to reject any attempt to make us feel small or subordinate.

The key word is “feel.” As an African-American woman, my mother was acutely aware that a person, and a woman in particular, could be shoved into a lower rank in a very real and profound way. Laws could dictate where you could live or work and whether you could get a business license or own property or vote. Customs and social mores and self-appointed status checkers could keep you out of the boardroom or the clubhouse. But no one actually has the power to reach inside your soul and turn down the dial on your self-confidence.

My mother has a strong work ethic, but she also has a fierce “worth ethic.” Self-regard in the face of oppression is her superpower.

WOMEN: The National Geographic Image Collection reflects women’s lives, with stunning photographs, interviews with luminaries, and tales from famed female photographers.

That word—power—takes on different dimensions viewed through a gendered lens. Power is most often associated with strength, which in turn is linked to physical prowess or financial might. The default assumption is that all of society benefits when men are raised to become powerful—their families, their communities, their places of work and worship. When women talk about exerting power or flexing their collective might by coming together, the assumptions are very different. It’s too often seen as a zero-sum game, in which women gain power at the expense of men and at the peril of larger society.

Could we finally be at a turning point? I came of age during a period of protest in the streets. Women have been marching and picketing and demanding their rights for my entire life. And as with most movements, progress comes in fits and starts, times of setbacks and periods that feel like a whoosh of momentum. The Equal Rights Amendment , first drafted in 1923, seemed certain to be ratified by the early 1970s but stalled. We are now in another moment of sweeping progress, most evident in the #MeToo movement —an astounding upwelling of emboldened and infuriated women saying time’s up to sexual harassment and assault. That revolt has produced a new wave of legislation, greater awareness, and immediate consequences for men who had previously gotten a pass or slap on the wrist for predatory behavior. Veterans in the struggle for women’s rights, used to disappointment, are hoping this really is a long-lasting movement, not just a moment.

This is an era of outrage and division, but there are strong reasons for optimism. We are witnessing an age when six women can stand on debate stages in the United States and credibly argue that they should be elected to the most powerful office in the world and when a woman is the speaker of the House of Representatives. We live in a time when a woman can become a four-star genera l or an Oscar-winning film director or a Fortune 500 CEO.

Around the globe women are gaining unprecedented power. They hold a majority of seats in the lower house of Rwanda’s legislature . Nearly two-thirds of the Spanish government’s cabinet ministers are women. The only country that banned women from driving, Saudi Arabia, has finally allowed it. Women have led almost a third of the world’s countries.

In a seismic development, the U.S. women’s national soccer team dominated the World Cup with such force, consistency, and chutzpah that it outperformed the U.S. men’s team in victories, viewership, and pop culture status. When you mention American soccer today, the women are the ones who symbolize the sport. But we still live in a time when those megastars are fighting in court to ensure they are paid the same as the men. Actually, it’s not even about equal pay for equal work; it’s equal pay for demonstrably more successful work. These are women who strut their success, reveling in their triumphs on the field and becoming role models for women seeking to challenge the basis for their second-class status.

For centuries women have been viewed as the weaker, more vulnerable gender. They have been rendered inferior, not necessarily with their consent, but with considerable help from social constructs and scientific research. British journalist Angela Saini documents how science has long defined and confined women in her book Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story (see essay “ Once, most famous scientists were men. But that’s changing. ”). Saini argues that male scientists used their studies and influence to amplify their own attitudes about gender (and racial) inequality. The results of their work “hardened sexism into something that couldn’t even be challenged.” And to make sure that women didn’t have the chance to prove the science wrong, they were denied the ability to flex their intellect or fully develop their talents.

We are still ambivalent about women and power. Women are more apt to be deemed ‘unlikable’ if they are seen as powerful or ambitious—traits seen as management material in men.

Much of the research that tagged women as the weaker sex was flawed or biased. A body of work counters that early science, showing that women possess intellectual capabilities equal to their male counterparts. While men have greater physical strength and a height and weight advantage, studies show that women have a distinct edge when it comes to resilience and long-term survival .

So why do men hold more power than women today? Why does gender inequality persist? The explanation is so often: It’s just the way it’s always been. That’s simply not good enough. And that justification should crumble in the face of evidence showing that places with policies hampering or oppressing women lose ground economically.

Take Asia as an example. Slightly more than half of the region’s women work, and those women are paid less than men. Gender norms, barriers to education, and entrenched cultural forces could maintain that status quo, but analysts warn that countries impeding the advancement of women will pay a steep price. The consulting firm McKinsey & Company estimates that the regional economy would gain as much as $4.5 trillion in annual GDP by 2025 if women were no longer sidelined in the Asian workforce.

Every country on the planet should take notice. Those T-shirts and posters that read “The future is female” should warn instead “The future better be female!”

But the obstacles to power are deeply ingrained and aren’t easily overcome. You can write laws telling people what they can and cannot do, but you cannot legislate their feelings about themselves or others. We are still ambivalent about women and power. Studies suggest that women are more apt to be deemed “unlikable” or “untrustworthy” if they are perceived to be powerful, brash, or openly ambitious—traits that, by the way, are seen as management material in men.

New York University professor Madeline E. Heilman conducted a series of studies to investigate the reaction to successful women in jobs traditionally held by men. In one experiment she asked undergraduates to review nearly identical profiles for employees holding the position of assistant vice president for sales in an aircraft company. One of the employees was named “James.” The other was named “Andrea.” They were in the top 5 percent in employee performance reviews and described as “stellar performers” or “rising stars.” Their profiles provided no background on their personality or character. The students rated “Andrea” as more disagreeable and uncivil than “James,” who got more glowing responses.

That means the well-worn gender tropes don’t just describe how men and women allegedly behave, Heilman found, they also set a template for what behavior is suitable, and that behavior is “directly related to the attributes that are positively valued for each sex.” Women who are kind, caring, and gentle are valued and rewarded socially. Women who are ambitious, strategic, or direct—not so much.

As a society, we demonstrate a degree of trepidation and surprise about women taking the reins of power, because it’s still a novel concept. Women who become police chiefs and ship captains and construction supervisors are not just hailed as mavericks. They are also practically portrayed as unicorns. The greatest barrier that many women have to overcome is experience. Again, studies find that men often are hired for “potential,” while women with the same experience are deemed underqualified.

