tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/girls-3511/articlesGirls – The Conversation2024-02-22T13:42:36Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2219682024-02-22T13:42:36Z2024-02-22T13:42:36ZMothers’ dieting habits and self-talk have profound impact on daughters − 2 psychologists explain how to cultivate healthy behaviors and body image<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576104/original/file-20240216-20-r6kakd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3724&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mothers play an outsized role in the formation of their daughters' dietary habits.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/happy-mother-and-daughter-bonding-at-home-royalty-free-image/1429136148?phrase=mothers+and+daughters+in+kitchen&adppopup=true">andresr/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Weight loss is one of the most common health and appearance-related goals.</p>
<p>Women and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db340.htm">teen girls</a> are <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db313.htm">especially likely to pursue dieting</a> to achieve weight loss goals even though a great deal of research shows that <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-thin-people-dont-understand-about-dieting-86604">dieting doesn’t work over the long term</a>. </p>
<p>We are a <a href="https://www.duck-lab.com/people">developmental psychologist</a> and a <a href="https://psy.uncg.edu/directory/ashleigh-gallagher/">social psychologist</a> who together wrote a forthcoming book, “Beyond Body Positive: A Mother’s Evidence-Based Guide for Helping Girls Build a Healthy Body Image.”</p>
<p>In the book, we address topics such as the effects of maternal dieting behaviors on daughters’ health and well-being. We provide information on how to build a foundation for healthy body image beginning in girlhood. </p>
<h2>Culturally defined body ideals</h2>
<p>Given the strong influence of social media and other cultural influences on body ideals, it’s understandable that so many people pursue diets aimed at weight loss. <a href="https://communityhealth.mayoclinic.org/featured-stories/tiktok-diets">TikTok</a>, YouTube, Instagram and celebrity websites feature slim influencers and “how-tos” for achieving those same results in no time. </p>
<p>For example, women and teens are engaging in rigid and extreme forms of exercise such as 54D, a program to <a href="https://54d.com/">achieve body transformation in 54 days</a>, or the <a href="https://health.clevelandclinic.org/75-hard-challenge-and-rules">75 Hard Challenge</a>, which is to follow five strict rules for 75 days.</p>
<p>For teens, these pursuits are likely fueled by trendy body preoccupations such as the desire for “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/well/move/tiktok-legging-legs-eating-disorders.html?">legging legs</a>.” </p>
<p>Women and teens have also been been inundated with recent messaging around <a href="https://theconversation.com/drugs-that-melt-away-pounds-still-present-more-questions-than-answers-but-ozempic-wegovy-and-mounjaro-could-be-key-tools-in-reducing-the-obesity-epidemic-205549">quick-fix weight loss drugs</a>, which come with a lot of caveats. </p>
<p>Dieting and weight loss goals are highly individual, and when people are intensely self-focused, it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2000.19.1.70">possible to lose sight of the bigger picture</a>. Although women might wonder what the harm is in trying the latest diet, science shows that dieting behavior doesn’t just affect the dieter. In particular, for women who are mothers or who have other girls in their lives, these behaviors affect girls’ emerging body image and their health and well-being. </p>
<h2>The profound effect of maternal role models</h2>
<p>Research shows that mothers and maternal figures <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2017.11.001">have a profound influence on their daughters’ body image</a>. </p>
<p>The opportunity to influence girls’ body image comes far earlier than adolescence. In fact, research shows that these influences on body image <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-toxic-diet-culture-is-passed-from-moms-to-daughters">begin very early in life</a> – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2016.10.006">during the preschool years</a>. </p>
<p>Mothers may feel that they are being discreet about their dieting behavior, but little girls are watching and listening, and they are far more observant of us than many might think. </p>
<p>For example, one study revealed that compared with daughters of nondieting women, 5-year-old girls whose mothers dieted <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-8223(00)00339-4">were aware of the connection between dieting and thinness</a>. </p>
<p>Mothers’ eating behavior does not just affect girls’ ideas about dieting, but also their daughters’ eating behavior. The amount of food that mothers eat <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.04.018">predicts how much their daughters will eat</a>. In addition, daughters whose mothers are dieters are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.04.018">more likely to become dieters themselves</a> and are also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2007.03.001">more likely to have a negative body image</a>. </p>
<p>Negative body image is <a href="https://theconversation.com/mounting-research-documents-the-harmful-effects-of-social-media-use-on-mental-health-including-body-image-and-development-of-eating-disorders-206170">not a trivial matter</a>. It affects girls’ and women’s mental and physical well-being in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105317710815">host of ways</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2011.06.009">can predict the emergence of eating disorders</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577135/original/file-20240221-18-wdo3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Food choice concept of young girl comparing fast food to natural and organic products." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577135/original/file-20240221-18-wdo3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577135/original/file-20240221-18-wdo3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577135/original/file-20240221-18-wdo3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577135/original/file-20240221-18-wdo3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577135/original/file-20240221-18-wdo3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577135/original/file-20240221-18-wdo3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577135/original/file-20240221-18-wdo3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s important to avoid labeling foods as good or bad, instead focusing on a balanced diet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rudzhan Nagiev/iStock via Getty Images</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Avoiding ‘fat talk’</h2>
<p>What can moms do, then, to serve their daughters’ and their own health? </p>
<p>They can focus on small steps. And although it is best to begin these efforts early in life – in girlhood – it is never too late to do so. </p>
<p>For example, mothers can consider how they think about and talk about themselves around their daughters. Engaging in “fat talk” may inadvertently send their daughters the message that larger bodies are bad, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.07.004">contributing to weight bias</a> and negative self-image. Mothers’ fat talk also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2021.1908294">predicts later body dissatisfaction in daughters</a>. </p>
<p>And negative self-talk isn’t good for mothers, either; it is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105318781943">lower motivation and unhealthful eating</a>. Mothers can instead practice and model self-compassion, which involves treating oneself the way <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.03.003">a loving friend might treat you</a>. </p>
<p>In discussions about food and eating behavior, it is important to avoid moralizing certain kinds of food by labeling them as “good” or “bad,” as girls may extend these labels to their personal worth. For example, a young girl may feel that she is being “bad” if she eats dessert, if that is what she has learned from observing the women around her. In contrast, she may feel that she has to eat a salad to be “good.” </p>
<p>Moms and other female role models can make sure that the dinner plate sends a healthy message to their daughters by showing instead that all foods can fit into a balanced diet when the time is right. Intuitive eating, which emphasizes paying attention to hunger and satiety and allows flexibility in eating behavior, is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-00852-4">better physical and mental health in adolescence</a>.</p>
<p>Another way that women and especially moms can buffer girls’ body image is by helping their daughters <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.12.009">to develop media literacy</a> and to think critically about the nature and purpose of media. For example, moms can discuss the misrepresentation and distortion of bodies, such as the use of filters to enhance physical appearance, on social media. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577137/original/file-20240221-18-yucv2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three young girls sitting close together, each holding a smart phone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577137/original/file-20240221-18-yucv2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577137/original/file-20240221-18-yucv2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577137/original/file-20240221-18-yucv2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577137/original/file-20240221-18-yucv2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577137/original/file-20240221-18-yucv2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577137/original/file-20240221-18-yucv2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577137/original/file-20240221-18-yucv2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Social media filters can lead to distorted body ideals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/group-of-friends-using-their-phones-royalty-free-image/843840202?phrase=social+media+young+girls&adppopup=true">Flashpop/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Focusing on healthful behaviors</h2>
<p>One way to begin to focus on health behaviors rather than dieting behaviors is to develop respect for the body and to <a href="https://theconversation.com/body-neutrality-what-it-is-and-how-it-can-help-lead-to-more-positive-body-image-191799">consider body neutrality</a>. In other words, prize body function rather than appearance and spend less time thinking about your body’s appearance. Accept that there are times when you may not feel great about your body, and that this is OK. </p>
<p>To feel and look their best, mothers can aim to stick to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-best-diet-for-healthy-sleep-a-nutritional-epidemiologist-explains-what-food-choices-will-help-you-get-more-restful-zs-219955">healthy sleep schedule</a>, manage their stress levels, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fiber-is-your-bodys-natural-guide-to-weight-management-rather-than-cutting-carbs-out-of-your-diet-eat-them-in-their-original-fiber-packaging-instead-205159">eat a varied diet</a> that includes all of the foods that they enjoy, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-runners-high-may-result-from-molecules-called-cannabinoids-the-bodys-own-version-of-thc-and-cbd-170796">move and exercise their bodies regularly</a> as lifelong practices, rather than engaging in quick-fix trends. </p>
<p>Although many of these tips sound familiar, and perhaps even simple, they become effective when we recognize their importance and begin acting on them. Mothers can work toward modeling these behaviors and tailor each of them to their daughter’s developmental level. It’s never too early to start. </p>
<h2>Promoting healthy body image</h2>
<p>Science shows that several personal characteristics are associated with body image concerns among women. </p>
<p>For example, research shows that women who are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.001">higher in neuroticism</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/2050-2974-1-2">and perfectionism</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.983534">lower in self-compassion</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.08.001">lower in self-efficacy</a> are all more likely to struggle with negative body image. </p>
<p>Personality is frequently defined as a person’s characteristic pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But if they wish, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1945">mothers can change personality characteristics</a> that they feel aren’t serving them well. </p>
<p>For example, perfectionist tendencies – such as setting unrealistic, inflexible goals – can be examined, challenged and replaced with more rational thoughts and behaviors. A woman who believes she must work out every day can practice being more flexible in her thinking. One who thinks of dessert as “cheating” can practice resisting moral judgments about food. </p>
<p>Changing habitual ways of thinking, feeling and behaving certainly takes effort and time, but it is far more likely than diet trends to bring about sustainable, long-term change. And taking the first steps to modify even a few of these habits can positively affect daughters.</p>
<p>In spite of all the noise from media and other cultural influences, mothers can feel empowered knowing that they have a significant influence on their daughters’ feelings about, and treatment of, their bodies. </p>
<p>In this way, mothers’ modeling of healthier attitudes and behaviors is a sound investment – for both their own body image and that of the girls they love.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Adopting healthy behaviors and thought patterns around food and nutrition takes time and intentional effort. But it will lead to more lasting change and positive outcomes than quick-fix dieting will.Janet J. Boseovski, Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina – GreensboroAshleigh Gallagher, Senior Lecturer, University of North Carolina – GreensboroLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2187002023-11-30T17:21:21Z2023-11-30T17:21:21ZWhy are school-aged boys so attracted to hateful ideologies?<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/a0e5db7e-fb55-4a8a-880e-00f8d5a0f2dc?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><em>In this episode of<a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/why-are-school-aged-boys-so-attracted-to-hateful-ideologies"> Don’t Call Me Resilient</a>, we look at the current rise of white supremacy and how that rise has filtered down into the attitudes of school-aged boys.</em> </p>
<p>Anecdotally, and in polls conducted by <a href="https://angusreid.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021.10.19_canada_school_kids_racism_diversity-1.pdf">Angus Reid</a> and the <a href="https://www.girlguides.ca/WEB/Documents/GGC/media/media-releases/Gender_Equality_Press_Release_Oct_2018.pdf">Girl Guides of Canada,</a> school-aged children are expressing concern about the sexist, homophobic and racist attitudes they are experiencing in their classrooms. And the research supports them: experts say <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-misogyny-influencers-cater-to-young-mens-anxieties-201498">the rise in far-right ideologies globally has impacted school-age students</a>. </p>
<p>Many experts point to Andrew Tate, the far-right social media influencer as one of the culprits. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/online-misogyny-harrasment-school-children-b2314451.html">Teachers say he has a big presence in the classroom</a>. </p>
<p>On top of that, there’s been an exponential rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada that have also impacted the classroom.</p>
<p>Why are boys especially attracted to these hateful ideologies? As we near <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-continuum-of-unabated-violence-remembering-the-massacre-at-ecole-polytechnique-88572"> the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Dec. 6,</a> we spoke with to two experts who have been thinking a lot about this question.</p>
<p>Teresa Fowler is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton whose research focuses on critical white masculinities. </p>
<p>Lance McCready is an associate professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His research explores education, health and the well-being of Black men, boys and queer youth, especially in urban communities and schools. </p>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-misogyny-influencers-cater-to-young-mens-anxieties-201498">How 'misogyny influencers' cater to young men's anxieties</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-schools-can-foster-civic-discussion-in-an-age-of-incivility-106136">How schools can foster civic discussion in an age of incivility</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/less-talk-more-action-national-day-of-remembrance-on-violence-against-women-108139">Less talk, more action: National Day of Remembrance on Violence Against Women</a>
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<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/06/andrew-tate-violent-misogynistic-world-of-tiktok-new-star">Inside the violent, misogynistic world of TikTok’s new star, Andrew Tate</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.boyhoodinitiative.org">The Boyhood Initiative</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gegi.ca">How to Advocate at School for Yourself or Someone You Love</a>, the first bilingual self-advocacy resource for K-12 students experiencing gender identity discrimination at school.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/667368/rebels-with-a-cause-by-niobe-way/"><em>Rebels with a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves and Our Culture</em></a> by Niobe Way</p>
<p><a href="https://therepproject.org/films/the-mask-you-live-in/">The Mask You Live In</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/pedagogy-of-the-oppressed/"><em>Pedagogy of the Oppressed</em></a> by Paulo Freire</p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. </p>
<p><strong>Please fill out our <a href="https://dontcallmeresilient.com">listener survey</a>.</strong></p>
<p>Join the Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Host Vinita Srivastava explores why racist, homophobic and sexist attitudes are increasingly showing up in school-age boys – and what we can do about it.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientAteqah Khaki, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientJennifer Moroz, Consulting Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientKikachi Memeh, Assistant Producer/Student Journalist, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171822023-11-28T21:53:23Z2023-11-28T21:53:23ZCyberbullying girls with pornographic deepfakes is a form of misogyny<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561919/original/file-20231127-19-5mwcx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C51%2C3840%2C1931&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Much commentary has focussed on the political harms of deepfakes, but we've heard less about how they are specifically being used to degrade girls and women. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/cyberbullying-girls-with-pornographic-deepfakes-is-a-form-of-misogyny" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The BBC recently reported on a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66877718">disturbing new form of cyberbullying that took place at a school</a> in Almendralejo, Spain. </p>
<p>A group of girls were harmed by male classmates who used an app powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to generate “deepfake” pornographic images of the girls, and then distributed those images on social media. </p>
<p>State-of-the-art AI models can generate novel images and backgrounds given three to five photos of a subject, and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/thanks-to-ai-its-probably-time-to-take-your-photos-off-the-internet">very little technical knowledge</a> is required to use them. While deepfaked images were easier to detect a few years ago, today, amateurs can easily create work rivalling <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/20/a-history-of-fake-things-on-the-internet-walter-j-scheirer-book-review">expensive CGI effects by professionals</a>. </p>
<p>The harms in this case can be partially explained in terms of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-023-00657-0">consent and privacy violations</a>. But as researchers whose work is concerned with AI and ethics, we see deeper issues as well.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-combat-the-unethical-and-costly-use-of-deepfakes-184722">How to combat the unethical and costly use of deepfakes</a>
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</em>
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<h2>Deepfake porn cyberbullying</h2>
<p>In the Almendralejo incident, more than 20 girls between 11 and 17 came forward as victims of fake pornographic images. This incident fits into larger trends of how this technology is being used. A 2019 study <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/porn-deepfakes-96-percent-online">found 96 per cent of all deepfake videos online were pornographic</a>, prompting significant commentary about how <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/10/7/20902215/deepfakes-usage-youtube-2019-deeptrace-research-report">they are being specifically used to degrade women</a>.</p>
<p>The political risks of deepfakes have received high-profile coverage, but as philosophy researchers Regina Rini and Leah Cohen explore, <a href="https://jesp.org/index.php/jesp/article/view/1628">it is also relevant to consider deeper personal harms</a>. </p>
<p>Legal scholars like Danielle Keats Citron note it is clear society “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674659902">has a poor track record addressing harms primarily suffered by women and girls</a>.” By staying quiet and unseen, girls might escape becoming victims of this new and cruel form of cyberbullying.
