girls

Randomly the other day I was reading a publication for a time share company. An ad in this publication was for Girl Scouts. Having been a Girl Scout myself, I was interested. Upon further reading I realized that the ad was actually for: “Year of the Girl.” Girl Scouts are celebrating 100 years and they have dedicated 2012 as the Year of the Girl. What a cool idea. This year has been such a full year for women, it always reminds me that rights for women have come so far, but that we still have so much more to do for women’s rights!

This link on the Girl Scouts website, discusses the many thing that girls are doing in their community. Strong leaders, saving the earth, and many other success stories. I wanted to share a few nuggets of information from their website:

Only one in five girls believes she has what it takes to lead.

Fifty-nine percent of girls say the fashion industry makes them feel fat.

Eighty-five percent of middle-school students say they’ve been cyberbullied at least once.

Although more than 90 percent of girls in fourth grade want to continue studying math, by twelfth grade that number drops to 50 percent.

While I do not remember if my years as a Girl Scout taught me about leadership, I do remember many of the campouts, activities, merit badges, and friendships. Due to all that I learned, I am hopeful and confident that what the Girl Scouts organization is doing for girls today will help them to feel confident about themselves and create leaders for the future.

Go 2012! Go Year of the Girl!

I am torn. I just purchased a “Lego Friends – Adventure Camper” which is basically the girl version of a camping Lego set. At the time I thought it was the perfect gift for a girl – that for once there was a Lego for a girl who did not always have to do with helicopters, action heroes, and cars. Softer colors, yet could also be used by a boy. It felt like something I would have wanted as a young girl.

Then I saw this petition on Change.org. It is a petition against Lego to “stop selling out girls.” The SPARK Movement and Powered By Girl are behind the petition that debunks the idea that: “girls want pink, already-assembled toys that don’t do anything.” I love this quote from the petition:

“I can speak from personal experience and assure you, LEGO, that girls do like minifigs. They also like Star Wars and Harry Potter, and they like being creative and making up stories that involve adventures and good and evil and things blowing up. But if you keep on excluding them from your marketing vision, soon they will start to believe that they would rather have hot tubs and little plastic boobs.”

So I am torn with my purchase. I think all kids like playing with Legos. Do girls notice the difference? Do they know that Legos have always been designed for boys? Do they care? Do they like having the people who go along with the Legos be girls rather than usually only boys?

I would love to hear what you think. I am trying to decide if I should unwrap and return my gift.