Our collective cultural narrative contributes to this bias. The phrase “women’s work” is limiting and stereotypical—attached to softer domestic tasks thought to be the province of women. Cooking. Cleaning. Tending. Gardening. But historian and activist Lisa Unger Baskin has been exploring women’s work going back seven centuries, and she has found quite a different story. Women have been holding up half the sky while toiling in jobs considered “men’s work.” “It is so important for our girls, and for women too, to see what they can do and be, so it is not just in their imaginations,” Unger Baskin told me recently. “And it is so important for men, for us all really, to see female accomplishment, because over centuries humans have been conditioned to see women as the weaker, less capable sex, when all around us there is evidence showing that simply is not true.”

Unger Baskin has spent a lifetime trying to add to that evidence file, amassing an astounding collection documenting women’s work through photographs, books, trade cards, artifacts, personal letters, and ephemera. She believes her collection, housed at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University, is the world’s largest record of women in work and professional enterprise.

Women have worked—and succeeded—in occupations long seen as the province of men: as laborers, scientists, printers, navigators, and mechanics—sometimes purposely keeping a low profile to avoid reproach, but most often invisible simply because of their gender.

“I think that the stories that we can glean from what I put together, from my collection, say something about power, something about disenfranchisement,” Unger Baskin said. “The assumption that women did not do things that were always male dominated is just not true.”

Her collection grew out of curiosity and umbrage. She traveled to book fairs and rare book auctions, looking for signs that women were reading and getting educated and working all along. She discovered that women were allowed to inherit and run a printing press if they were widowed because the work was so important and the expertise so rare. As a result, there were several significant women printers in colonial America.

She discovered that Sara Clarson was working as a bricklayer in England in 1831, that Madam Nora led a troupe of glassblowers who traveled the United States in 1888 making whimsical sculptures, and that Margaret Bryan introduced math and astronomy into the curriculum at her girls school in London in 1799. She discovered that Maria Gaetana Agnesi wrote a widely translated mathematics textbook in Milan in the mid-1700s and that the German naturalist and illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian made the first observations and drawings of insect metamorphosis in natural settings.

As a collector, Unger Baskin often was not taken seriously. That worked in her favor as she snapped up documents, books, personal letters, needlepoint, engraved silver—things that no one wanted or understood—often for just a dollar or two at bookshops, book fairs, and flea markets.

She talks about her discoveries as if the women she’s rescued from anonymity are old friends. One that breaks her heart was an enslaved woman called Alsy, who lived in Virginia. Unger Baskin found her story on a fragment from an 1831 medical certificate in which a physician described a device to hold up Alsy’s prolapsed uterus so she could “be made usefull” again. His subject’s humanity was of little interest, but her labor was so important that he was tasked with getting her back on her feet. Unger Baskin said this particularly devastating story shows how women through time have been considered inferior and yet essential.

Enslaved and indentured women are included in the collection, along with items from Harriet Beecher Stowe, Emma Goldman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Brontë sisters, Virginia Woolf, and Sojourner Truth. Unger Baskin sees her collection as a rearview mirror that can guide women as they move forward, imagining a future that is attainable but avoiding the mistakes of the past.

One of those big lessons is inclusion. Aspirational women’s movements of the past—reaching all the way back to the 18th century—have been led by and centered on white, educated, upper-class women. Even abolitionists fighting for the rights of the enslaved often kept those women at a distance socially. Sojourner Truth is known for rattling the conscience of the nation with her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech, but there were tensions between Truth and abolitionists such as Stowe.

Truth “was not a Southern enslaved person. She was in the North. She was in New York State with Dutch owners,” Unger Baskin said. She was self-sufficient, spoke well, dressed well, and acted too much like an equal. That pattern would repeat itself in the suffrage movement and the equal rights movement and into second-wave feminism of the 1970s.

Many women had to strategically build an audience for their work without calling too much attention to themselves, because they were operating well outside of their prescribed roles.

Examining women’s work over centuries, not as it was portrayed in tapestries and paintings and literature, but rather as it was actually conducted, with callused hands and financial acumen and clever strategy, is enlightening and heartbreaking.

Why don’t we know more about these brave women? How is it that their stories have been overlooked or erased? Most unsettling to me as I listened to Unger Baskin describe her life’s work was recognizing that so many of the women had to strategically build an audience for their work without calling too much attention to themselves, because they were operating well outside of their prescribed roles. Surviving as a businesswoman was a special art. But first each had to survive as a woman.

My mother gave me that slip of paper because she never wanted me to accept subordinate status. I had two sisters, and the mantra in our house was: “You are not better than anyone else, but no one is better than you.” It’s the language of equality, and I find myself sharing it with my own children. But is it the language of power? If we want to push our daughters to compete side by side with our sons, we have to be willing to teach them to be comfortable with making someone else uncomfortable with their talent and success. We have to teach them that the discomfort is not theirs to solve.

Power has its own language. Captains are powerful. Titans are powerful. Ringleaders and pacesetters are powerful. Now, ask yourself, when you were reading those words, did an image of a woman pop into your head? If the answer is yes, take a bow, and let’s hope your outlook is contagious. But if not, thanks for your honesty, and let’s get to work.

I have always admired the writer and producer Shonda Rhimes for her storytelling gifts and monumental success at the production company that bears her name. For more than a decade, Shondaland churned out profitable and wildly popular TV shows, featuring women, black, Latino, Asian, and gay characters in groundbreaking roles. Rhimes now has a multimillion-dollar production deal that gives her complete creative freedom. 


Her success as a woman of color in Hollywood is beyond impressive. But what I most admire is her unapologetic embrace of her phenomenal success. She has no hesitation describing herself as a “titan,” which she surely is.

Power has been denied women for so long that it can often feel like a garment designed for someone else. A generation of women are challenging this. U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe. Tennis great Serena Williams. Susan and Anne Wojcicki (sisters who are the CEOs of YouTube and 23andMe). General Motors CEO Mary T. Barra, TV superstar Oprah Winfrey, and all the women who have inspired the #MeToo movement that rose up to challenge a system that flagrantly disregarded women’s rights for decades.

When the stories of sexual harassment in Hollywood and then finance and then journalism and then everywhere exploded into a drumbeat of, yes, titans dethroned for sexually abusive behavior, a small group of women began meeting in Hollywood every day to collectively demand changes that would protect and uplift women. Their effort ran parallel to the #MeToo campaign to raise awareness about sexual harassment. The Hollywood group was looking to create a movement, not a moment, and they called it Time’s Up .

If we want to push our daughters to compete side by side with our sons, we have to be willing to teach them to be comfortable with making someone else uncomfortable with their talent and success.

Half of the early attendees and many of the financial supporters were women of color, and as their numbers grew with each week, so too did their focus, thanks in large part to a “Dear Sisters” letter written on behalf of female farmworkers. Those women, led by Mónica Ramírez, now the president of Justice for Migrant Women, wrote to the women gathering in Hollywood to express solidarity and explain that they faced a similar plight in the employ of men who took advantage of the instability and powerlessness that come with poverty and itinerant work.