We think it is likely this technology will create additional barriers for students — especially girls — who may miss out on opportunities due to the fear of calling attention to themselves. </p>
<h2>Used as tool for misogyny</h2>
<p>Philosopher Kate Manne provides a helpful framework for thinking about how deepfake technology can be used as a tool for misogyny. For Manne, “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/down-girl-9780190604981">misogyny should be understood as the ‘law enforcement’ branch of a patriarchal order</a>, which has the overall function of policing and enforcing its governing ideology.”</p>
<p>That is, misogyny polices women and girls, discouraging them from taking traditionally male-dominated roles. This policing can come from others, but it can also be self-imposed.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trolling-and-doxxing-graduate-students-sharing-their-research-online-speak-out-about-hate-210874">Trolling and doxxing: Graduate students sharing their research online speak out about hate</a>
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<p>Manne explains there are punishments for women perceived as resisting gendered norms and expectations. External policing of misogyny involves the disciplining of women through various forms of punishment for deviating from or resisting gendered norms and expectations. </p>
<p>Women can be denied a career opportunity, harassed sexually or harmed physically for not living up to gendered expectations. And now, women can be punished through the use of deepfakes. The patriarchy has another weapon to wield. </p>
<p>When considering Manne’s <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/608442/entitled-by-kate-manne/9780593287767">notion of male entitlement</a>, we can predict instances of this policing occurring if female students are offered positions male students deem they are entitled to, such as winning the student council elections or receiving academic awards in traditionally male-dominated fields. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young man seen looking at a phone while two women walk past." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561899/original/file-20231127-24-ovh6wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561899/original/file-20231127-24-ovh6wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561899/original/file-20231127-24-ovh6wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561899/original/file-20231127-24-ovh6wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561899/original/file-20231127-24-ovh6wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561899/original/file-20231127-24-ovh6wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561899/original/file-20231127-24-ovh6wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Will cyberbullying via deepfakes be presented as ‘just a joke’?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A ‘joke’?</h2>
<p>The technology of deepfakes is a very accessible weapon to wield in these cases, and one that can cause a lot of harm. The shame and threat to personal safety are already evident. Cultural misogyny additionally harms by trivializing this experience: he can still say it is just a joke, that she is taking it too seriously and she shouldn’t be hurt by it because it isn’t real.</p>
<p>Self-imposed policing can be reinforced through deepfakes and other image manipulative technology. Knowing that this form of cyberbullying is available can lead to self-censoring. </p>
<p>Students who are visible in public leadership have more likelihood of being deepfaked; these students are known by more people in their school communities and are scrutinized for public roles. </p>
<h2>Will we become more used to them?</h2>
<p>It could be that once these deepfakes become more common, people will be less surprised to see these images and videos, so they will not be as scandalous to others and embarrassing to the victim. </p>
<p>Yet, philosophy scholar Keith Raymond Harris discusses how people can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-021-03379-y">make psychological associations even when they know they are basing these on false content</a>. These associations, even if they may not “rise to the level of belief” can be classified as a harm of deepfakes. </p>
<p>That means that when students make deepfakes of their classmates, it can alter their perception of their targets and cause further real-life mistreatment, harassment and disrespect. </p>
<p>It means that boys are less likely to consider their peers, who are girls, as capable students deserving of opportunities. The use of this technology amongst peers in schools risks damaging girls’ confidence through the sexist education environment that this technology will enforce.</p>
<h2>Another tool for ‘typecasting’ girls</h2>
<p>Manne’s analysis also suggests how even if a girl does not have a deepfake of her made directly, deepfakes can still impact her. As she writes, “women are often treated as interchangeable and representative of a certain type of woman. Because of this, women can be singled out and treated as representative targets, then standing in imaginatively for a large swath of others.” </p>
<p>Girls are often classified into types in this way, from the ‘80s “<a href="https://www.tripletsandus.com/growing-up-in-the-80s/slang-terms-from-the-80s/#:%7E:text=Valley%20Girl%2FVal,%2C%20omygod%2C%20so%20rad!%22">Valley Girl</a>,” the millennial notion of the “<a href="https://www.thecut.com/2014/10/what-do-you-really-mean-by-basic-bitch.html">basic bitch</a>” to Gen Z classifications of <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/9/24/20881656/vsco-girl-meme-what-is-a-vsco-girl">“VSCO-Girl</a>,” (named from a photo editing app) or a <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a42134933/what-is-a-pick-me-girl-definition/">“Pick-Me Girl</a>.” </p>
<p>When these psychological associations made of a particular woman lead to misogynistic associations of all women, misogyny will be further enforced.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="(A girl's face against technological imagery like a fingerprint and a grid." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561905/original/file-20231127-28-cgy6zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C431%2C6000%2C3260&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561905/original/file-20231127-28-cgy6zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561905/original/file-20231127-28-cgy6zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561905/original/file-20231127-28-cgy6zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561905/original/file-20231127-28-cgy6zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561905/original/file-20231127-28-cgy6zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561905/original/file-20231127-28-cgy6zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deepfakes are the latest technology used to uphold patriarchy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lampooning, shunning, shaming women</h2>
<p>Manne explains that misogyny does not solely manifest through violent acts, but “women [can]… be taken down imaginatively, rather than literally, by vilifying, demonizing, belittling, humiliating, mocking, lampooning, shunning and shaming them.”</p>
<p>In the case of deepfakes, misogyny appears in this non-physically violent form. Still, in Almendralejo, one parent interviewed for the story rightly classified the artificial nude photos of the girls distributed by their classmates “an act of violence.” </p>
<p>We doubt this technology is going away. Understanding how deepfakes can be used as a tool for misogyny is an important first step in considering the harms they will likely cause, and what this may mean for parents, children, youth and schools addressing cyberbullying.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Understanding how deepfakes can be used as a tool for misogyny is an important first step in considering the harms they will likely cause, including through school cyberbullying.Amanda Margaret Narvali, PhD Student, Philosophy, University of GuelphJoshua August (Gus) Skorburg, Associate Professor, University of GuelphMaya J. Goldenberg, Professor of Philosophy, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171562023-11-28T12:02:18Z2023-11-28T12:02:18ZGirls less likely to be diagnosed with special educational needs – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561328/original/file-20231123-15-vctgar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=121%2C0%2C4372%2C3002&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/upset-caucasian-girl-sitting-desk-writing-2105450654">Mariia Korneeva/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The point when <a href="https://www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs">a child with special educational needs (SEN)</a> is diagnosed is an important moment in their lives. </p>
<p>It allows schools to provide them with access to additional resources, such as assistive technology, specialised teaching programs or the services of professionals such as educational psychologists. These resources help to meet children’s academic, emotional or social needs.</p>
<p>But girls and boys don’t fare equally. My <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/rev3.3437">recent research</a> with colleague Hsin Wang, conducted using UK government data, found a consistent gender gap in SEN identification.</p>
<p>Of the roughly 1.5 million children in English schools identified for SEN services in 2022-23, only 0.5 million were girls. We found the same pattern across the country, with girls making up between 34% to 36% of all students accessing SEN support in most regions.</p>
<p>In some cases, this may be because certain disabilities are more common in boys. But it is likely to be also down to gender bias in assessment and from those referring children for assessment, as well as girls being better at hiding the challenges they face from some conditions.</p>
<h2>An established pattern</h2>
<p>When we looked at specific types of special educational needs we found that boys were more likely to be diagnosed for all of them. Boys made up 75% of those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. They were also about two times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with speech, language and communication disorders, as well as mental health disorders.</p>
<p>We did find some changes when looking at SEN identification rates over time. Between 2015 and 2022, the proportion of girls out of all students identified with autism spectrum disorder increased from 17% to 25%. Similarly, there was an increase in the proportion of girls being identified for specific learning difficulties – from 38% in 2015 to 44% in 2022. </p>
<p>However, this trend of increasing female identification does not apply to all disability categories. For example, from 2015 to 2022, girls consistently accounted for 44% of those identified with visual impairments. </p>
<p>Past research has suggested several reasons for these gender differences. Biological factors may make boys more vulnerable to certain disabilities. For instance, research has suggested that neurobiological differences between girls and boys make <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6509633/pdf/CroatMedJ_60_0141.pdf">boys more likely</a> to be diagnosed with speech, language and communication needs. </p>
<h2>Gender bias</h2>
<p>But social factors can also play a big part. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11881-997-0024-8">Past research</a> has suggested that gender bias among people who refer students for diagnostic assessment, like teachers, contributes to this unequal distribution. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17903118/">One study of twins</a> reports that teachers may be more likely to refer boys because boys are more disruptive and command more attention, while girls go under the radar. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children putting hands up to answer teacher's question" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561339/original/file-20231123-23-uhd0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561339/original/file-20231123-23-uhd0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561339/original/file-20231123-23-uhd0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561339/original/file-20231123-23-uhd0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561339/original/file-20231123-23-uhd0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561339/original/file-20231123-23-uhd0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561339/original/file-20231123-23-uhd0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Boys may command more attention in class.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pupils-raising-hand-during-geography-lesson-253351462">ESB Professional/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research on autism also points out the “<a href="https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-016-0073-0">camouflage effect</a>”. This means girls may be better at masking or hiding their autism-related challenges, leading to under-identification or delayed diagnosis. </p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-018-3510-4">Some researchers</a> have also reported that assessments used for diagnosis are typically based on male characteristics, and potentially overlook how autism spectrum disorder presents differently in girls. </p>
<p>This imbalance is likely to mean that some girls are not getting the recognition and support they need. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7557860/">Past research</a> has found that girls have higher rates of mental health disorders such as anxiety compared to boys. Importantly, for some disability categories such as visual impairment or intellectual disabilities, data on gender differences is scarce. </p>
<p>The low number of girls identified with disabilities is worrying. Early detection of disabilities is vital to provide students with necessary services to support their development. Delayed or missed diagnoses for girls can worsen their challenges and affect their long-term outcomes. </p>
<p>Awareness of the differences between girls and boys who need support for special educational needs is crucial. For example, teachers and schools should adopt standardised criteria for SEN diagnosis. This can help reduce subjective judgements that are influenced by biases and ensure fair support for all students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217156/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johny Daniel 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.</span></em></p>Of the 1.5 million children in English schools identified for SEN services, only one in three – 0.5 million – were girls.Johny Daniel, Assistant Professor, School of Education, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2145672023-11-02T19:13:03Z2023-11-02T19:13:03ZI was a ward of the state. The horrors of the Parramatta Girls’ Home were legendary<p><em>Readers are advised this article discusses sexual abuse.</em></p>
<p>In the Sydney suburb of North Parramatta sits a cluster of very old buildings known as the “<a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/parks-heritage/heritage/places/national/parramatta-female-factory-and-institutions-precinct">Parramatta Female Factory Precinct</a>”.</p>
<p>Built in 1821 to house and provide productive employment for the New South Wales colony’s growing population of female convicts, it was also the site of countless <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/case_study_7_-_findings_report_-_parramatta_training_school_for_girls.pdf">horrors</a> – many of which occurred much more recently than you might think. </p>
<p>The Australian government recently announced it will nominate the Parramatta Female Factory in Sydney for <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/faq/19">World Heritage listing</a>. It is a worthy nomination; the site is deeply significant for the many wards of the state who survived institutionalisation here or in other parts of Australia.</p>
<p>This precinct is by no means merely a relic of the convict era. Only 15 years ago, part of the site was a women’s prison. And from 1887 to 1974, it housed the notorious <a href="https://www.parragirls.org.au/parramatta-girls-home">Parramatta Girls’ Home</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1707291365380612099"}"></div></p>
<h2>The Parramatta Girls’ Home</h2>
<p>The Girls’ Home was also known as Parramatta Girls’ Industrial School, Girls’ Training School, and Girls’ Training Home. Each name was very much a euphemism. Whatever you call it, it was a high-security institution. That is, a jail.</p>
<p>It was a place where adolescent girls who had been removed from abusive or unfit parents, found homeless, orphaned, or mandated by the courts as wards of the state could be indefinitely detained. </p>
<p>It was among the most infamous examples of what criminologists today call “penal welfare” – the practice of locking up children and adolescents who have committed no offence other than being poor, homeless, or simply unloved.</p>
<p>It was official policy to treat welfare inmates — already highly vulnerable and having committed no offence at all — like <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/12063312211066542">hardened criminals</a>.</p>
<p>They suffered a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT6YzaHlC5E">cruel and humiliating regime</a> of physical, psychological and sexual violence. </p>
<p>The most trivial infraction of the rules — or no infraction at all — attracted <a href="https://www.parragirls.org.au/parramatta-girls-home">punishments</a> such as forced silence, scrubbing floors (with a toothbrush), beatings, and solitary confinement in dark underground cells.</p>
<p>And aside from the trauma of being locked in a pitch-black dungeon, girls in solitary were routinely <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/case_study_7_-_findings_report_-_parramatta_training_school_for_girls.pdf">raped</a> by male staff members.</p>
<p>So horrific was its record of abuses that the <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/">Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse</a> treated it as a special <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-studies/case-study-07-parramatta-training-school-girls">case study</a>.</p>
<p>The Commission heard testimony from former inmates who named former staff members as serial sex offenders. Many had since died, but others have been charged and received <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/crime/noel-greenaway-to-die-behind-bars-after-appeal-dismissed/news-story/45d35c7af78fd0d2c4ee6bf5feeeac06">heavy</a> prison sentences.</p>
<p>And it should be kept in mind that the Royal Commission’s terms of reference focused narrowly on sexual abuse. No prosecutions ensued for the myriad incidents of appalling, but non-sexual, emotional and physical maltreatment.</p>
