Growing up as a girl in today’s society means living in a world dominated by men, with nearly all of our CEO’s and representatives of our country being male.
Growing up as a girl means being told the boy making fun of you in grade school means “he likes you”.
It means having to leave class to change because your clothing is “distracting”.
It means hearing that males will always be stronger and faster, and females are weaker or fragile.
It means having an impossible standard of either being uptight and a prude or crazy and a “slut”, and even hearing that “she was asking for it”.
Growing up as a girl should mean that you are strong, nurturing, and fearless, a combination that will make you unstoppable. It should also mean pursuing any dreams you have without judgment and stereotypes.
Here at Xavier, 58.06% of people in a survey said they do not believe there is equality for men and women, while 74.19% of the females said they feel like they are viewed as weaker or more sensitive than their male peers. We can break this stereotype if we all empower each other first and chase our dreams ignoring the judgment so we can be role models to change what it means to grow up as a girl.