The letter, which appeared in Time magazine , read in part: “We wish that we could say we’re shocked to learn that this is such a pervasive problem in your industry. Sadly, we’re not surprised because it’s a reality we know far too well.”

Read aloud at a Time’s Up gathering in Beverly Hills by the actress America Ferrera, the letter set off a geyser of tears, said Michelle Kydd Lee, an early Time’s Up organizer and the chief innovation officer for Creative Artists Agency.

“This was just the crystallization of something that allowed us to rise above the crisis to the meta moment. Can we rise as sisters across race and class and create a new language together that allows us to celebrate our differences and truly, truly in sisterhood allows us to celebrate our link?” she explained. “On a hill or in a valley, we are all in this together.”

Within a year the group had raised $22 million for a legal defense fund to help women employed as hotel workers, health care workers, factory operators, security guards, lawyers, academics, and artists seeking equal pay, safe working conditions, and protections from sexual harassment.

Women who want to change the world, or to go as far as their talents or interests take them, sometimes have to resist or reject that little voice in their head that stokes our insecurities and suggests how we should or shouldn’t behave.

Rhimes was able to create the kind of workplace she always wanted, but she knows that most women don’t have that luxury. In the months when the Hollywood women were meeting at least once a day, Rhimes was the one who pushed the group to think boldly, not just imagining how they could fix the system, but imagining how the system should have worked from the beginning, free of the power dynamics that instinctively conferred subordinate status to women.

Even in that moment when women were taking control and seeking to foster a truly global movement, even when they were coming together in a collective roar, gender stereotypes still could have a pernicious effect, creating a kind of knee-jerk reticence.

“I continue to find it really sad that people are afraid to ask to be equal,” Rhimes told me. And women “seem very afraid to ask to be equal,” she said, adding that she’s seen it over and over, “from the way women apologize and from the way women try to negotiate their contracts, from the way women stand up for themselves.”

Women who want to change the world, or to go as far as their talents or interests take them, sometimes have to resist or reject that little voice in their head that stokes our insecurities and suggests how we should or shouldn’t behave. It’s like a flashing “merge carefully” sign: Push hard or speak out or act up and be prepared to be seen as the angry black woman, the feisty Latina, the shrew, the shrill, the agitator, the troublemaker, the word that rhymes with witch.

Rhimes said a lot of the women struggled with the idea of demanding equality. “It was more about, ‘How do we make the men feel comfortable with the little pieces of pie that we’re asking for?’” she said. “It’s truly a ridiculous place to start, to ask people to give you a tiny sliver of what should already be yours.”

So how do you change a system that is designed to dole out less to women in terms of personal safety, respect, earnings, stature, or accolades? How do you refuse to give your consent when the system slots you into a lower shelf that says “inferior”?

Remember that quote attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt? It turns out she probably never uttered those exact words. In response to a question about a perceived snub, however, she had this to say: “A snub is the effort of a person who feels superior to make someone else feel inferior. To do so, he has to find someone who can be made to feel inferior.”

People invested in the status quo will always be looking for people who can be made to feel inferior. It’s the wobbly floor they stand on. But in this moment, where there’s so much promise and so much at stake, let’s make sure that it’s no longer easy to find women and girls who can be made to feel inferior. Let’s make sure they know their power and their place—as equals.

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Friday essay: girls have long been woefully underestimated – but now they’re roaring back

Associate Professor in Literary Studies, Monash University

Disclosure statement

Michelle Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Monash University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

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Teenage girls are typically the least powerful and most underestimated group within Western cultures – where adults are seen as superior to children, and men are privileged above women. Girls can also provoke cultural fears and anxieties because they occupy a transitional space between childhood and adulthood.

How old is a “girl”? The definition has shifted, along with things like the age of consent and marriage. The significance of marriage has tended to mean young women are called “girls” even into their early twenties. While female children are also understood as girls, a distinct girls’ culture begins, it’s generally thought, around the pre-teen years.

The separate stage of life we know as girlhood originated in the second half of the 19th century. It was brought into being by two major transformations: the raise of the age of marriage to the early twenties and girls working outside the home. In Britain and the United States, these changes created a time of independence for young women, between being under the control of parents and the confines of marriage, as literary historian Sally Mitchell has written .

The reality of girls having financial and personal freedom was a worrying prospect. As Mitchell writes , the way a girl is seen as both immature and occupying a liminal stage “gives her permission to behave in ways that might not be appropriate for a woman”.

Yet a separately designated period of girlhood also gave rise to a girls’ culture designed to cater to their unique interests, such as books, magazines and organisations. This “girl culture” would expand and become more visible in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Today’s girls enjoy a wide range of interests and pursuits, from Taylor Swift fandom to political action and elite sport. Yet their interests are often trivialised or dismissed.

Girls of substance

Girls are often framed as “ at risk ”, or as potential dangers to themselves via sex and drugs. At the same time, they are typically dismissed in terms of their political or cultural influence. A popular nursery rhyme suggests girls are made of “sugar and spice and all things nice”. This implies a pleasant, compliant nature, rather than challenging the status quo.

When girls have made a political impact and risen to international prominence, they have often been the target of significant hatred. For example, activist Greta Thunberg gained global notoriety as a 15-year-old when she began the School Strike for Climate movement in 2018.

She became a figure of online hate, especially after sailing to the US in 2019 to participate in climate talks. Thunberg was criticised for having political passion (“whining” and exhibiting “anger”), and for daring to speak up when she was only a “child”.

Even Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who survived being shot by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan in 2012 and subsequently became an activist for girls’ education, has been the subject of waves of “ Malala hate ”. Her acceptance into Oxford University, her Nobel Peace Prize and high-profile interviews in magazines such as Vogue have only heightened the volume and vitriol of the disapproval.

Girls of substance, such as Thunberg and Yousafzai, defy feminine expectations by being assertive and refusing to accept social and political norms largely established by male leaders. The degree of irritation these outspoken girls have provoked illustrates how they disrupt the cultural expectations of girls as compliant and unimportant.

Boys vs girls in popular culture

Just as girls themselves have been dismissed when they have attempted to influence politics or culture, the interests and passions of girls have typically been derided as trivial in comparison with those of boys and men.

One of the first visible manifestations of female fandom was teenage girls’ early enthusiasm for The Beatles in the 1960s. As expert on media fandom Mark Duffett explains , the enthusiasm of girls and women for the band was distinguished as “feminized ‘hysterical’ affect” in contrast with “intellectually mature, artistic appreciation”.