<p>The stakeholders who so passionately advocated for the preservation and commemoration of the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct were survivors of the Girls’ Home. </p>
<p>In 2006 they formed a lobby group called “<a href="https://www.parragirls.org.au/">Parragirls</a>”, and began campaigning for official acknowledgement of their experiences.</p>
<p>They called for the entire site — not just the convict-era building — to be recognised as historically significant and worthy of preservation.</p>
<h2>It wasn’t the only institution</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/12063312211066542">Parragirls</a> number a few hundred. They form a small subsection of the roughly half a million survivors of out-of-home “care” in the latter half of the 20th century, whom a 2003 Senate inquiry dubbed the “<a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate/community_affairs/completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/report/index">Forgotten Australians</a>”. </p>
<p>I was a ward of the state as a teenager and spent time in various institutions as a child. As a Victorian, I was never in danger of being locked away in Parramatta, but its horrors were legendary among state wards everywhere. </p>
<p>We had <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-studies/case-study-30-youth-detention-centres-victoria">our own institutions</a>, many as brutal as Parramatta, to contend with and try to avoid.</p>
<p>Australia has not come to terms with what happened to wards of the state in the 20th century. </p>
<p>Many are still alive, but many lives have been ruined. </p>
<p>Institutions like Parramatta Girls and others investigated by various inquiries and by the Royal Commission remain relatively unknown to the general public. </p>
<p>For Forgotten Australians whose lives were not touched directly by Parramatta, the site nevertheless stands as an emblem of all the institutions that served Australia’s horrific “penal welfare” system. </p>
<p>Many of us endorse the campaign to have the entire site, not just the convict-era Female Factory, preserved and nominated for World Heritage recognition.</p>
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<h2>It has taken too long to recognise this history</h2>
<p>World Heritage Listing defines the site as being “of outstanding universal value to humanity” and ensures it will be preserved.</p>
<p>If the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct makes it onto the World Heritage List, it will be only the second female convict factory site in Australia to do so, after the <a href="https://femalefactory.org.au/history/%22%22">Cascades Female Factory</a> in Tasmania.</p>
<p>Parramatta’s nomination, however, raises questions. </p>
<p>Older and larger than Cascades, it was the prototype of all female factories around Australia, and significantly more of it survives today than any other site. Yet it took years of campaigning to draw the government’s attention to it. </p>
<p>Sydney’s <a href="https://mhnsw.au/visit-us/hyde-park-barracks/">Hyde Park Barracks</a>, a major convict prison for men, has been a tourist attraction for decades and has had World Heritage listing since 2010.</p>
<p>To overlook an even larger and equally significant site devoted to women of the same historical era is a rather glaring omission.</p>
<p><em>If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. The National Sexual Assault, Family and Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214567/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Z. Wilson receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects: DP210101275. "Activism & Advocacy: From Deficit Models To Survivor Narratives"</span></em></p>Built in 1821 to house and provide productive employment for the New South Wales colony’s growing population of female convicts, the Parramatta Female Factory was also the site of countless horrors.Jacqueline Z. Wilson, Adjunct Associate Professor in History, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2104362023-09-12T12:28:43Z2023-09-12T12:28:43ZWhy ‘Barbie’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’ made 2023 the dead girl summer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546713/original/file-20230906-15-7eas9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2946%2C1666&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In one sense, Barbie is already dead, cheerfully doomed to repeat the same pink day, devoid of food, conflict and sex.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nicole-morson-looks-at-a-barbie-of-swam-lake-doll-and-news-photo/2571814?adppopup=true">Chris Hondros/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ariel and Barbie have quite a bit in common: They’re both frozen in time, and they both yearn to live as humans do.</p>
<p>The fantastic seascapes and perfect dollhouses of “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5971474/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%2520little%2520merma">The Little Mermaid</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517268/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_5_nm_3_q_barbie">Barbie</a>” might appear whimsical. But I see these settings – and the characters who inhabit them – as figurations of death. </p>
<p>In my forthcoming book, I consider the relationship between mermaids and Barbie dolls. In the case of the 2023 films, I couldn’t help but think about how Ariel and Barbie make the same ironic choice: to leave the stasis of their deathlike existence for a human life – which ends in death. </p>
<p>These dead girls offer insights about living. Embracing death’s inevitability brings some freedom, as well as access to truths about time and the natural world.</p>
<h2>‘I am dead yet I live’</h2>
<p>Ariel and Barbie are not your typical dead girls – at least in the literary sense.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/dead-girls-alice-bolin?variant=32217989677090">dead girl trope</a> goes back to <a href="https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/4/5/">Shakespeare’s Ophelia</a>, who drowns herself after being driven to madness by Hamlet’s erratic, abusive speech. But dead girls have long populated folktales about <a href="https://sites.pitt.edu/%7Edash/type0410.html#perrault">sleeping beauties</a> and <a href="https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/kore">myths of goddesses traversing the underworld</a>. </p>
<p>Today, the trope is often found <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039545/">in noirish mysteries</a>. These narratives frequently prioritize the development of a male protagonist – a detective who grapples with his own mortality while solving a crime that regularly involves sexual violence.</p>
<p>David Lynch’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098936/">Twin Peaks</a>,” which first aired on ABC in 1990, wields this version of the trope. FBI agent Dale Cooper investigates the murder of Laura Palmer, a homecoming queen whose corpse is discovered wrapped in plastic. Though Laura Palmer has been victimized, she isn’t voiceless. She appears in flashbacks and has recorded her feelings and desires in diary entries.</p>
<p>In Showtime’s 2017 reboot, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4093826/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_twin%2520peaks%2520the%2520return">Twin Peaks: The Return</a>,” the afterlife version of Laura tells Cooper, “I am dead yet I live.” </p>
<p>Ariel and Barbie are their films’ protagonists, and they don’t die via murder. But they nevertheless actualize Laura’s words: Choosing flesh over immortality is to live and die, too.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bouquet of withering pink flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546718/original/file-20230906-31-r0qj33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546718/original/file-20230906-31-r0qj33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546718/original/file-20230906-31-r0qj33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546718/original/file-20230906-31-r0qj33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546718/original/file-20230906-31-r0qj33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546718/original/file-20230906-31-r0qj33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546718/original/file-20230906-31-r0qj33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Barbie and Ariel choose life – even as they know it will ultimately end in death.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/wilted-flowers-royalty-free-image/685478293?phrase=pink+death&adppopup=true">Jonathan Knowles/Stone via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Dreaming death in fish tails and pink</h2>
<p>“Do you guys ever think about death?” asks the character known as “Stereotypical Barbie,” played by Margot Robbie, a few scenes into the film. The irony is that Barbie is already dead, cheerfully doomed to repeat the same pink day, devoid of food, conflict and sex. </p>
<p>Barbie’s dreamworld is home to many iterations of its title character, including Mermaid Barbie. There are also a number of Kens. They are coupled, but they aren’t having sex. As Stereotypical Barbie declares, Barbies don’t have vaginas, and Kens don’t have penises. </p>
<p>Fish tails don’t typically feature vaginas either. The virginal Ariel is stuck in her fin, fathoms below.</p>
<p>Ariel and Barbie don’t get periods and can’t get pregnant. They’ll also never go through menopause.</p>
<p>In their films, the protagonists reject dollified existences and choose human life with its opportunities for sex and unavoidable death. Ariel leaves the ocean’s eternity for the prince’s land-world after she saves him. Barbie sacrifices physical perfection – her own and Ken’s – for the possibility of authentic intimacy and the spontaneity of an aging female body. The latter leads her to visit the gynecologist’s office at the film’s conclusion.</p>
<p>Hollywood films promise happily ever afters, but those weren’t the main draw for audiences of “The Little Mermaid” and “Barbie.” </p>
<p>I think that part of what drove theater attendance this summer was a subconscious attraction to the deathlike repetition of timeless dreamworlds, whether underwater or plastered in pink.</p>
<p>As dead girls, Ariel and Barbie are appealing vessels because, in them, time stops: You can’t be out of time when there is no time to begin with.</p>
<p>A water-bound mermaid and an ageless doll present a “timeout,” especially for girls and women pressured to achieve specific education and other life goals within certain time frames. Fish-tailed mermaids and Barbie dolls are free from ticking biological and career clocks – although they imagine or play at the things determined by those clocks, too. As a doll, Barbie gets to have any and all jobs, trading one for another whenever her player gets bored. She can be a doctor, an astronaut or even president of the United States.</p>
<p>Audiences might go to the movies to escape reality. Yet, Barbie and Ariel choose to enter reality, leaving their respective dreamworlds. Such outcomes make the films relevant to the summer of 2023: The dead girl can’t age, but her perpetual youth signals the future’s promises, even when there is no promise of a future.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The tail of a mermaid covered in sand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546716/original/file-20230906-23-2maja2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546716/original/file-20230906-23-2maja2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546716/original/file-20230906-23-2maja2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546716/original/file-20230906-23-2maja2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546716/original/file-20230906-23-2maja2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546716/original/file-20230906-23-2maja2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546716/original/file-20230906-23-2maja2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ariel chooses to leave behind her fish-tailed existence for life on Earth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/beautiful-pink-mermaids-tail-on-the-beach-mettams-royalty-free-image/954670096?phrase=mermaid+illustration+death&adppopup=true">Robbie Goodall/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘This sad, vanishing world’</h2>
<p>In her fish-tailed state, Ariel sings about wanting to know about fire and its causes, questions applicable to this summer’s reckoning with global warming. Humans have scorched the planet to fulfill a desire for, among other things, plastic – <a href="https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news-and-ideas/barbie-and-the-american-dream">the very material that made Barbie possible</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4189155-summer-heat-breaks-records/">The unprecedented heat in the summer of 2023</a> demands that everybody listen to another ticking clock, the one counting down to environmental ruin.</p>
<p>Ariel and Barbie choose to live in the world their audiences inhabit, even though the characters are fully aware that humans are destructive and cause suffering.</p>
<p>“The Little Mermaid” is explicit about how humans hurt the ecosystem, a critique made by Black mermaids <a href="https://theconversation.com/disneys-black-mermaid-is-no-breakthrough-just-look-at-the-literary-subgenre-of-black-mermaid-fiction-194435">in older folk tales and recent literature inspired by them</a>. Ariel and Eric inevitably sail away, leaving her home under the sea and his coastal kingdom. The bittersweet ending suggests they, each equipped with knowledge of the other’s world, will carry insights about environmental harmony to other places.</p>
<p>“The Little Mermaid” and “Barbie,” I believe, reveal a truth found in many sacred stories. If you accept that you are dead already and that time is always passing away, you might gain the freedom to truly embrace the brief life you do have in what the Hindu deity Krishna <a href="https://web.english.upenn.edu/%7Ecavitch/pdf-library/Bhagavad_Gita_chs8-12.pdf">described as</a> “this sad, vanishing world.”</p>
<p>Or <a href="https://poemanalysis.com/william-butler-yeats/nineteen-hundred-and-nineteen/">as W.B. Yeats wrote</a>, “Man is in love and loves what vanishes, / What more is there to say?”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210436/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Kapurch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People might go to the movies to escape reality. Yet Barbie and Ariel choose to live in the world their audiences inhabit − and, in doing so, decide to die.Katie Kapurch, Associate Professor of English, Texas State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2018712023-06-27T02:14:36Z2023-06-27T02:14:36ZHow do I insert a tampon?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532313/original/file-20230616-19-ay9uyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C3320%2C1705&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">pexels sora shimazaki</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve just decided to start using tampons and you’re finding it tricky, you’re not alone! Lots of young teens and first-time tampon users have told me they experience “tampon trauma” – meaning it hurts, won’t go in or gets stuck coming out. But with a little bit of practice, it’s super easy.</p>
<p>Tampons are safe and convenient, especially if you’re going to the beach, swimming or doing something physically active. You can’t feel a tampon once it’s inserted properly, which is why some people prefer tampons to pads or period undies. Tampons are used by <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/how-tampons-pads-became-unsustainable-story-of-plastic#:%7E:text=Did%20You%20Know%3F,-Usage&text=Recycling-,5.8%20billion%20tampons%20were%20sold%20in%20the%20U.S.%20in%202018,ocean%20when%20sewer%20systems%20fail.">millions of people</a> around the world. They’re made from natural cotton, rayon fibre or both, and absorb fluid, including menstrual blood. </p>
<p>In Australia, tampons are classified as “medical devices” which means they have to meet certain safety standards. So even though there’s a confusing array of brands available in Australia it’s good to know they all pass the safety test.</p>
<p>Just like pads and period undies, tampons come with different absorbencies, such as “mini” or “light”, “regular” and “super”. As you get to know your own periods and cycle, you’ll also get to know which tampons suit you best over the course of your period. It’s common for the first couple of days of a period to be heavier, meaning you might need a tampon with higher absorbency.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/menstrual-cups-vs-tampons-heres-how-they-compare-120499">Menstrual cups vs tampons – here's how they compare</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>How to insert</h2>
<p>A tampon is designed to sit inside the vagina, right up high against the cervix. The vagina is a stretchy muscular tube and has plenty of room to accommodate a tampon. </p>
<p>The vagina slopes upward and backward, towards the spine. A common difficulty first-time tampon users encounter is pushing the tampon straight up rather than slightly backwards, so it hits the front wall of the vagina and feels like it can’t go up any further. The same can happen in reverse when pulling a tampon out – it needs to be pulled slightly forward, not straight down, or it could hit the back wall of the vagina and feel stuck.</p>
<p>If you want to, you can practise using a tampon between your periods, or when your flow is light. Wash your hands first, then get a mini-sized tampon and make it slippery by putting some water-based lubricant on it. Some people might dab a tiny bit of Vaseline on the tip of the tampon instead. Vaseline shouldn’t be put on tampons during a period, as it reduces absorbency. </p>
<p>Pull the string so it reaches its full length before you insert it. Stand in front of a mirror and have a look at where the opening of your vagina is by pulling the vaginal lips apart. Then either squat, or put one leg up on a stool, shelf, or side of the bath, which gets you in a comfortable position to practise. </p>
<p>Gently put the tip of the tampon into the opening and then push it up and back with your finger. You can put your fingers inside your vagina first, to get a feel of the way your vagina slopes. (If you have long nails, take care not to scratch yourself!)</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-879" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/879/daa47e958c4391e8fa586f1fc90bb0554872c2d7/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Some tampons come with an “applicator”. This is made of two cardboard or plastic tubes, one inside the other. The larger tube has the tampon inside it, and the smaller one sits just below the tampon. When inserting, you hold the smaller part and push the applicator inside your vagina rather than putting your fingers inside. When the applicator has gone all the way in, you push the tampon out by “plunging” the smaller tube up, pushing the tampon out. </p>
