Being a girl is like walking on a path shaped by societal expectations, gender norms and personal experiences.
From a young age, girls learn to navigate a world that often imposes limitations and stereotypes based on their gender, presenting them with obstacles that can hinder their growth and potential.
Yet, despite these challenges, we demonstrate resilience, strength and the ability to overcome adversity, making room for empowerment and change.
I grew up as a pink enthusiast, loving anything with glitter and sparkles, but that doesn’t mean my life has been all glitter, glossy or picture perfect.
I have faced my own challenges primarily based on the fact that I am a girl.
One of the most pervasive challenges that girls face is the pressure to conform to narrow standards of beauty and femininity.
At a very young age girls are bombarded with images and messages that dictate what it means to be attractive, desirable and worthy of acceptance.
Images like girls with a perfect round nose and the infamous hourglass shape.
It’s become even more of a challenge due to the significance of social media platforms in the 20th century.
Trust me – the pressure to achieve unrealistic beauty ideals can lead to low self-esteem, body image issues, and a constant sense of inadequacy.
Girls often grapple with societal expectations regarding their roles and capabilities.
For me it is being expected to cook and clean, as if that is only a role for a woman.
Hate to break it to those who believe this but men can cook and clean too!
Despite the advancements in gender equality, girls continue to encounter stereotypes and biases that limit their opportunities and potential.
From being told that we are not as good at math or science or that we cannot drive a car without hitting a curb, to facing barriers in male-dominated fields.
For me, it was being told that weightlifting was a male sport and not something “someone like me” should be doing.
Girls have no choice but to navigate in a world that sometimes fails to recognize our talents, intelligence and ambitions.
I once worked at a job for over 3 years and never got a promotion or a raise. One day a new employee who identified as a male got promoted to manager after only a week of working at the company.
The employee in question was not better than me at the job, in fact he hardly knew how to ring up a customer on the register.
We also experience challenges related to our physical safety and well-being.
Gender-based violence, harassment, and discrimination are all too common realities for many girls around the world, a culture of fear and insecurity has been built around it.
The threat of violence, whether on the streets, in schools or online, have serious effects on girls' mental and emotional health, often leading to feelings of vulnerability and mistrust.
Over half of women have experienced sexual violence involving physical contact during their lifetimes and 1 in 4 women have experienced completed or attempted rape, according to an article by The Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
We are agents of change, challenging stereotypes, breaking barriers, and advocating for gender equality and social justice.
Let’s not forget the obvious. . . menstrual cycles.
The mood swings we deal with that make us appear crazy or bipolar to anyone on the outside should not be used as an indicator of our true personality and we shouldn’t be judged for it even if it was .
Being a girl is not for the weak.
Being a girl is not without its challenges, it is a journey filled with resilience, strength and the power to create change.
Despite societal barriers and gender-based discrimination, we continue to defy expectations, challenge stereotypes and advocate for a more equitable and inclusive world.
Whether you're a girly girl like me who loves pink and collects Barbie branded items or a sports-lover girl who feels most confident in a tracksuit, continue to be yourself and express who you are.
I often hear the saying “This is a man’s world,” but the reality is – this is a woman’s world.
Without us, men would not even be alive.
We are able to experience the beauty of reproducing and carrying a child along with birthing one.
We are unstoppable regardless of all the challenges we may face on a day-to-day basis.
Being a girl rocks and I would not change it for the world!
The fear of bleeding through my white jeans is constantly on my mind regardless of the day of the month because as much as we want to count on a consistent cycle, we fear for the worse.