The idea that the aspects of culture girls are attracted to are inferior or disposable is another way their interests have been belittled.

Words associated with the music girls primarily consume, such as “bubblegum” pop, signal its “sweetness” and lack of substance. In the 1980s and 1990s, girls’ fandom of “boy bands” such as New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys was disparaged.

More recently, there is some animosity towards “Swifties” and dismissal of the musical quality and likely longevity of Taylor Swift’s music. However, her undeniably successful recent tour to Australia attracted reams of positive media coverage. Articles celebrated girls and their mothers wearing glitter and sequins and attending concerts together.

In the realm of cinema, superhero and comic films are big business today: the Marvel cinematic universe is the highest-grossing franchise in history. These films, with huge production and marketing budgets, are derived from publications and toys typically associated with boys. Though some of these fictional universes include female characters, they are less commonly at the forefront.

In contrast, girls’ interests and hobbies have been so derided and marginalised that Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023) was one of the first films to elevate a girls’ toy to major cinema prominence.

Unlike the seven-film Transformers franchise , which has grossed over $5 billion , Barbie exhibits a high-degree of self-awareness and irony about the toy and how girls play with it. Barbie, which has grossed 1.45 billion US dollars at the box office, was widely dissected as a measure of contemporary feminism.

While a predominantly male viewership can uncritically watch action films about robots that change form for entertainment, a story about an iconic fashion doll for girls carried many other expectations – because of its rarity and the sense that girls’ toys and interests are frivolous.

From dismissal to lucrative market share

In the 1870s, in both Britain and the United States, doctors argued against the value of girls’ education by suggesting girls entering puberty required the limited supply of energy available within their bodies to prepare their reproductive systems for womanhood. If girls undertook rigorous academic study, their ability to have healthy children and to retain “their natural grace and gentility” might have been compromised, writes historian Kathleen E. McCrone.

These historical opinions highlight two perceptions of girls: first, that they were physically “weaker” beings who were not capable of the same physical and intellectual activities as boys; and second, that their primary purpose was to bear children.

Things have changed a great deal since. Teenage girls, for instance, are participating in the Olympics in notable numbers as peak athletes. Skateboarding in particular features girls such as 14-year-old Australian skateboarder Arisa Trew , who became the youngest ever Australian Olympic gold medallist this week. (She also became the first woman to land a 720 – two full rotations while mid-air – in competition.)

Girls now have a different kind of cachet: market power in a capitalist economy. In 2000, a Disney executive observed the number of girls dressed in generic princess costumes for live Disney on Ice performances. In response, he initiated the Disney Princess line of merchandise. These toys, costumes, books and accessories reached annual sales in the billions in the early 2000s .

In 2023, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which appealed largely to girls and young women, became the highest-grossing tour of all time .

Nevertheless, Swift attracts criticism that her performances are as not as legitimate as those of male bands who cater to an older fanbase (which includes more men). In a direct reference to the Eras Tour, the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, for example, joked with a live audience that his band was undertaking the “Errors Tour”, “because we actually play live”.

One cultural arena where girls dominate is reading. The 2024 Report of the Australian Teen Reading in the Digital Era project shows twice as many girls are “fiction fanatics” (avid readers) as boys. And boys are far more likely than girls to abstain from reading altogether.

Most young adult fiction is written by women , for an audience of primarily girls and young women. Girls are highly influential on the book industry, by sharing their opinions about books on BookTok and exerting pressure on publishers through social media to increase the diversity of published authors .

The gendered nature of teen reading is commonly framed as a “problem”, with campaigns for more fiction to be published that will directly appeal to boys , to improve their rates of literacy. However, research has repeatedly found male characters have been historically overrepresented in children’s literature. This continues to be the case, despite modest improvements in recent years.

Until comparatively recently, girls have been expected to identify vicariously with male protagonists in fiction and film. Yet it is typically presumed that boys are not willing to read or view stories about girls or written by women, just as men largely refuse to read books written by women . Author of the Harry Potter series, Joanne Rowling, famously adopted the pen-name “J.K” because of her publisher’s assumption that boys would not read a book written by a woman .

The women of tomorrow

In 2024, young women comprise around 60 per cent of Australian university students , reflecting women’s entry into numerous professions. Meanwhile Kamala Harris is a serious contender to become the first female US president, showing girls they can aspire to almost any role in life.

Yet despite movements towards equality for girls and women, sexism continues to permeate many institutions and girls continue to experience sexual assault at double the rate of boys .

Girls are the women of tomorrow. To improve the future for women, it is important to reevaluate attitudes towards girls’ culture and interests. We need to consider why they are often dismissed, compared to the hobbies and passions of boys.

For parents, there is a vital role to play in counteracting stereotypes about girls. Adults can also improve their engagement with girls to prepare them to face a sometimes hostile world.

Chelsey Goodan’s Underestimated: The Wisdom and Power of Teenage Girls , for instance, talks about the need to trust girls to make their own choices, the importance of discussing complex issues, such as sexuality, with them honestly, and why we need to listen to them in ways that allow them to reveal difficult emotions, such as shame and fear.

As Goodan suggests, by dismissing girls with labels like “hormonal”, “crazy” and “dramatic”, our culture “minimizes their voice until it’s silent”.

Most importantly, we can empower girls to speak up. We can also improve our level of respect for them and what they have to say. Devaluing the period of youth for half of the population contributes to attitudes that diminish the contributions, achievements and interests of women, too.

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Future Girl

Publisher's synopsis.

Future Girl explores what it means to come of age as a Deaf teenager, against the backdrop of a near-future Melbourne on the brink of environmental catastrophe.

Piper’s mum wants her to be ‘normal’, to pass as hearing and get a good job. But when peak oil hits and Melbourne lurches towards environmental catastrophe, Piper has more important things to worry about, such as how to get food.

When she meets Marley, a CODA (child of Deaf adult), a door opens into a new world – where Deafness is something to celebrate rather than hide, and where resilience is created through growing your own food rather than it being delivered on a truck.

As she dives into learning Auslan, sign language that is exquisitely beautiful and expressive, Piper finds herself falling hard for Marley. But Marley, who has grown up in the Deaf community yet is not Deaf, is struggling to find his place in the hearing world. How can they be together?

Future Girl is the art journal of sixteen-year-old Piper, a visual extravaganza of text, paint, collage and drawings, woven into a deeply engaging coming-of-age story set in near-future Melbourne.