<p>It’s virtually impossible to put a tampon into the wrong hole! There are three holes in that part of the body – the vagina, the urethra (where wee comes out) and the anus, or bum hole, where poo comes out. Most people are familiar with where the bum hole is, because (hopefully) they wipe their bums a lot! </p>
<p>The urethra is very small, and you wouldn’t be able to fit a tampon into it. It sits high up towards the top of the vulva – where your inner vaginal lips meet in the middle, and just below the tip of the clitoris.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533054/original/file-20230621-20-ocbi2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram showing a vulva" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533054/original/file-20230621-20-ocbi2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533054/original/file-20230621-20-ocbi2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533054/original/file-20230621-20-ocbi2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533054/original/file-20230621-20-ocbi2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533054/original/file-20230621-20-ocbi2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533054/original/file-20230621-20-ocbi2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533054/original/file-20230621-20-ocbi2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vulva diagram.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tampons can be left in for up to six hours. If your period is heavier than anticipated and the tampon has become “soaked”, you might have to change it earlier. You’ll know when that happens because some menstrual fluid will leak onto your undies. </p>
<p>Don’t panic though – it’s something you’ll be able to feel and deal with before anyone else notices! If you know you have heavy flow days and want to take extra precautions, you can wear a light pad on your undies (or period undies) as well as using a tampon. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heavy-periods-are-common-what-can-you-do-and-when-should-you-seek-help-191511">Heavy periods are common. What can you do, and when should you seek help?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Toxic shock syndrome</h2>
<p>You might have heard about something called Toxic Shock Syndrome. This is caused by a bacterial infection that releases toxins into the blood and is a serious condition. </p>
<p>It can happen anywhere in the body but is known to be associated with the use of ultra super absorbency tampons. There are now guidelines and regulations worldwide for tampon manufacturing to reduce the risk of infections. </p>
<p>These days toxic shock syndrome is extremely rare (about <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15437-toxic-shock-syndrome#:%7E:text=Toxic%20shock%20syndrome%20affects%201,absorbent%20tampons%20during%20their%20period.">0.001%</a> of people), and still only occurs if tampons are left in for several hours, allowing the bacteria to multiply. </p>
<p>Symptoms are high fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle aches, headaches and a rash.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-sharp-butt-pains-to-period-poos-5-lesser-known-menstrual-cycle-symptoms-191352">From sharp butt pains to period poos: 5 lesser-known menstrual cycle symptoms</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Environmentally friendly options</h2>
<p>It’s important to NEVER flush a tampon down the toilet. If you’re in a public toilet, there should be bins inside toilet cubicles for all disposable period products. At home, you could wrap it in tissue and put it in a rubbish bin. You might also be aware people are now looking at environmentally friendly alternatives to disposable pads and tampons. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532314/original/file-20230616-21-1p38kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman throwing a used tampon into a bin" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532314/original/file-20230616-21-1p38kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532314/original/file-20230616-21-1p38kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532314/original/file-20230616-21-1p38kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532314/original/file-20230616-21-1p38kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532314/original/file-20230616-21-1p38kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532314/original/file-20230616-21-1p38kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532314/original/file-20230616-21-1p38kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Never flush a tampon down the toilet, put it in a bin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels/Karolina Grabowska</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reusable pads and period undies were designed to help reduce waste from disposable pads. There’s now also an alternative to tampons, which is the modern “menstrual cup”. These are made of medical grade silicone that you fold over, push up inside your vagina using two fingers, and then pop! It springs open inside the vagina and catches any menstrual fluid. </p>
<p>Unlike a tampon, they sit a little lower down in the vagina, and just like tampons, they can take practice getting used to. These can be used for up to 12 hours which makes them super convenient. You can try a menstrual cup anytime – and some people might switch between tampons and a cup or pads or period undies, depending on what feels right on the day.</p>
<p>Managing periods is something almost half the population deals with. It can feel scary, but it might help to know that just about everyone who has periods goes through the same process of figuring it out! The more you arm yourself with information and know how much choice is out there, the more confident you’ll feel. And don’t forget there are always adults out there who are willing and able to give you advice and help. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-queues-for-womens-toilets-are-longer-than-mens-99763">Why queues for women's toilets are longer than men's</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201871/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Kang has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Councill, Australian Research Council and Medical Research Futures Fund. She is affiliated with the Australian Association for Adolescent Health and the International Association for Adolescent Health. She has co-authored Welcome to Your Period, Welcome to Consent, Welcome to Your Boobs and Welcome to Sex.</span></em></p>Lots of young teens and first-time tampon users are intimidated by tampons. But they’re easy once you get the hang of it.Melissa Kang, Associate Professor, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1991942023-04-27T13:01:39Z2023-04-27T13:01:39ZSlavery’s historical link to marriage is still at play in some African societies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508608/original/file-20230207-18-9ckb4k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women in parts of the world are victims of slavery</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Governments and religious institutions regulate marriage. Such regulations are heavily laden with specific moral ideas and cultural taboos. There are heated debates around what counts as “proper” marriage: should polygamy or monogamy be preferred? What should be the minimal age for marriage? </p>
<p>Despite these debates, all contemporary societies see marriage as a sacrosanct institution that deserves legal protection. Not so slavery. </p>
<p>Today slavery is abolished in all countries. But 250 years ago various forms of slavery would have been legal on all continents. </p>
<p>During the period of legal slavery, marriage and slavery were closely interconnected and sometimes overlapped. Slave owners could force their slaves to marry, remain unmarried, or separate from their spouses. They could also marry them. </p>
<p>The forms of power that allowed slaveholders to coerce enslaved persons into unwanted marriages (or out of wanted ones) haven’t disappeared. </p>
<p>First, slavery has not ended. African women and children are caught in illegal networks controlled by sex traffickers who cater for a persistent demand in vulnerable (and therefore sexually abusable) persons. This, today, is outlawed and prosecutable as either slavery or forced marriage. But in the past such a demand was largely met through the provision of enslaved persons who could be used for sexual and conjugal purposes. </p>
<p>This points to <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Trafficking+in+Slavery%E2%80%99s+Wake">continuities</a> in the types of services required, as well as the traffic geographies that connect vulnerable people from the South to demand in the North and Near East, as well as from poorer peripheries to urban centres within different regions in the South. </p>
<p>Second, during <a href="https://csiw-ectg.org/survivors-hearing-for-reparations-for-conflict-related-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-kinshasa-principles/">recent</a> African wars, militias kidnapped women and forced them into marriage, and sexual or conjugal slavery. Here, too, there are clear continuities with historical forms of wartime captivity. African women – survivors and activists – have been on the forefront of global movements speaking out against these abuses. </p>
<p>Thirdly, <a href="https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/descent-based-slavery/">African abolitionists</a> today fight against groups who illegally enslave people and defend slavery as a legitimate institution, based on the alleged slave descent of its victims . These practices are peculiarly resilient in connection to the acquisition of enslaved wives or concubines.<br>
I have been studying slavery in African and global history for over two decades. As part of this research, I have considered the relation between slavery and marriage.</p>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2063231">research paper</a> co-authored with professor of politics Joel Quirk, we introduced a collection of articles on slave ‘marriages’ in Africa from 1830 to today.</p>
<p>While slavery has lost the ideological battle almost everywhere, women nevertheless continue to be objectified and subordinated under the protective cloak of “marriage”. What forms of “marriage” are nothing but slavery in disguise? In such cases, does the terminology of “marriage” merely serve the interest of perpetrators? </p>
<p>We can learn from the history of African women’s resistance against slavery, a history that has not ended. The voices and actions of women who were enslaved in the past, or who experienced enslavement today, reveal how oppression works and what made a difference to those exposed to it. </p>
<p>This history is not only an important part of the past that should not be forgotten. It can also be useful to activists and decision makers today.</p>
<h2>Historical slave marriages</h2>
<p>It is still common for people to think of historical slavery as coinciding exclusively with the history of Africans transported to America and the Caribbean as dehumanised labour for the profit of Euro-American racist capitalism. But this was only one of multiple historical forms of slavery. </p>
<p>Slavery also occurred within Africa and between different groups of Africans. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/plantation-slavery-in-the-sokoto-caliphate/3BAA8C45E8E5A017BD67473B85DF80F3">Research </a>by African and international historians leaves no doubt that slavery was a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-world-history-of-slavery/slavery-in-africa-18041936/F01667F6DC2CDF8A51D6F9E0D5505E6E">legitimate institution</a> in most African societies in the Nineteenth Century. In Africa in the 1800s, ‘marriages’ between enslaved people and freeborn people were relatively common. Usually a ‘slave wife’ benefited from some protections compared to other categories of female slaves. But slave wives were nevertheless subordinate to free wives, first wives and higher-ranking wives. </p>
<p>Whether the role of the ‘slave wife’ or the ‘conjugal slave’ was perceived as relatively desirable, or whether it was instead experienced as a daily torture imposing dreaded burdens on its unfortunate bearers, was contextual and individual. But such hierarchies were not uncommon. As historian Ettore Morelli <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2063232">has shown </a> for Sesotho- and Setswana-speaking societies of the Highveld in today’s Lesotho, they gave rise to complex social dynamics of resistance and accommodation. </p>
<p>In most African societies there were many ways of being a slave and many ways of being a wife. There were hierarchies within slavery and hierarchies within marriage. <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-466;jsessionid=614732E6961AD8AD9096A836E01F8206">Researchers</a> have only just begun to explore this area.</p>
<p>It must also be remembered that both marriage and slavery in Africa in the 1800s existed within patriarchal societies. In such societies positions of political dominance and public prestige are primarily held by men, and in which men have rights in women that women do not have either in their male kin or in themselves – even though the features of patriarchy varied from case to case. Everyday <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/everyday-gender-inequalities-that-underpin-wartime-atrocities/">gender inequalities </a>common in patriarchal contexts influence historical and contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking.</p>
<h2>Modern-day slave marriages</h2>
<p>Modern-day or contemporary trafficking in women and girls meets a demand for women whose sexuality, fertility and labour can still be imagined as fully controllable. Trafficking is <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/406-trafficking-in-human-beings-especially-women-and-children-in-africa-second-edition.html">recognised</a> as a major problem in most African sub-regions and countries.</p>
<p>In addition, in Africa’s recent conflicts large numbers of women and girls have been abducted by militias whose members seized females as booty, as in the case of the Lord Resistance Army in northern Uganda. Their commanders redistributed female abductees among their officers. Forced wives were expected to become pregnant. Their children would join societies ruled by warlords who sought to establish new autonomous political and social units. </p>
<p>Researchers <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/expertiseguide/sociology-social-policy/dr-eleanor-seymour.aspx">Eleanor Seymour</a>, <a href="https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/persons/eunice-apio">Eunice Apio</a>, and <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/people/academic-staff/professor-benedetta-rossi">Benedetta Rossi</a><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2063237?tab=permissions&scroll=top"> explored </a> how, if at all, these phenomena were in continuity with forms of female captivity common in the region’s warfare in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jun/28/child-sex-trafficking-wahaya-girls-slavery-niger">form</a> of trafficking that has proven resilient in contemporary Africa is the sale of young concubines (also known as ‘fifth wives’) to Muslim men who feel entitled to purchase girls of alleged ‘slave’ status to avoid committing the sin of fornication. These practices, in Niger for example, have been <a href="https://www.antislavery.org/reports/wahaya-domestic-and-sexual-slavery-in-niger/">combated</a> by African anti-slavery non-governmental organisations whose members are Muslims who argue that there can be no Islamic justification for these forms of conjugal slavery today, if there ever was. </p>
<p>Historic slavery lives on today in various forms and is exacerbated by contemporary slavery. Research on this history can reveal the perspectives and strategies of those enslaved and inform policy aimed at reducing their oppression.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199194/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benedetta Rossi receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement no. 885418. </span></em></p>The voices and actions of women who were enslaved reveal how oppression works and what made a difference to those exposed to itBenedetta Rossi, Professor of History, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2020162023-04-06T13:52:26Z2023-04-06T13:52:26ZWhat is ‘eldest daughter syndrome’ and how can we fix it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519302/original/file-20230404-24-pqcpq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3600%2C3567&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eldest daughters often take on the lion's share of domestic responsibilities.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/three-children-smiling-2385657/">Pexels/nishant aneja</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you heard of “eldest daughter syndrome”? It’s the emotional burden eldest daughters tend to take on (and are encouraged to take on) in many families from a young age. </p>
<p>From caring for younger siblings, helping out with everyday chores, looking after <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40894-019-00119-9">sick parents</a> to sorting shopping orders or online deliveries, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/work-employment-and-society/article/abs/household-division-of-labour-generation-gender-age-birth-order-and-sibling-composition/C8915E3CE7CA1BDECA34D25AAC0C71D4">eldest daughters</a> often shoulder a heavy but invisible burden of domestic responsibility from a young age.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with that? You might ask, shouldn’t the eldest children, who are supposed to be more grown-up, help out and look after their younger siblings? Aren’t girls “naturally” better at caring? These <a href="https://www.elgaronline.com/display/edcoll/9781788975537/9781788975537.00033.xml">popular assumptions</a> are so entrenched that they can make it difficult for us to see the problem.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/oldestdaughtersyndrome">#EldestDaughterSyndrome</a> is now trending on TikTok, with adolescent girls speaking out about the unfair amount of unpaid (and unappreciated) labour they do in their families, as well as discussing its adverse effects on their lives, health and wellbeing.</p>
<p>Of course, the “<a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/eldest-daughter-syndrome-tiktok-trend-093323841.html">syndrome</a>” has existed for centuries across many parts of the world. So why is it now being spoken about as such an issue?</p>
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<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/houseplants-dont-just-look-nice-they-can-also-give-your-mental-health-a-boost-186982">Houseplants don’t just look nice – they can also give your mental health a boost</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-philosophy-behind-the-japanese-art-form-of-kintsugi-can-help-us-navigate-failure-193487?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">How the philosophy behind the Japanese art form of kintsugi can help us navigate failure</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spend-time-wisely-what-young-people-can-learn-from-retirees-189340">How to spend time wisely – what young people can learn from retirees</a></em></p>