Upcoming resource

• Winner Read for Empathy Book Collection secondary collection title, Empathylab 2022 UK
• Winner Best Book for Teens, Schneider Family Book Award, American Library Association (ALA) – WORDS IN MY HANDS (US title) 2022 US
• Winner White Ravens title, International Youth Library Foundation 2021 DE
• Winner Readings Young Adult Book Prize 2021 AU
• Longlisted Book of the Year, Older Readers, CBCA Awards 2021 AU
• Shortlisted Book of the Year for Older Children, ABIA Awards 2021 AU
• Shortlisted Young Adult category, Indie Book Awards 2021 AU
• Shortlisted Best Young Adult Novel, Aurealis Awards 2020 AU

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Asphyxia is an artist, writer and public speaker. Author of the much-loved junior fiction series the Grimstones, Asphyxia has also been a circus performer and puppeteer. An avid art-journal creator, she loves to share her process and help others benefit from this amazing tool for self-expression, problem-solving, planning, goal-tracking and self-esteem.

Deaf since the age of three, Asphyxia learnt to sign when she was eighteen, which changed her life. She is now a Deaf activist, sharing details of Deaf experience. She raises awareness of oppression of Deaf people and what we can do to change this. Her free online Auslan course has had over 15,000 students.

Asphyxia is kept busy with her small farm where she combines food-growing with art – creating a magical aesthetic with plants and natural elements. Her novel for teens, Future Girl , combines all these passions.

Photo courtesy of Allen & Unwin

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A life-changing book for young Deaf and disabled people...demonstrating the importance of the #OwnVoices movement.

Further Details

Author Asphyxia

Publisher Allen & Unwin

Date of Publication 2020

ISBN 9781760294373

Category Young Adult

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The Future is Female

“Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths.”

For centuries now, society has conflated sex with gender, creating a hierarchy among the sexes. Lois Wyse’s words above show this phenomenon to be true: From a young age, boys are disciplined to present themselves as stoic, while girls are instructed to portray themselves as emotional. Because of the association between emotionlessness and strength , and sensitivity and weakness, society hierarchically places men above women. Men are associated with strength, and women with weakness.

The commonplace assumption that stereotypically masculine traits are mutually exclusive with characteristically feminine ones breeds this type of thinking. However, when gender is placed on a spectrum , it becomes possible for a myriad of traits to overlap and coexist within one body, without some being superior to others. Considering gender on a spectrum allows people to be human.

No person perfectly matches either of the two extremes of the gender spectrum—men are innately emotional beings and women are intrinsically strong ones. People exist somewhere in the nebulous space between the two endpoints of the spectrum, regardless of their sex assigned at birth.

How we think about gender is important because gender directly relates to the systems that surround us—politics, economics, culture. Therefore, when values of superiority and inferiority become assigned to different genders, these sentiments manifest themselves in other spheres of society too.

It is because of this longtime worldwide tradition of discrimination against women that we need International Women’s Day , which began in the 1900s as a call for women’s equality.

Today’s world still witnesses the systematic discriminatory practices erected throughout history with the sole purpose of subjugating women to a status of inferiority. Centuries of unchecked compartmentalization of gender into two polarized categories birthed and institutionalized the superiority of males over females. Inequitable pay , lack of governmental representation , sexual assault , and underrepresentation in the educational and professional spheres carry the influence of the sexist patriarchy with them.

Despite all the false perceptions of gender and opposition to gender parity, women have overcome. Throughout history, women have proven, against all odds, to be resilient. From the dedicated work of Malala Yousafzai in securing equal access to education to the efforts of Susan B. Anthony to get women the right to vote, countless women have left footprints that can’t be erased, no matter how male-dominated our society is.

While International Women’s Day is a spectacular way to celebrate those who have enacted change, it is important to not forget that transgender women are just as woman as ciswomen.

We praise Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, and Frida Kahlo for their lasting influence, and we should continue to do so. But what about Marsha P. Johnson and her pioneering advocacy within the BGLTQ community? Do we sing her name in conjunction with her cis sisters, or is her story forgotten because of her transgender identity? We cannot erase trans bodies from their contributions to society because of the innate intersectionality—the ability for multiple social constructs to apply to one individual—of the female identity: it encompasses, race, sexuality, class.

Being a cisgender male in today’s world is a privilege, but it should not be. Gender—male, female, nonbinary, transgender—should not define a person’s worth. Sadly, the institutions established throughout our history do not reflect this seemingly basic fact. I am privileged by my identity and do not need to face the obstacles women must face every day. That does not mean, however, that I will stand by idly and watch half of the world’s population suffer at the hands of sexism and misogyny. As long as practices that discriminate on the basis of gender exist, we are all at risk.

I am proud to call myself a feminist . I am proud to stand in solidarity with women. I am not in the fight to give women strength—for they already possess that. Rather, I am in the fight with women and men around the world to help tear down the institutions that prevent women from being allowed to exercise their personhood to its fullest extent. I am in the fight to enact and normalize the equality women deserve, rather than the status the patriarchy has attributed to them. We have already seen what women can do with immense barriers in front of them. Imagine what they can do without them. The future is not in preserving the male-centric society that exists. The future is female.

Elijah T. Ezeki-Okoye ’20 is an Crimson Editorial writer living in Wigglesworth Hall.

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Where Do You See Yourself in 10 Years: Envisioning Future

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Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

How Thinking About the Future Makes Life More Meaningful

Mindfulness is all the rage these days, and for good reason. Focusing on the moment can improve our well-being , foster compassion , and help our relationships . What about going beyond the present moment? Yes, thinking about the future can trigger anxiety—but a growing body of research suggests that it can also make our lives more meaningful.

Humans aren’t alone in having some ability to consider the future, a process that scientists call “prospection.” After all, your dog gets excited when they see you holding a leash because they anticipate a walk is imminent; your cat may show similar excitement at the sound of a can being opened. There’s even evidence that some animals—like bonobos and ravens —can choose and save tools that they plan to use in the future.

But prospection’s unique benefits to humans extend beyond that of other animals. Not only do we fantasize about our next vacation or decide whether it would be better to take the stairs or the elevator, but our prospection can cast far into the future: We might save for our children’s education or plan for our retirement decades from now. We can make predictions about our own futures based on what we’ve learned about other people’s experiences and even from characters in books and movies. And we can consider multiple directions our futures might take.

It is this remarkable ability to simulate our possible futures that makes prospection special. Just like gold prospecting may literally make you rich, studies suggest that prospecting about your future can enrich your life in at least four ways.

1. Helps us make more prudent decisions

Perhaps one of the most fundamental and important functions of prospection is that it helps us decide how to act: Thinking about what the future likely holds helps us decide what course to take in the here-and-now. Several studies have examined how thinking about the future shapes our decision-making.

Researchers have been particularly interested in the psychology that drives our process of deciding between receiving something now versus receiving something of greater value later. In general, people tend to choose smaller but more immediate rewards over larger rewards that they have to wait for, a phenomenon known as “delay discounting.”

But they don’t always choose short-term rewards over long-run gains. For instance, studies have shown that present-day connection to a possible future event can counteract delay discounting. In one study from the United Kingdom, participants were told either to vividly imagine spending 35 pounds at a pub 180 days from now or to simply estimate what they thought could be purchased for 35 pounds. Participants in the former condition showed an increased willingness to wait for a larger future reward than the participants in the latter condition. In other words, visualizing a specific possible future counteracted the effects of delay discounting.

Another study showed that participants who felt closer to their future selves were more willing to wait for a larger reward than those who anticipated changing; the same was true when they were asked to make decisions on behalf of a fictional character who they knew would go through a life-changing event (like a religious conversion or returning home from war).

While interesting in its own right, this research could have important personal ramifications. If people could be made to feel a more immediate connection to their eventual retirement (and consequent drop in income), they may be more motivated to make prudent decisions.

In fact, one experiment found that manipulating how people think about the time until their retirement—in days rather than years—caused them to plan to start saving for retirement sooner, because the shift in time perspective made the participants feel more connected to their future selves. A 2014 study found that viewing realistic computer-generated images of what they may look like in the future decreased their discounting of future rewards and led them to contribute more to a hypothetical retirement account.

2. Motivates us to achieve our goals (if we do it right)

Prospection has another important application: It motivates us to achieve our goals. But the relationship here is not a simple one. Work by psychologist Gabriele Oettingen and colleagues shows that whether thinking about the future helps us actually reach our goals depends on how we think about the future.

In fact, research has found that positive thinking about our future can backfire . The more people positively fantasize about successfully reaching their goals, the less effort they actually put into realizing them. For example, in one study , the people who fantasized more about successfully losing weight actually lost less weight. Another study found that students who fantasized about their transition into a professional career were less successful in their job search and students who dreamed more about their crush were less likely to start a relationship with their crushee.

Importantly, both of these studies found the opposite effect for having positive expectations (“judging a desired future as likely”). People who expected to lose weight were more likely to actually lose weight; students who expected they would find a job were more likely to actually land one; and students who expected to enter a relationship with their crush were more likely to actually do so.

It makes sense that having positive expectations—optimism, essentially—could increase our ability to achieve our goals, but why might fantasizing about the future actually decrease the chance of achieving what we want? Because, write Oettingen and Klaus Michel Reininger, positive fantasies “lead people to mentally enjoy the desired future in the here and now, and thus curb investment and future success.”

But often our goals come from our fantasies. We want to excel at work, find Mr. or Mrs. Right, or run a marathon. How do we turn these fantasies into behaviors that can help us reach our goals? Research suggests that while optimism is important, it is also helpful to draw a contrast between our fantasies and our current reality, which allows us to see barriers that must be overcome.

For example, one study asked students to mentally contrast their positive fantasies about benefiting from a vocational training program with aspects of the program that could impede their progress. This reflection caused students who expected to do well in the program to commit themselves more, and those who expected to do poorly to commit themselves less—again pointing to the importance of optimistic expectations to success. But the mental contrasting was also key: Positive expectations did not increase commitment in participants who were not assigned to compare their present situation with their future desires.

Results from a later study suggest that the effectiveness of mental contrasting is due to “energization”—meaning that, when people have high expectations for succeeding at something, considering what might impede their goals gives them energy to try to overcome those barriers. In other words, it helps to stress yourself out a little bit.

Mental contrasting, particularly when used in conjunction with “implementation intentions”—making plans to help move past potential barriers—has been shown to help people reach their goals. To describe this process, Oettingen and colleagues use the acronym WOOP

: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan. In studies, WOOP-type interventions have helped people break a bad snacking habit , get more exercise , and improve academic performance .

Thus, research suggests that thinking about the future can motivate us to take the steps necessary to reach our goals—but only if we take obstacles into account.

3. Improves psychological well-being

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How to choose goals that make you come alive .

Besides helping us make decisions and reach our goals, there is evidence that prospection may improve psychological health more generally. It might even help people who are struggling with depression and those recovering from trauma.

Indeed, some researchers pose a link between poor prospection and certain psychological disorders such as depression.

“We see faulty prospection as a core underlying process that drives depression,” write psychologists Martin Seligman and Anne Marie Roepke in the book Homo Prospectus . In particular, they note that people with depression imagine possible futures that are more negative than people without depression. Moreover, people with depression tend to overestimate risk and to have more pessimistic beliefs about the future.

That might be why research suggests that targeting negative beliefs about the future can be helpful. Some techniques used in cognitive behavioral therapy, for example, involve correcting how people think about the future, and some studies have shown that cognitive behavioral therapy can improve prospection . There is a 10-week program called “Future Directed Therapy” that induces participants to spend less time dwelling on the past or on current struggles. Instead, they are asked to spend more time thinking about what they want from the future, while developing skills to reach those future goals. A nonrandomized pilot study found that patients with major depressive disorder who completed this intervention showed significant improvements in depression, anxiety, and quality of life compared to patients who completed standard cognitive behavioral therapy.

For people recovering from trauma, a 2018 study suggests that writing optimistically about the future—an intervention called prospective writing—might encourage post-traumatic growth (that is, positive psychological growth following a traumatic life event). In this study, adults who had recently experienced trauma were randomly assigned to a prospective writing intervention group, a factual writing control group, or a no-writing control. Throughout the study, those in the prospective writing group showed greater improvement in surveys measuring aspects of post-traumatic growth, including relationship quality, meaning in life, life satisfaction, gratitude, and religiosity-spirituality. The other two groups did not show the same progress.

There’s another technique that may help anyone improve their psychological health: “anticipatory savoring.” Taking time to simulate and enjoy a positive experience in advance—whether it be an upcoming meal, visit with friends, or vacation—can allow you to derive benefits for the experience twice. One 2018 study found that taking the opportunity to savor an upcoming experience actually heightened people’s enjoyment both during the unfolding of the experience and when remembering it later.

One way to engage in anticipatory savoring, suggested by Roepke and Seligman in a recent review article , is to modify the “three good things” gratitude exercise. Instead of writing three good things that happened today, you can write three good things you anticipate happening tomorrow and what you can do to make it more likely that those things actually happen. For people who are struggling, they suggest also writing down three methods that could be used to mitigate disappointment if the good things do not actually happen. These could include coping strategies (exercise, reaching out to a friend, etc.) or alternative strategies to making the good thing happen (e.g., if a friend canceled lunch, you could suggest lunch next week).