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<p>Despite women’s rise in <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-soc-073117-041215">education</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jftr.12248?casa_token=SbEGSkHlhYQAAAAA:gO7Afzv3nFIe2QHW4kwYlb3hcEvAs31SRbLwbhviKNQgkmFD8nV-yGovkwTiOOaLFgMjy9LGcUnmr94">employment</a>, they still shoulder the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jomf.12590">lion’s share of housework</a>. Indeed, progress towards gender equality in the workplace has not <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jftr.12248?casa_token=STyBuPSvBKkAAAAA:Ov9x4WfFu4XW21hHDd_8pfFn_0mlOPE-SIu8DcLqFCUQnpa1NwJ-EUK3q44wpChTJT5ulFFHX_1OPDo">translated into</a> gender equality at home. And eldest daughter syndrome can go some way to explain why this is the case.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Eldest daughter helps her brother and looks after him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519305/original/file-20230404-16-34v0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘ Just look after your brother will you.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.pexels.com/photo/little-girl-helping-her-brother-with-homework-5088191/">Pexels/olia danilevich</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Research shows that children make a notable but often <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11150-013-9234-5">overlooked contribution</a> to domestic labour. Mirroring the gender divide among adults, girls between five and 14 years old spend <a href="https://www.unicef.org/turkiye/en/node/2311#:%7E:text=The%20data%20show%20that%20the,chores%20than%20boys%20their%20age.">40% more time</a> on domestic work than boys. </p>
<p>Following a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21620555.2018.1430508?journalCode=mcsa20">patriarchal pecking order</a>, the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21620555.2018.1430508?journalCode=mcsa20">eldest daughter</a> often bears the brunt of the burden among her siblings.</p>
<p>As voiced by many on TikTok, the syndrome <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/oldestdaughtersyndrome">can impair</a> eldest daughters’ wellbeing and “steal” their childhood as they are rushed into assuming a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21620555.2018.1430508?journalCode=mcsa20">disproportionate amount</a> of adult responsibilities – also known as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/sep/20/parentified-child-behave-like-adult">parentification</a>. In doing so, it reproduces gender inequality in domestic labour from one generation to another.</p>
<h2>Why it happens</h2>
<p>At least three behavioural theories underlie eldest daughter syndrome and they are often simultaneously at play, reinforcing one another.</p>
<p>First, the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jomf.12225?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false">role modelling theory</a>, which suggests that eldest daughters often follow their mother as a role model in learning to “do” gender. Second, the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0044118X92024002004">sex-typing theory</a> proposes that parents often assign different, gendered tasks to girls and boys. </p>
<p>Sex-typing often builds on parents’ gendered understanding of domestic work as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X04001073?casa_token=7-yGCGodnf4AAAAA:pz_LKJKsAWAgnNIZoqNuHHjRM6fpwgmli69FdBQrAibGqnyN7GtIZj9ae_KKP9M_OvrmJjM48Q">something associated with femininity</a>. For parents who consciously strive to instil gender equality in their children, sex-typing can still occur as eldest daughters unconsciously <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2657414?casa_token=VDKVPExTOXAAAAAA%3AOnkPl9ACA1nU7FUY5hV5wPjQ2tQ1gbFjbu8Kojq6lC--QKqp6JxMEnOkiM1E8ZKWGz32JpqBdxILbj9F0DYs3ZVI09DeMsIH-uLPEFlNVeZ2EwBGO_s">join their mothers in gendered activities</a> such as cooking, house cleaning and shopping.</p>
<p>And third, the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9507.00225?casa_token=PMbEnckrqtoAAAAA:NuCMXJNrsW2-DwY5kYhrlaQ7tzgLlXml3rBtnZnGR7zTjhR1Vx8gnKdz1-uUnsJ6ZTksuFxhYbJo834">labour substitution theory</a> suggests that when working mothers have limited time available for domestic work, eldest daughters often act as “substitutes”. As a result, they end up spending more time on care provision and housework. </p>
<p>Consequently, mothers’ progress towards gender equality at work can come <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21620555.2018.1430508?journalCode=mcsa20">at the cost</a> of their eldest daughters picking up the domestic slack at a young age.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Eldest daughter helps sibling with homework." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519303/original/file-20230404-27-dvcqk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Older siblings often end up helping with homework.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/mother-helping-her-daughter-use-a-laptop-4260325/">Pexels/august de richelieu</a></span>
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<p>As we look further afield, the issue of eldest daughter syndrome has far-reaching implications for <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Servants_of_Globalization/sCcoCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=servants+of+globalisation&printsec=frontcover">global gender inequality</a> and an ongoing <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2018/a-global-crisis-in-care/">global care crisis</a>.</p>
<p>In the Philippines, for example, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Servants_of_Globalization/sCcoCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=servants+of+globalisation&printsec=frontcover">many mothers migrate</a> to the US, the Middle East and Europe to work as domestic workers.</p>
<p>Their work helps free their clients from domestic gender inequality to some extent through <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jomf.12321?casa_token=jYXuxbZK_H8AAAAA:kJYVkwu5HRiCyfiAqzMDeeildvh9C3_vCgEgQCdLqHPVwcCB_y4qXBlMV_bezq8F2XG2h3VqnzXYFJ4">domestic outsourcing</a>. But back in the Philippines, the women’s eldest daughters often have to step up as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/011719680501400301?casa_token=plrqCW5kHG8AAAAA:yYkI906GzoUOiSdio9psYpb1VfxxdBVNMSvICk_eFI94n72L5QBxX6jd_DAu-kADauVqaKRufVbf">“surrogate” mothers</a> and run the household.</p>
<p>In this process, eldest daughter syndrome reproduces <a href="https://trainingcentre.unwomen.org/instraw-library/2009-R-MIG-GLO-GLO-EN.pdf">domestic gender inequality</a> across generations and offloads such inequality from one part of the world to another.</p>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p>The “cure” might seem simple – we need families to recognise the unfair burden that may have been placed on the eldest daughter and to redistribute household responsibilities more equally.</p>
<p>Yet, doing so is far from straightforward. It requires male family members in particular to step up their contribution to domestic work. In turn, it requires us to “undo” <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jftr.12245?casa_token=F2VnZvOJRaoAAAAA:6-kRCkTWzBiHQsE33S-0Z-VzajzAIMI1WgFO_mKrawK7bOzSFuSQgKn-qkRG3IkSBEoCOpv0_6_kPCk">centuries of thinking</a> about housework and care as something gendered and “feminine”. </p>
<p>To achieve that, we need to first recognise the problem that domestic labour, particularly labour performed by children and eldest daughters, which goes largely <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1043463193005003003">unseen, unpaid and under-valued</a>. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/16/budget-2023-everything-you-need-to-know-about-childcare-support/">2023 UK Budget</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/14/budget-2023-hunt-to-announce-4bn-boost-for-childcare-in-england">£4 billion</a> investment in extending childcare coverage sheds some light on the sheer economic value of childcare, which, although massive, represents only a tiny fraction of the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210518-the-hidden-load-how-thinking-of-everything-holds-mums-back">extensive</a> range of domestic responsibilities disproportionately shouldered by women and often eldest daughters.</p>
<p>But we can’t change something we can’t see. This is why being more aware of eldest daughter syndrome, not only as an individual struggle but also as an issue of gender inequality, is a good start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yang Hu receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, UK, and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada, for his ongoing collaborative projects on artificial intelligence and labour market inequalities.</span></em></p>Breaking the cycle of eldest daughter syndrome: tips for families.Yang Hu, Professor, Department of Sociology, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1764832022-12-21T05:29:27Z2022-12-21T05:29:27ZFemale genital mutilation rates peak in Kenya during school holidays – an alternative option offers a solution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444558/original/file-20220204-13-q8bn3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A past anti-FGM campaign meeting in Kajiado County, Kenya.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kenyan-maasai-women-raise-their-hands-as-they-gather-during-news-photo/450494548?adppopup=true">Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Female genital mutilation is a practice deeply rooted in cultural traditions around the world. The <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation">World Health Organisation</a> defines it as comprising all procedures that involve removal of parts of the external female genital organs for non-medical reasons. </p>
<p>The cut is practised for various reasons. Some communities use it as a rite of passage. Some see it as a way of enhancing hygiene and aesthetics, sexual maturity, marriageability and social belonging.</p>
<p>In Kenya, <a href="https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/female-genital-cutting-rise-during-covid-kenya">girls are mostly subjected to the cut during the school holidays</a>. They have a long period away from school and hence perceived to have time to heal from the procedure without scrutiny. There is an increased risk for girls during the long holidays as schools in Kenya have closed for about two months, from 25 November 2022 to 23 January 2023. </p>
<p>Female genital mutilation was officially recognised as a form of violence against women and a violation of human rights in the 1993 <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/179739?ln=en">Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women</a>. Ending it contributes to the achievement of <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/?Text=&Goal=5&Target=5.3">Sustainable Development Goal targets</a>. In 2012, the UN General Assembly designated 6 February as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation.</p>
<p>Kenya is a party to, and has ratified, the convention on female genital mutilation, alongside others that focus on the rights of women and children.
The country has enacted the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2011. This law has provided a good environment for programmes and development of policies for <a href="https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Profile-of-FGM-in-Kenya-English_2020.pdf">22 hotspot counties</a>. </p>
<p>The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey puts the <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/fr308/fr308.pdf">prevalence</a> of female genital mutilation in Kenya at 21% of women aged 15-49 in 2014. The prevalence is higher among the Somali (94%), Samburu (86%), Kisii (84%) and Maasai (78%). </p>
<p>In 2019, former president Uhuru Kenyatta <a href="https://kenya.unfpa.org/en/news/presidential-commitment-end-female-genital-mutilation-2022">pledged</a> to put an end to female genital mutilation in Kenya by 2022 and concerted efforts executed by government and other stakeholders have advanced the fight to end this vice. The COVID pandemic <a href="https://knowledgecommons.popcouncil.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1610&context=departments_sbsr-rh">slowed the implementation of intervention programmes to end the practice</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://amref.org/">Amref Health Africa</a> (and its associated Amref International University) has for a number of years worked to end female genital mutilation through community-centred interventions and evidence generation. One of its promising interventions is the community-led alternative rite of passage which supports girls to undergo the transition without being cut.</p>
<p>To investigate the effectiveness of this alternative rite of passage, we commissioned an <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1701216319310722#!">impact study</a> in 2019. The study focused on the Maasai of Kajiado County in Kenya - one of the female genital mutilation hotspots - where this intervention was tried for 10 years. </p>
<p>The study found that the intervention had a positive impact. It contributed to reducing the prevalence of female genital mutilation. Early and forced marriage of children, as well as teenage pregnancies, also dropped. </p>
<p>Amref hopes this evidence will help to accelerate efforts towards abandonment of the practice and especially among communities that practice it as a rite of passage, from childhood to adulthood. </p>
<h2>Alternative rite</h2>
<p>The alternative rite was designed and created by teams which include community gatekeepers, cultural and religious elders, reformed cutters and administrative officials of counties. Women and men are also involved.</p>
<p>Community members are involved in the alternative rites to ensure that: </p>
<ul>
<li>the initiative is community-driven</li>
<li>only girls who have not been exposed to female genital mutilation are selected</li>
<li>positive aspects of the ritual are included</li>
<li>the girl child is protected.</li>
</ul>
<p>The teams select girls to undergo the alternative rite of passage. The ceremony takes four to five days. This model offers an alternative to ritual cutting but seeks to retain the positive aspects of cultural rituals and celebrations around womanhood. </p>
<p>The new ritual combines aspects of the traditional ceremony with educational components of sexual and reproductive health, human rights and gender norms. </p>
<p>The programme supports girls’ self esteem and ability to exercise their power. </p>
<h2>Positive impact</h2>
<p>To date alternative rites of passage ceremonies have been held for over 20,000 girls. </p>
<p>The female genital mutilation prevalence rates declined by 24.2 percentage points, from a mean of 80.8% before the alternative rite rollout, to 56.6% afterwards (between 2009 and 2019). In addition, the intervention contributed to an increase in schooling years for girls by 2.5 years, from an average of 3.1 to 5.6 years.</p>
<p>The study shows that the rate of forced marriages – which was growing at an average rate of 1.2% – has now declined by 6.1%, representing an overall drop of 7.3 percentage points. </p>
<p>Similarly, teenage pregnancy - which was rising by 1.5% annually, has declined by 6.3% over the last 10 years. This represents a 7.8 percentage point drop.</p>
<p>Through this intervention, Amref is able to create an enabling environment that promotes girls’ protection against the cut. It also reduces teenage pregnancies and child marriage while increasing girls’ chances of getting a formal education. </p>
<p>Amref is now collaborating with the Maasai community in redesigning and strengthening the alternative rite. </p>
<h2>The digital tracking tool</h2>
<p>As a result of consultative meetings with communities and stakeholders, the need arose to ensure that the girls remained protected and uncut. Amref has developed and piloted a digital tool to keep track of the alternative rite’s girls. It enables Amref to follow up on the health, education and socio-economic welfare of the girls, working closely with community health workers and teachers. </p>
<p>The tool has already provided some preliminary data on young girls tracked retrospectively, to be monitored up to the age of 25 years. It will keep being improved for wider rollout in the future too.</p>
<p>Creating a database of the alternative rite beneficiaries and their families is useful. This enables us to follow up on their progress after the training and thereby ensuring child protection through ensuring that they remain in school and are not subjected to the cut. This way, we are able to provide psychological support and engage the girls for community activities such as school clubs and inter-generational dialogues.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joachim-osur-1315703">Joachim Osur</a>, an associate professor of sexual and reproductive health and vice-chancellor of Amref International University, conducted the primary research for this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176483/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tammary Esho 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.</span></em></p>In Kenya, the prevalence of female genital mutilation has dropped by 24.2 percentage points where an alternative rite of passage is being tried.Tammary Esho, Professor of biomedical sciences, Amref International University (AMIU)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1926902022-11-07T10:07:57Z2022-11-07T10:07:57ZGirls are held up as figureheads of political change, but they don’t want to do it alone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493233/original/file-20221103-12-dw19ne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8179%2C5457&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teenage-girl-holding-megaphone-while-marching-2208012943">Jacob Lund/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Girls are at the centre of global movements for indigenous rights, climate justice, gender equality and civil rights. Educational activist <a href="https://www.unicefusa.org/press/releases/malala-yousafzai-they-thought-bullet-would-silence-us-they-failed/8266">Malala Yousafzai</a> was awarded the Nobel peace prize at 17. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49918719">Greta Thunberg</a> has inspired millions of her peers to campaign for climate action: she began a series of school strikes when she was 15. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63143504">Iranian</a> and <a href="https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/afghanistans-girls-and-women-fight-back">Afghan</a> girls are taking to the streets to demand their rights to an education and basic freedoms.</p>
<p>But our understanding of girls’ involvement in politics is still limited, and their opportunities to participate are all too often tokenistic.</p>
<p>Girls have historically been excluded from most political institutions and movements because of both their age and their gender. While all children and young people are excluded from voting in elections and standing for government, girls and young women have to deal with the additional barrier that politics is still seen by many as a “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2041905818779324?journalCode=plia">man’s game</a>”. </p>
<p>Around the world, women still make up <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures">just 21%</a> of government ministers and 26% of parliamentarians. Perhaps that is why research shows that girls and young women who are already involved in community organising and activism are <a href="https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/soc4.12135">reluctant to describe themselves</a> as “political”. </p>
<p>But girls are leading political change – whether on the world stage or in their own communities. In research with girls across nine different countries, my co-authors and I found that girls are taking part in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616742.2021.1996258">everyday acts of resistance</a>, winning a bit more freedom for themselves and their friends as they navigate their way through childhood. </p>
<h2>Girls lead movements</h2>
<p>Girls push back against inequalities in their communities, challenge unfair rules that stop them from doing everything their male peers are able to and demand fairer treatment from parents and elders. </p>
<p>They set up girls’ rights or feminist clubs <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13552074.2018.1523287">in schools</a> and take action on issues they care about, even though they often experience stigma for doing so. And, of course, girls take part in, or even lead, <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/10/compilation-girls-to-know">global political movements</a>.</p>
<p>One <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-019-0463-3">2019 study</a> found that daughters were particularly good at convincing their parents of the evidence that our climate is changing as a result of human activity. The increase in climate concern was most dramatic among fathers and conservative parents. So, we know that girls are not just politically active, but that they are also effective political communicators.</p>
<p>But UK media coverage of girls’ activism still often misses the mark. I analysed UK media representations of Malala Yousafzai in the aftermath of her shooting by the Pakistani Taliban. I found that she was often portrayed <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1369148116631274">as younger than she was</a> and as a helpless victim of forces beyond her control. </p>
<p>Despite the fact that Yousafzai had been campaigning and blogging for some time, speaking out even after threats to her life, almost nine times out of ten, the newspapers in this study quoted somebody else’s words in explaining her story and its significance.</p>
<h2>Help – not hope</h2>
<p>While there is also plenty of positive media coverage of girl activists, it often risks presenting the issues they are campaigning on <a href="https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/girlhood-studies/13/2/ghs130203.xml">as already solved</a>. Greta Thunberg is calling for adults to urgently address climate change, but media coverage of her activism can adopt a reassuring tone, focusing on <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/50746982">Thunberg herself</a> and her amazing qualities, or her ability to inspire millions of other youth activists <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-49840883">like her</a>. </p>
<p>As she raises the alarm about the need for urgent action, many adults see her as evidence that everything is going to be OK. As Thunberg said in a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/23/763452863/transcript-greta-thunbergs-speech-at-the-u-n-climate-action-summit">2019 appearance</a> at the UN: “You all come to us young people for hope? How dare you?”</p>
<p>For more than two decades now, we’ve seen international institutions, governments, NGOs and transnational corporations embrace the idea of girl power. Everyone from <a href="https://www.global.girleffect.org/who-we-are/our-story/">Nike</a> to <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/adolescent-girls-initiative">the World Bank</a> has been keen to tell us of the importance of investing in girls, so that they can fulfil their spectacular potential. </p>
<p>The narrative goes that if you educate and empower a girl, she will go on to use that education for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgVwm8sl4os">the better of humanity</a>. Girls, we are told, will save the world.</p>
<p>But girls don’t want to save the world all by themselves. Nor should they have to. The issues they care most about are not problems of their making. </p>
<p>Girls need more meaningful opportunities to participate in decision-making, and they need adults to resist the temptation to feel reassured that young people have got the most important issues under control. They need support in their <a href="https://www.mamacash.org/en/report-girls-to-the-front">efforts at organising</a>, because they still face so many barriers in terms of funds and platforms to speak from. </p>
<p>As has been shown in Iran and Afghanistan in recent weeks, girls are phenomenally brave in standing up to the injustices they face. But they shouldn’t have to do it alone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192690/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Walters receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. She is a member of the Women's Equality Party and an academic advisor to Plan International.</span></em></p>Girls are leading activist movements across the world, but don’t see themselves as political.Rosie Walters, Lecturer in International Relations, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1859182022-08-03T16:04:30Z2022-08-03T16:04:30ZUnequal power relations driven by poverty fuel sexual violence in Lake Chad region<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476293/original/file-20220727-23-9my1au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women wait for food distribution to commence at the Government Girls Secondary School IDP camp in Monguno, Nigeria. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/search/2/image?family=editorial&phrase=women%20and%20girls%20in%20IDP%20camp%20in%20Nigeria">gettyimages/Jane Hahn for the Washington Post</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There have been multiple instances of sexual violence against women and girls in the Lake Chad region since <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-boko-haram-has-evolved-over-the-past-ten-years-126436">terrorism activity started in the area in 2009</a>. The region includes Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.</p>
<p>Acts of sexual violence have been carried out by government security forces, aid workers and members of the local population. Amnesty International has called the situation in north-eastern Nigeria, which is near Lake Chad, a “<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/AFR4449592021ENGLISH.pdf">rape epidemic</a>”.</p>
<p>In a recent paper <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10220461.2021.1927166">we explored the factors</a> behind conflict-related sexual violence. Our focus was on on terrorism-affected north- eastern Nigeria. We argued that terrorism creates poor economic conditions that, in turn, worsen the unequal power relations between women and girls, on the one hand, and security forces and aid workers on the other. </p>
<p>These power relations are affected by the fact that, in particular, women are unable to earn a living from subsistence farming. This makes them dependent on aid. As our research found, this dependence intensifies their vulnerability to sexual violation by security force personnel and aid workers who may exploit their positions of relative power. </p>
<p>Our research also showed that the dire economic conditions in the region meant that women and girls were compelled to engage in transactional sex in exchange for money, food, shelter, protection and marriage. This added to their vulnerability to sexual violence.</p>
<p>In addition, we argue that the lax government response to the rise of conflict-related sexual violence has contributed to its growth. State security agents and humanitarian aid workers play a significant role in the perpetuation of conflict-related sexual violence. The government’s docile responses enable and reinforce the continuation of this violence.</p>
<p>Our research highlights the importance of effective management of the camps for internally displaced people, and of prosecution, in preventing offences.</p>
<h2>Terrorism and loss of livelihood</h2>
<p>Terrorist attacks by Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province have <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/71366">destroyed commercial agriculture business in the Lake Chad region</a>. The attacks have forced millions from their homes, destroying their means of subsistence.</p>
<p>The result is that material inequality and <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/lake-chad-basin-crisis-rooted-hunger-poverty-and-lack-rural-development">poverty have worsened in the Lake Chad region</a>. </p>
<p>The impact on women has been particularly acute because agriculture is the only means of support for most. Women in northeastern Nigeria cultivate crops like peanuts, beans, groundnuts, maize and rice.</p>
<p>In our paper we explored the implications. We found that, due to the loss of subsistence and forced displacement, women and girls were being forced to engage in transactional sex to get by. This made them more vulnerable to sexual violence perpetrated by security personnel and aid workers. </p>
<p>We found, for example, that aid workers used their position to coerce vulnerable women and girls into sex relations in exchange for food and other supplies. We also found cases where aid workers deliberately withheld supplies to force starving women and girls to sell their bodies in exchange for food and other necessities. </p>
<p>Lastly, we found that women and girls in internally displaced persons’ camps often had to engage in transactional sex with government security agents to feel safe. Some of the interviewees brought up instances where girls and women traded their bodies for safety. State security actors exploited their vulnerability to make sexual demands. </p>
<p>Even though these women and girls were promised money, food, shelter, protection, and marriage in exchange for sex, some were raped over and over again and abandoned.</p>
<h2>The Nigerian state’s inaction</h2>
<p>Our findings show that the Nigerian state covertly tolerates sexual violence and exploitation committed by state security actors. Nigeria’s government has denied allegations that its security forces engage in sexual violence. Most of the time, the government’s initial reaction is rejection. </p>
<p>These rebuttals suggest that the government is placing a premium on maintaining established institutions, guarding the credibility of its police and military, and preserving their reputations at home and abroad. </p>
<p>It is true that the Nigerian government and security agencies don’t condone sexual violence during anti-terrorist operations. Nevertheless, their inaction suggests that sexual violence is accepted and tolerated. We conclude that this means that sexual violence is enabled and reinforced by government inaction.</p>
<h2>Implications</h2>
<p>Women and girls are affected in many ways by sexual violence. They suffer social, cultural, psychological and physical consequences. They experience social isolation and harm to their mental health as well as trauma. </p>
<p>The Nigerian government’s apathy towards addressing the rise of sexual violence in its counter-terrorism operations and the various internally displaced persons camps has led to negative unintended consequences for its counter-terrorism initiatives. For example, local communities don’t wish to co-operate with the security agencies.</p>
<p>In addition, human rights violations by security forces during anti-terror operations have hurt Nigeria’s image abroad. One consequence is that the west has been reluctant to give the country weapons to stop terrorist groups.</p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>Nigeria adopted a <a href="https://www.un.org/shestandsforpeace/content/nigeria-national-action-plan-wps-2017-2020">UN National Action Plan</a> in response to the <a href="https://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/wps/">UN Security Council Resolution 1325</a>. This required parties in a conflict to prevent violations of women’s rights, to support their participation in peace negotiations and in post-conflict reconstruction, and to protect women and girls from wartime sexual violence.</p>
<p>But the Nigerian government has not actively enforced the plan. This is particularly true in cases where state actors are the perpetrators. </p>
<p>Nigerian security institutions and humanitarian organisations need to recognise sexual violence exploitation. And they need to take action to enforce the country’s official ban on sexual violence by ensuring that perpetrators are prosecuted.</p>
<p>Food and other necessities must be provided in sufficient quantities if the government is to make a dent in the socioeconomic status of women and girls in the northeast. If it wants to keep tabs on how these food supplies are distributed, it needs to team up with reputable non-governmental organisations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185918/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Emeka Thaddues Njoku receives funding from Social Science Research Council, American Council, The Institute of International Education, American Political Science Association, American Council of Learned Societies, The British Academy & The Royal Society. </span></em></p>Sexual violence against women and girls in Nigeria’s northeastern region persists because of the Nigerian government’s lax response to cases of sexual offences.Emeka T. Njoku, British Academy Newton International Postdoctoral Fellow, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1871922022-07-26T14:55:12Z2022-07-26T14:55:12ZWhy the hijab controversy persists in Nigeria’s public schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476057/original/file-20220726-21-482v4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Muslim and Christian schoolgirls at a public school in Zamfara state, northwest Nigeria. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/young-muslim-and-christian-girls-line-up-08-march-2000-at-news-photo/51397509">Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via GettyImages</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Hijab use in Nigeria’s public schools has become highly controversial, in some <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/02/one-killed-4-others-injured-as-hijab-protest-turns-bloody-in-kwara/">cases leading to riots</a>, fatalities, the destruction of school property and the closure of schools. Adeyemi Balogun, a PhD holder in the history of religion with research interests in Muslim culture and Muslim/ Christian relations, sets out why the issue is so contentious, and what can be done to ease tensions.</em></p>
<h2>What is the hijab?</h2>
<p>The hijab has become a term used for all types of veiling among Muslim women. Some take it to mean a scarf or any piece of clothing that covers the woman’s head, face and body. There are a variety of veils in Muslim societies. The hijab is one. It covers the head with the face open and extends to either the ankle, abdomen or knees. Some Muslims refer to it as the <em>khimar</em>. </p>
<p>Another example of a veil is the <em>burqa</em> which covers the woman’s face except her eyes and the area around them. There is also the <em>jilbab</em>, an outer garment which covers the woman’s body from head to toe, leaving the face and hands from the wrist open. </p>
<h2>What does the Quran teach about the hijab?</h2>
<p>The Quran encourages women to see the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0966369X.2011.617907">hijab as a symbol of modesty and decency that leads to achieving piety</a>. For many Muslims, piety is one of the greatest achievements of a Muslim in life. This explains why the hijab has been <a href="https://www.whyislam.org/on-faith/hijab-in-islam-modesty-humility-and-dignity/">embraced by many Muslim women</a>.</p>
<p>Some clerics <a href="https://www.dar-alifta.org/Foreign/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=273">say</a> that, although God instructs women to use the hijab, He did not intend to force them to use it. </p>
<h2>Are there penalties for not wearing a hijab?</h2>
<p>There are scholars who believe not wearing a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61363969">hijab should incur punishment</a>. But there are also <a href="https://www.dar-alifta.org/Foreign/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=7272">scholars who don’t hold this view</a>. For <a href="https://islamqa.info/en/answers/7436/punishment-for-not-wearing-hijab">some Muslim clerics</a> not using the hijab is considered to be neglecting a Quranic instruction, which is tantamount to disobeying God. The penalty for this disobedience would then be for God to decide. And, if you ask some Muslims what that penalty would be, they will most likely say hell! </p>
<p>But for many clerics, it’s not possible to predetermine what God’s decision would be on any issue.</p>
<p>This is why the question remains contentious in the Muslim world. </p>
<h2>Why is the hijab controversial in Nigeria’s schools?</h2>
<p>There are many reasons. </p>
<p>First is religion. Those who use the hijab claim that veiling is a <a href="https://independent.ng/world-hijab-day-hijab-is-religious-obligation-guaranteed-by-constitution-muslim-body/">religious obligation</a>. Meanwhile, the school is seen as a secular sphere where any form of religiosity must be suppressed.</p>
<p>But, in my view, the notion of secularism is inconsistent with the history of the school system in Nigeria. </p>
<p>Historically, schools were introduced by Christian missionaries as part of a project to spread the religion from 1843. This meant that missionaries embedded religious practices in schools. In primary and secondary schools, pupils pray in their assemblies and sing hymns. </p>
<p>When Muslims started establishing their own schools from 1896, they also introduced Islamic practices to learning. </p>