4. Makes us more kind and generous

How we think about the future doesn’t just influence our own lives. It can also influence how we treat other people.

In particular, picturing yourself helping someone in the future may make you more likely to actually do so. For instance, a 2018 study found that participants reported being more willing to help other people who needed help (such as a person who was locked out of their house or who lost their dog) if they had previously been asked to imagine helping a person in a similar scenario. People who were asked to imagine the helping scenario more vividly—by picturing the event occurring in a familiar location—were even more willing to help. One experiment even found that people who imagined helping actually gave more money to people in need when given the opportunity.

Another study found that when people think more broadly about the future consequences that could come from helping others, they might feel inspired to behave in more prosocial ways. In one experiment, researchers asked people who had volunteered for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts to imagine the meaning and consequences of their trip—or to think concretely about how they would be helping. Those who imagined the consequences of helping predicted that they would have a more rewarding trip than those who thought concretely about their actions. A second experiment replicated this finding: People predicted that giving money to someone they had never met would be more rewarding when they were asked to think about the more abstract meaning and consequences of their actions (e.g., how this decision fit in with their life’s past and future experience) than when they were asked to consider a more concrete perspective.

Could this abstract-versus-concrete effect have real-world consequences? The researchers think so:

We believe that our results suggest an intervention that could be used to prompt and sustain prosocial behavior. To the extent that people avoid or cease prosocial actions because of concrete costs, inviting people to construe those actions abstractly could help them persist at prosocial actions that have enduring personal and social benefits.

While there’s a lot left for researchers to discover about prospection, you don’t need to wait for their published studies. You can try your own experiments right now, to see if prospection helps you to live a more generous, happier, and more meaningful life.

About the Author

Summer Allen

Summer Allen, Ph.D. , is a Research/Writing Fellow with the Greater Good Science Center. A graduate of Carleton College and Brown University, Summer now writes for a variety of publications including weekly blog posts for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is also very active on twitter: follow her , or just reach out and say hello!

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“The Girl of the Future”

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Short films, photo essays, podcasts, graphic novels, documentaries, investigative journalism. Each Future Rising Fellow creates a project in a medium of their choice, telling a story that demonstrates the links between gender justice and climate justice in a very personal way. Girl Rising supports their work through storytelling workshops, mentoring, and production. Once complete, Girl Rising distributes these stories so that they reach a wide audience. We also integrate these projects into our global education programs. And we guide the Future Rising Fellows in implementing a social impact plan to distribute their work in their local communities and influence change.

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Asia - click here to see Alex Nguyen photo essay “Who Is She?”Click here to see Beverley Choo's short film about about a young member Dayak tribe of Indonesia and her environmental activism.

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Reference page

• Alisha R.Pollastri, Esteban V. Cardemil, and Ellen H. O’Donnell Journal of Interpersonal Violence (2010) 25: 1489 originally published online 29 December 2009
• Mean Girls. Dir. Mark Waters. Perf. Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chaburt. Paramount, 2004. Film.
• Stein, L. (2019). Social Psychology: Mean Girls. [Powerpoint Slides]

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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 is for more important than men. Because without her we cannot think about our existence. So, to save humans from extinction we have to take measures to save girl child.

It’s a common practice in India where people abort or kill girl child on birth . But, they should be saved given equal opportunity, and respect and opportunity to go ahead in life. Apart from that, the fate of civilization lies in their hand as they are the root of our creation.

Why does the Girl Child Need Saving?

There is various evil in our society; one of which happens to be the desire to have a boy. In Indian society, everyone wants an ideal mother, sister, wife, and daughter. But they never want that girl to be his blood relative. Besides, there are other social evils in society that forces many parents to avoid having a girl child. These other social evils are dowry deaths , female feticide, and some others.

What Girls Can Do?

Although girls are ahead of boys in many fields but still people prefer a boy child. Girls have proven themselves better in every field than boys. And due to their hard work and dedication, they have been to space also. They are more talented, obedient, hardworking, and responsible for the family and their life. Besides, girls are more caring and loving towards their parents. Above all, they give 100% in every work.

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Following are the Steps Taken by the Indian Government to Save Girl Child

For saving girl child the government has taken many initiatives and launched many campaigns to save them. Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save the girl child) is the most recent initiative started by the government to actively encourage people to save the girl. Apart from that, many NGOs , companies, corporate groups, human rights commission run various campaign to save girl child.

The crime against women is a big barrier to the development and growth of the country. However, the government takes this problem seriously and for stopping female feticide they have banned the sex determination ultrasound, amniocentesis, and scan tests in the hospitals and labs. The government takes all these steps aware society that girls are a gift of God and not a burden.

Our Participation

For saving girl the first step starts with our own home. We should encourage our family members, neighbor, friends, and relative to save them and make other people aware of it. Also, we should cheer our family member to have a girl child rather than a boy.

A girl child deserves a life where she is treated as equal to a boy. And she should be loved and respected like others. She participates in the development and growth of the nation equally. Besides, she works hard for the betterment of society and country. They have also proven their worth and stand equal to boys in every field. Hence, they deserve to survive as their survival means the existence of the human race.

FAQs on Save Girl Child

Q.1 Why the girl child needs saving? A.1 Girls are very strong and determinant and can take care of themselves. But, due to social evils and unawareness, people kill them that’s why they need saving.

Q.2 Which initiative is taken by the government to save girl child? A.2 The most recent initiative by the government is Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao which aims to save and educate the girl child.

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• 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 girl child is crucial, explore the challenges they face, and propose actionable solutions to ensure a brighter and more equitable future for all.

1. The Girl Child - A Precious Asset:

The birth of a girl child should be celebrated with as much joy and enthusiasm as that of a boy. Girls, like boys, are an essential part of the human mosaic, contributing their unique strengths and abilities to society. Yet, across the globe, the birth of a girl child is often met with sorrow, discrimination, and, in extreme cases, abandonment.

Societies need to recognize that girls are not liabilities but assets. The potential within every girl is boundless, and by neglecting or mistreating them, we squander opportunities for progress, innovation, and social harmony.

2. Challenges Faced by the Girl Child:

Despite progress in various spheres, the girl child continues to face multifaceted challenges. These challenges, deeply rooted in cultural, social, and economic contexts, hinder their development and well-being.