<p>Many schools in Nigeria continue to be managed or owned by Christians and Muslims, even though <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309439061_Religious_education_and_nation-building_in_Nigeria">government took some schools from them in the 1970s</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, Nigeria has Muslim and Christian associations as well as mosques and churches existing side by side with academic practices in its tertiary institutions.</p>
<p>That’s why I believe that the argument about Nigerian schools being secular is not only misleading – it’s baseless. </p>
<p>The second reason is about Muslim-Christian relations. The Christian Association of Nigeria, an umbrella body for Christians, opposed the wearing of hijab by Muslim girls. Its <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/03/stop-hijab-bill-can-tells-national-assembly/">position</a> is that wearing the hijab will lead to the Muslim faith being spread through schools. This argument contends that the use of hijab can encourage some Christian students to embrace Islam. And that the hijab would redefine the identity of the school as a Muslim school rather than a Christian or “secular” school. </p>
<p>The way I see it, these fears are genuine because they are worried about their own religious identity. And matters of identity are critical in the life of any group or society. </p>
<p>This brings us to the third reason why the hijab has remained controversial in Nigeria – the role of government and the state. How has the government handled the issue of hijab in Nigerian schools, in workplaces and in public spaces? </p>
<p>In Lagos state, for instance, the government defended the secularity of the schools and said <a href="https://dailypost.ng/2013/05/15/lagos-state-bans-hijab-in-public-schools/">no to the hijab</a>. But the Supreme Court recently ruled in favour of the <a href="https://punchng.com/breaking-supreme-court-upholds-use-of-hijab-in-lagos-schools/">hijab in Lagos schools</a>. In spite of this, the state government has not directed its schools’ administrators to allow girls use hijab.</p>
<p>In Osun and Kwara states, hijab advocates are also in court. </p>
<p>Based on these cases it’s clear that the government has failed to find the right solution to the issue. </p>
<h2>Is there any link between learning and dress?</h2>
<p>The uniform students put on cannot determine their learning ability. </p>
<p>On the other hand, learners wear a uniform to give them an identity that separates them from those who are not undergoing a particular programme of learning. It is possible to use the uniform to inspire the performance and ability of the learners. </p>
<h2>What is the best way to handle the controversy?</h2>
<p>Some Nigerians argue that Muslims should have separate primary and secondary schools where they can wear the hijab. The problem with this solution becomes evident when you ask about tertiary institutions, workplaces and public spaces. Should Nigeria also have separate tertiary institutions and workplaces for Muslims only because they have chosen to wear the hijab? </p>
<p>We are talking about a multi-religious country where it is not possible for members of different religious faiths to not encounter one another. In workplaces, markets, communities and families, Muslims, Christians, atheists and African religious traditionalists would necessarily have to meet or have something that brings them together. </p>
<p>We cannot afford to create an “apartheid” system to achieve peace. </p>
<p>What I am therefore suggesting is, first, a dialogue through seminars, workshops and conferences between Muslims and non-Muslims. The government and school authorities should also be involved. With dialogue, each religious faith should understand each other’s religious practices. </p>
<p>Also, Muslims should recognise the fears of non-Muslims about the hijab in public schools and adopt ways to allay their fears.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187192/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adeyemi Balogun received funding from DAAD, Germany, during his doctoral program between 2015-2019. He is a member of the Lagos Studies Association, afriBIAN, and African Studies Association, US. </span></em></p>Hijab controversy in Nigeria’s public schools has further exposed how religion has polarised Africa’s most populous nation.Adeyemi Balogun, Lecturing, Osun State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1865742022-07-18T13:49:42Z2022-07-18T13:49:42ZNigeria’s large, youthful population could be an asset or a burden<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473194/original/file-20220708-21-ts9vsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigeria's large population of young people may become a burden if not healthy and well educated.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vendor-carries-nigerian-national-flags-on-october-1-2015-as-news-photo/490811636?adppopup=true">Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With a population estimated at <a href="https://guardian.ng/business-services/industry/nigerias-population-now-206m-says-npc/">206 million in 2020</a>, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/">seventh in the world</a>.</p>
<p>The country’s <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_LqDbc249sq_bo_Cmpa8VSZBmk8fHJSj/view">population is growing at 2.6% a year</a>, one of the fastest rates globally. At this rate, Nigeria’s population could double within the next 25 to 30 years. </p>
<p>Nigeria’s population structure is potentially an economic asset. The country has the largest <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/nigeria-population/">population of youth</a> in the world, with a median age of 18.1 years. <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/nigeria-population/">About</a> 70% of the population are under 30, and 42% are under the age of 15. </p>
<p>The size and youthfulness of the population offer great potential to expand Nigeria’s capacity as the regional economic hub of Africa and globally. A young, large population could be an economic asset because population growth and urbanisation go together and <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/can-rapid-population-growth-be-good-for-economic-development">economic development is closely correlated with urbanisation</a>. Population growth increases density and, together with rural-urban migration, creates higher urban agglomeration. This can help companies in producing goods in larger numbers and more cheaply, serving a larger number of low-income customers. </p>
<p>But the potential needs to be properly harnessed. Leaders must invest (through health and education) and adopt strong policies to create an environment where this human resource is used optimally. Such was the case among the Asian Tiger countries, which invested massively in technology, infrastructure and education.</p>
<p>Nigeria is, by every measure of socioeconomic progress, failing to develop its endowment of young people. Millions of young people have a poor quality of life, including a lack of education, low living standards and poor health outcomes. </p>
<p>Nigeria is not reaping the benefits of its current population structure and must do more to mitigate the negatives. A large population of unskilled, economically unproductive, unhealthy and poorly educated young people is also a burden to society.</p>
<h2>Poor human development</h2>
<p>Nigeria was ranked 158 of 185 countries in the <a href="https://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/Country-Profiles/NGA.pdf">2019 Human Development Index</a>. A <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/03/21/afw-deep-structural-reforms-guided-by-evidence-are-urgently-needed-to-lift-millions-of-nigerians-out-of-poverty#:%7E:text=According%20to%20the%20report%2C%20which,below%20the%20national%20poverty%20line.">2022 World Bank report</a> also says about 40% of Nigerians live below the national poverty line of U$1.90 per day and about 95.2 million are in poverty. About <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/agriculture/agric-news/516720-19-4-million-nigerians-to-face-food-insecurity-by-august-2022-fao.html">19.4 million Nigerians</a> are likely to face food insecurity in 2022. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/education">UNICEF</a>, Nigeria accounts for 20% of the world’s children who are out of school. In absolute terms, about 10.5 million children, the majority of whom are girls, do not have access to education in Nigeria.</p>
<p><a href="https://nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary/read/856">Unemployment is high at 33.3%</a>. Most of those who are unemployed are women and young people. Of those with jobs, over 20% are underemployed as they don’t earn enough.</p>
<h2>Health indicators</h2>
<p>Most of the health indicators in Nigeria are disturbing. Health is key for human development and this means that Nigeria is lagging behind in development.</p>
<p>Health facilities are at sub-optimal levels. Nigerians <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2821%2902488-0">currently</a> have a lower life expectancy (54 years) than many of their neighbours. The country’s burden of chronic and infectious diseases is high. While infectious diseases remain the primary causes of death in the country, <a href="https://www.afro.who.int/news/nigeria-fulfils-commitment-launches-plan-prevention-and-control-non-communicable-diseases">non-communicable diseases account for 3 out of every 10 deaths</a>.</p>
<p>While Nigeria is failing to develop her human capital, Nigerians are making more babies, adding to the potential burden.</p>
<h2>Fertility</h2>
<p>The national fertility rate stands at <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/SR264/SR264.pdf">about</a> 5 children per woman. There are regional variations. It is also lower in urban areas (4.5) than in rural areas (5.9); lower in the Southwest (3.9) than in the Northwest (6.6). In other words, poorer households are worse off, particularly those in the rural areas. Also, poor women and those with no or low education are disproportionately affected.</p>
<p>There were <a href="https://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR359/FR359.pdf">20 adolescent mothers (aged 15-19) among every 100 adolescent girls </a> in Nigeria, with <a href="https://archpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13690-022-00789-3">wide variations</a> across states and regions. This is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/gha.v8.29745">among the highest in the world</a> and is associated with high risk births, adverse social-economic consequences, limited opportunities and a likely pathway to <a href="http://www.ghheadlines.com/agency/ghana-news-agency/20191112/132518617/adolescent-parenthood-escalates-generational-poverty-nigerian-professor">intergenerational poverty</a>. </p>
<p>The unmet need for modern contraception has been estimated at <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/SR264/SR264.pdf">over 20%</a>. Modern contraceptives help to prevent unwanted pregnancy. This is imperative for improving maternal and child health. A lack of access to contraception perpetuates the high maternal and infant mortality, and high fertility in the country.</p>
<p>Currently, the infant mortality <a href="https://data.unicef.org/country/nga/#/">is 72 deaths per 1,000 live births</a>. Maternal mortality is estimated at 512 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. The national target is to reduce maternal mortality to 72 per 100,000 live births and zero deaths by 2030. </p>
<h2>High dependency</h2>
<p>Nigeria has a relatively high and growing population of dependants. This could put a strain on those who provide for them. Young people account for a bigger share of the dependants, a situation which will get worse unless there is a deliberate public policy to address high fertility.</p>
<p>The age structure of the population suggests that for every 100 people in the economically active age group (15-64), there are 86 dependants (under 15 and over 64). This compares with the <a href="https://www.worldeconomics.com/Country-Data/">78.1 average</a> for the African continent, 52 for South Africa.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.65UP.TO?end=2021&locations=NG&start=2021&view=bar">about 6 million people aged over 65</a>. Though this equates to only 3% of population, it is numerically larger than the population of some states in Nigeria. In 2020, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1203462/dependency-ratio-in-nigeria/#:%7E:text=In%202020%2C%20the%20elderly%20dependency,(15%20to%2064%20years).">the elderly dependency ratio in Nigeria stood at 5.1</a>. This means that there were about five people aged 65 years and older that depend on every 100 people of working age (15 to 64 years). This number of dependants, in addition to children, can reduce the capacity of the working age population to save and invest. </p>
<p>Other groups with high dependency in Nigeria are those with disabilities and the displaced. </p>
<p>The percentage of disabled Nigerians stands at <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_LqDbc249sq_bo_Cmpa8VSZBmk8fHJSj/view">about</a> 2.3%, comparable to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2018.1556491">Ghana’s 3%</a>, but far less than <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=percentage+of+disability+in+south+africa+population&oq=percentage+of+disability+in+south+africa+population&aqs=chrome..69i57.13625j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">South Africa’s 7.5%</a>. But Nigeria <a href="https://www.scidev.net/sub-saharan-africa/features/facts-figures-disabilities-in-developing-countries-1/">doesn’t have plans</a> for addressing the needs of its disabled.</p>
<p>The country is also home to <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/country/nga#_ga=2.105709184.2034587582.1657237059-239904064.1657237059">over 3 million internally displaced people</a> and <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/country/nga#_ga=2.105709184.2034587582.1657237059-239904064.1657237059">over 82,000 international refugees</a>, mostly from neighbouring countries.</p>
<h2>Demographic dividend</h2>
<p>Nigeria needs to balance population growth with economic prosperity. This makes it possible to achieve a demographic dividend – faster economic growth arising from a favourable population age structure and favourable social and economic policies. </p>
<p>Some countries in Asia including <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/events/pdf/expert/9/wang.pdf">China</a>, <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/what-comes-after-demographic-dividend-east-asia-finding-out">Hong Kong</a>, <a href="https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/99030/2005_06_East_Asian_Economic.pdf">South Korea</a> and <a href="https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/99030/2005_06_East_Asian_Economic.pdf">Singapore</a> have benefited substantially from this. Nigeria should aim to make a transition to low birth and death rates. Government at all levels must invest towards addressing high fertility and mortality. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-2022-census-is-overdue-but-preparation-is-in-doubt-177781">Nigeria's 2022 census is overdue but preparation is in doubt</a>
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<p>Nigerians need to embrace family planning and address some of the root causes of high fertility, including sociocultural factors. A reduction in fertility by one child per childbearing woman <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)60827-7.pdf">would lead to a 13% increase</a> in Nigeria’s GDP per capita in 20 years or a 25% increase over 50 years.</p>
<p>As stated in the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_LqDbc249sq_bo_Cmpa8VSZBmk8fHJSj/view">population policy document</a>, Nigeria should aim to reduce fertility from the current 5.3% to 4.3% by 2030. Family planning should be available to all and there should be no maternal deaths by 2030.</p>
<p>Education is key to good health, empowerment, employment and peaceful societies. It offers the best return on investment. Graduates in sub-Saharan Africa earn <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/442521523465644318/pdf/WPS8402.pdf">21% more than</a> those without tertiary education.</p>
<p>Nigeria must prioritise investment in education, health and infrastructure to harness the opportunities of its huge population. But Nigerians have a role to play too. They must make rational decisions and choices. These include choices about investment in quality of life, healthy living, fertility reduction and the empowerment of young people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>There is nothing to disclose.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Akanni Ibukun Akinyemi 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.</span></em></p>Nigeria must prioritise investment in education, health and infrastructure to harness the opportunities of its huge population.Akanni Ibukun Akinyemi, Professor of Demography and Social Statistics., Obafemi Awolowo UniversityJacob Wale Mobolaji, Lecturer, Demography and Social Statistics, Obafemi Awolowo UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1851462022-06-28T15:04:18Z2022-06-28T15:04:18ZCooking with ‘dirty’ fuels affects women’s mental health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469766/original/file-20220620-12-mzetq7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dirty fuels are still popular in large parts of Africa</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>About <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/20-01-2022-who-publishes-new-global-data-on-the-use-of-clean-and-polluting-fuels-for-cooking-by-fuel-type">2.6 billion people</a> – nearly half of the global population, most of them in Africa, Asia and central and south America – rely on biomass fuels, like wood and charcoal, or kerosene to cook meals, heat and light their homes. </p>
<p>In sub-Saharan Africa, about 85% of the population <a href="https://africasustainabilitymatters.com/sub-saharan-africa-894mn-people-using-dirty-cooking-fuels/">(around 900 million people)</a> rely on biomass or kerosene for cooking. </p>
<p>These fuels are often cheaper and more accessible than clean and modern energy sources like electricity and gas in low- and middle-income countries. However, they come at a high cost to human health. </p>
<p>Burning biomass for cooking creates high levels of <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30197-2/fulltext">household air pollution</a> that people living in the household inevitably inhale. This contributes to <a href="https://www.stateofglobalair.org/health/hap">more than two million premature deaths each year</a>, mainly from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease, as well as pneumonia in children. </p>
<p>In high-income countries, the inability to afford clean household energy has worsened people’s mental health, too. A <a href="https://theconversation.com/energy-poverty-is-linked-to-physical-and-mental-health-our-research-proves-it-176484">recent study</a> in the UK found that individuals who couldn’t afford to heat their homes had poorer mental health than those who could. This manifested in lower levels of life satisfaction. </p>