Gender Discrimination: From a young age, girls are subjected to discriminatory practices that limit their access to education, healthcare, and opportunities. Stereotypes and biases perpetuate harmful norms, reinforcing the idea that girls are inferior or less capable than boys.

Lack of Educational Opportunities: One of the primary avenues for empowerment is education, yet many girls are denied this fundamental right. Poverty, cultural norms, and lack of infrastructure contribute to the gender gap in education. Ensuring equal access to education for girls is not only a matter of justice but also a key driver for societal progress.

Child Marriage: Another pressing issue that jeopardizes the well-being of the girl child is child marriage. Forced into early marriages, girls are robbed of their childhood, education, and opportunities for personal growth. Early marriage often leads to early pregnancies, putting both the young mothers and their infants at higher risk of health complications. By combating child marriage, we pave the way for a healthier and more equitable future.

Health Disparities: The health of the girl child is often neglected due to gender-based discrimination. From infancy to adolescence, girls may face disparities in nutrition, healthcare, and sanitation. Ensuring access to proper healthcare, nutrition, and sanitation facilities is not only a matter of basic human rights but also a crucial step in safeguarding the well-being of the girl child.

3. The Economic Impact of Empowering Girls:

Investing in the well-being and education of girls is not merely a matter of morality; it is a smart economic strategy. The empowerment of girls leads to a ripple effect that benefits entire communities and societies.

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty: Educated and empowered girls are more likely to break the cycle of poverty. They contribute to their families' income, invest in their children's education, and become catalysts for positive change within their communities.

Economic Productivity: When girls are given equal opportunities, they contribute significantly to the workforce, boosting economic productivity. The untapped potential of millions of girls around the world represents an opportunity for global economic growth.

4. Solutions and Interventions:

To save the girl child and ensure their well-being, a multi-faceted approach is needed, encompassing changes in societal attitudes, policy reforms, and grassroots initiatives.

Education for All: Governments and communities must work together to ensure that every girl has access to quality education. Initiatives that address barriers such as financial constraints, cultural norms, and lack of infrastructure are crucial to closing the gender gap in education.

Empowering Communities: Cultural change is a gradual process, but empowering communities to challenge harmful norms is vital. Grassroots initiatives, community awareness programs, and collaborations with local leaders can help challenge stereotypes and promote gender equality.

Legal Reforms: Stringent legal measures are essential to combat gender-based discrimination and violence. Governments must enact and enforce laws that protect the rights of the girl child, including legislation against child marriage, female genital mutilation, and other harmful practices.

Healthcare Access: Ensuring access to quality healthcare for girls is paramount. This includes reproductive health services, nutritional support, and awareness programs to address issues such as maternal mortality and gender-specific health concerns.

Saving the girl child is not just a moral imperative but a strategic investment in a better, more equitable future. By addressing the challenges faced by girls and implementing comprehensive solutions, we pave the way for a world where every girl can realize her full potential.

As a global community, we must collectively commit to breaking the shackles of gender discrimination and providing girls with the tools they need to thrive. Only by saving the girl child can we ensure a future where every individual, regardless of gender, contributes meaningfully to the tapestry of human progress. It is time to recognize the value of the girl child and embrace a future where equality is not just a lofty ideal but a lived reality for all.

FAQs on Save Girl Child Essay

1. How many paragraphs are important to write an essay?

The number of paragraphs in an essay depends on how the writer is distributing the content. If the essay is formal, less information and fewer paragraphs with precise information will work. To write an excellent academic essay, the writer needs at least four to five paragraphs. To write and present them handsomely, the writer must plan the positioning of information. Then after having a proper mental or rough layout, the writer must start with a compelling and eye-catchy first introductory paragraph. Introduction paragraphs can fluctuate between two to four, not more than that. Then comes the main body of the essay. These can be as many as a writer wants until he/she repeats the same data again and again. The body can include very detailed information, facts, and explanations to opinions. Then the writer has to write the last two to three paragraphs for the conclusion. This can be one too Conclusion will decide how much the reader will take from the essay. The conclusion should summarize all the information for the reader.

2. How to start an Essay?

The introduction of any written piece matters a lot because it just has a few blinks of time to win the reader's interest and their time. That's why a mind-blowing introduction can get you full marks, admission, or whatever you are trying to convey. To give your essay a good start, firstly you should note down, in what format you are choosing to write. That means you should priorly know how you are going to divide information in the essay. Then comes the very important first sentence of the essay. Most of the people who'll come across your essay will read the title and first sentence. The first sentence should have a shocking or exciting element that makes it stand and gives more curiosity to the reader. The person should also keep in mind that the information in the first paragraph should relate to the body and not end up like a clickbait advertisement. Writing the introduction is important for any article or essay and should be kept in mind. 

3. What steps has the government taken to save girls in India?

Some of the schemes for supporting girl children by the government are-

Balika Samriddhi Yojana - Balika Samriddhi Yojana is a scheme started by the central government to support girls in financially weak sections of society. This scheme guarantees the admissions and retention of girls into primary and secondary schools.

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana - Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) is a scheme that promotes the welfare of girls. The scheme facilitates parents to support and create funds for her education and marriage expenses.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao - Beti Bachao Beti Padhao is the scheme that promotes education within girl children, as the name translates to 'Save the Girl Child, Educate the Girl child. The scheme believes in women empowerment that leads to the building of an ecosystem for the same. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao assists girls' safety before and after they are born. 

4. Why are girls important in society?

No article can tell you how important girls are in our society and what roles they play. But, here are very few of many reasons why girls are important in society- 

Caretaker - Women play the role of birth giver and the caretaker in society. Women hold up the family and give unconditional love to their kids.

Educators - Women are the educators of society. As the famous quote says, teach a girl and she'll make sure every member is educated. Women are excellent teachers and thus we have seen over the years many female teachers changing the lives of students.

Workforce - Women are intelligent and have taken over the share of good jobs and responsibilities over the world. Especially in the urban and rural workforce, the role of women has grown very much in recent times and has resulted in massive development all over the world.

5. How to save girls in India?

Girls are very important in any country but in recent years female homicide and the easily available illegal abortion practices have made it easier for parents to identify and kill the girl child. It's the responsibility of every individual in society to take up the challenge of spreading awareness and bringing an end to this sin. Following are some ways how one can help in saving the girl child

Creating a safe environment for all women.

Spreading awareness and altering mindsets to ensure that communities and households welcome and celebrate daughters.

Giving proper education to more and more people.

Give recognition and celebrate women in the world.

Ensure fair and equal wages and no harassment environment for women.

Supporting women's resistance to violence and assisting them in raising their voices.

Ensuring that all women have access to the property.