<p>However, there’s been little research into the effect that a lack of access to clean energy for cooking has on mental health in low- and middle-income countries. </p>
<p>To address that knowledge gap, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666560322000433#!">we surveyed</a> more than 1,100 women who were their households’ main cook and lived in urbanising communities in Kenya, Cameroon and Ghana. </p>
<p>We surmised that women’s mental health may be more likely to suffer from using biomass fuels than men’s as they are traditionally in charge of preparing and cooking food in these countries. </p>
<p>The study revealed that women cooking primarily with charcoal and wood had approximately 50% higher odds of likely depression than those cooking with gas. We also found that women who had sustained two or more cooking-related burns during the previous year had approximately 150% higher chances of possible depression as those not burned. </p>
<p>Women whose homes did not have electricity for lighting also had 40% higher odds of being depressed than those with electric lighting. Finally, we found that a longer time spent cooking each week was associated with lower mental well-being. </p>
<p>These findings suggest that enabling households to cook and light their homes with modern fuels may have a positive impact on their mental health. </p>
<h2>Women’s experiences</h2>
<p>There are several reasons that a lack of access to clean energy may worsen women’s mental health. These include a loss of productivity, fewer job opportunities and less food security than those with access to clean energy. </p>
<p>Time is also lost because women often have to travel long distances to gather firewood. Also, cooking with biomass fuels takes much longer than it would with clean energy sources.</p>
<p>The dearth of mental health research in sub-Saharan Africa stems partly from people’s fear of being stigmatised if they speak up about anxiety, depression and other mood disorders. </p>
<p>We instead asked participants about specific aspects of their quality of life that they may be more willing to answer, using a survey instrument called the Short-Form 36. </p>
<p>For example, we asked participants: “During the past four weeks, to what extent has your physical health or emotional problems interfered with your normal social activities with family, friends, neighbours, or groups?” and “During the past four weeks, have you accomplished less than you would like as a result of any emotional problems (such as feeling depressed or anxious)?”</p>
<p>One woman from Kenya shared that cooking with gas has “saved (her) time in the morning” so that she is “able to prepare (her) child for school and get to work on time”. </p>
<p>Another Kenyan woman stated that cooking with gas “has made (her) save some money which (she) directs to the education of (her) children”, and that her “health is in good condition not as before when (she) used charcoal”. </p>
<h2>Motivating change</h2>
<p>While more research is needed to examine whether mental health improves over time when families are provided with gas or electric cooking stoves, <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.02.22275930v1">our emerging research findings</a> look promising. </p>
<p>We found that providing women in Nairobi, Kenya with stoves fuelled with bottled gas reduced their stress levels, improved their diets and provided them with more time to take on new employment.</p>
<p>Our hope is that these studies will provide further motivation to speed up the clean household energy transition in low- and middle-income countries. Worldwide use of “clean” cooking fuels by 2030 is one of the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals</a>. </p>
<p>It has also been <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/chapter-4-strengthening-and-implementing-the-global-response/">recognised by the International Panel on Climate Change</a> as an essential target for mitigating climate change, specifically by helping to reduce global temperature rise. </p>
<p>As our research shows, there may be an important, additional mental health benefit if this crucial goal is met.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185146/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was funded by the NIHR using UK aid from the UK Government to support global health research. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the UK government</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Pope receives funding from the UK National Institute for Health Research</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elisa Puzzolo 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.</span></em></p>In urbanising communities in sub-Saharan Africa, women cooking primarily with charcoal and wood had approximately 50% higher odds of likely depression than those cooking with gas.Matthew Shupler, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Environmental Public Health, Harvard UniversityDan Pope, Professor of Global Public Health, University of LiverpoolElisa Puzzolo, Senior Research Fellow, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1846282022-06-24T11:43:44Z2022-06-24T11:43:44ZGirls’ mental health has been affected more than boys’ during the pandemic – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468816/original/file-20220614-22-tzl914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5599%2C3741&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mental health issues in children are linked to poorer educational outcomes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/1012-years-old-pre-teen-girl-587466548">Alena Ozerova/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Evidence has shown that the COVID pandemic has impacted women’s mental health more significantly than men’s mental health. For example, lockdowns and the stress of home schooling have been found to take a greater toll on <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11150-020-09538-3">working mothers</a> compared with fathers, while women have been more likely to experience <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35464832/">increases in loneliness</a> over the past two years. </p>
<p>Now, our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176522001021">new research</a> has found that school-aged girls’ mental wellbeing has also been disproportionately affected when compared with boys.</p>
<p>Establishing the presence of gender-specific effects of the pandemic on children’s wellbeing is important. While other studies found that the pandemic had <a href="https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/536633">negatively impacted</a> children’s mental health in general, it was unclear whether the effects had been equally shared between boys and girls. </p>
<p>So this is what we aimed to find out in our study. We also wanted to explore the role of circumstances, such as socio-economic status, as potential buffers against these effects. </p>
<p>These research questions have important implications, because evidence shows children’s <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1016970108">mental health issues</a> can spill over to educational outcomes and longer-term wellbeing. So if the pandemic affects boys and girls differently, this may undermine society’s efforts to achieve gender equality from a young age.</p>
<h2>What we did</h2>
<p>We focused on the UK’s experience during the COVID pandemic. Children in the UK have been directly affected by the closures of schools and childcare facilities, which <a href="https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/536633">contributed to</a> the decline in their mental wellbeing. School closures were compounded by a lack of social interaction during lockdowns, as well as increased stress <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827321000367">within families</a>, which can have a flow-on effect to children.</p>
<p>Using existing data on <a href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk">British families</a>, surveyed before and during the COVID pandemic, we analysed changes in children’s mental wellbeing.</p>
<p>In our study, children’s mental wellbeing was measured by scores on what’s called the <a href="https://www.sdqinfo.org/a0.html">Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire</a>, a survey used to measure children’s emotional and behavioural difficulties. For example, it measures a child’s ability to pay attention, manage their behaviour and emotions and interact with their peers.</p>
<hr>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/my-five-year-old-is-now-eligible-for-a-covid-vaccine-should-i-get-them-immunised-180269">My five-year-old is now eligible for a COVID vaccine – should I get them immunised?</a>
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<p>Parents completed the questionnaire for younger children, while older children completed the questionnaire by themselves. While children aged five and above are included in this data, our analysis mainly focused on older children (aged ten to 15), as we would expect their answers to measure their mental wellbeing more accurately. The final sample included more than 21,000 observations on over 11,000 children in this age group (some children were surveyed at multiple time points).</p>
<p>We compared boys’ and girls’ scores on the questionnaire before and during the pandemic. We compared children who came from similar backgrounds – for example, their parents were similarly aged, and they were of the same socio-economic background. This allowed us to be confident these characteristics were not driving the main findings. We then separately analysed the results for younger and older children.</p>
<p>Our main results showed that girls’ mental wellbeing during COVID declined more than boys’ mental wellbeing compared with before the pandemic. We observed a greater deterioration among girls compared with boys across most domains of the questionnaire. </p>
<p>For example, before the pandemic, there was no difference in emotional and behavioural difficulties by gender, as measured the total Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire score. During the pandemic, emotional and behavioural difficulties increased among girls, but there was no change among boys.</p>
<p>The disparity between girls and boys was greater than the effect of other important socio-economic characteristics, such as parental education or age, on questionnaire scores. These results were particularly pronounced for older children (aged between ten and 15).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl sits on the floor against a couch, with her heard resting on her forearms." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468818/original/file-20220614-26-e9t5nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468818/original/file-20220614-26-e9t5nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468818/original/file-20220614-26-e9t5nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468818/original/file-20220614-26-e9t5nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468818/original/file-20220614-26-e9t5nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468818/original/file-20220614-26-e9t5nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468818/original/file-20220614-26-e9t5nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The difference between girls and boys was greatest among older children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/black-girl-sadness-emotion-1065983891">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>We also investigated gender differences in life satisfaction and found that girls experienced a larger increase in dissatisfaction with school, friends and appearance, compared with boys.</p>
<p>We observed these gender differences in pandemic effects on children’s mental wellbeing across all income groups, although they were more salient in lower-income families. This suggests that either income itself can act as a buffer, or simply that girls from higher-income families are somewhat protected from the pandemic effects.</p>
<h2>Why might girls be worse off?</h2>
<p>There are several potential explanations as to why girls’ mental wellbeing appears to have been more seriously affected during the COVID pandemic. For example, girls may have experienced more significant changes to their day-to-day lives during the pandemic, such as needing to help more with housework, childcare of younger siblings and seeing their friends less often for these reasons.</p>
<p>Another potential reason for the disparity is that face-to-face interactions with friends, which have been greatly reduced during the pandemic, could be more important to girls than boys.</p>
<p>It was beyond the scope of our study to explore possible reasons behind these trends, so further research will be needed to get a clearer picture.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/second-lockdown-left-women-feeling-worn-out-while-men-complained-of-boredom-151227">Second lockdown left women feeling worn out – while men complained of boredom</a>
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<p>Our findings suggest that it’s important to carefully analyse differences in pandemic effects across subgroups of individuals, including children, and support those more seriously affected with appropriate policies and interventions.</p>
<p>A first step in addressing the gendered impacts of the pandemic would be to raise awareness among parents, teachers and the wider community about the fact that girls may be more sensitive to the impacts of the pandemic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184628/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gender differences were more significant in lower-income families.Agne Suziedelyte, Senior lecturer in Economics, City, University of LondonAnna Zhu, Senior lecturer in Economics, RMIT UniversitySilvia Mendolia, Senior lecturer in Economics, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1701092021-10-19T10:51:10Z2021-10-19T10:51:10ZViolence against women in Kenya: data provides a glimpse into a grim situation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427208/original/file-20211019-25-1pdfio8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kenyan athlete Agnes Tirop was recently killed.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images for IAAF</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Kenyan world record holder Agnes Tirop was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58919391">found stabbed</a> to death at her home in the western town of Iten last week. The fact that the police arrested her husband in connection with the death has brought the subject of domestic violence to the fore in Kenya. Population and reproductive health researcher Yohannes Dibaba Wado shares his insights into how widespread it is and what must be done to address it.</em></p>
<h2>Is domestic violence widespread in Kenya?</h2>
<p>Domestic violence, also called intimate partner violence, is a global public health problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women">estimates</a> that almost one third of women experience some form of physical and or sexual violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime. According to the WHO, as many as 38% of all murders of women are committed by intimate partners.</p>
<p>In Kenya, according to the <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-fr308-dhs-final-reports.cfm">most recent national data</a> (which was published in 2014), overall, about <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR308/FR308.pdf#page=321">41%</a> of women reported having experienced physical or sexual violence from their husbands or partners in their lifetime. About two-fifths of those women reported physical injuries from the violence. </p>
<p>There’s a lack of up-to-date national data on the prevalence of domestic violence in Kenya. But time-bound data shows how often the violence could be happening. </p>
<p>The 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR308/FR308.pdf#page=321">indicated</a> that about one in four women reported physical or sexual violence from a partner in the 12 months before the survey. This means it could be more prevalent and widespread than thought.</p>
<p>The survey also showed that, due to societal and cultural norms, a considerable proportion (42%) of women and men in Kenya <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR308/FR308.pdf#page=312">still believed</a> that wife beating was acceptable under some conditions. Such social and cultural norms have to be demystified through education and community mobilisation programmes to change unequal gender norms. </p>
<h2>What’s being done to address it, and is it enough?</h2>
<p>Under the sustainable development goals (SDGs) all countries, including Kenya, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5556627/">committed</a> to end all forms of gender-based violence by 2030.</p>
<p>Kenya has policies and strategies to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. It launched the <a href="http://psyg.go.ke/docs/National%20Policy%20on%20prevention%20and%20Response%20to%20Gender%20Based%20Violence.pdf">National Policy on Prevention and Response to Gender-based Violence</a> in 2014. The Kenyan constitution has provisions for the protection of all individuals from any form of violence. Kenya also ratified the convention on the <a href="https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw">Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women</a>.</p>
<p>Efforts to prevent and respond to cases of domestic violence against women in Kenya have been there for some years but the progress has been too slow. Part of this is due to weak institutional capacities. </p>
<p>Victims of violence also <a href="http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/108214/Wanjia_An%20analysis%20of%20reporting%20of%20Sexual%20Violence%20among%20female%20Survivors%20in%20Kenya.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">don’t report</a> what’s happening to them. Less <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR308/FR308.pdf#page=26">than half</a> of women sought assistance from any source to stop the violence they experienced. There are various reasons why this happens. <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/09/21/kenya-survivors-gender-based-violence-lack-help">One is</a> that survivors face increased harm due to the failure of authorities to ensure that they have access to fast protection services, timely medical treatment and financial assistance. </p>
<p>What’s encouraging is that the government of Kenya has renewed its commitment to ending gender-based violence. </p>
<p>In June 2021, Kenya <a href="https://www.equalitynow.org/kenya_just_committed_to_ending_gbv_in_5_years_here_s_how_they_plan_to_do_it">adopted</a> a gender-based violence indicator in the government’s performance monitoring framework. This will ensure that the enforcement and implementation of gender-based violence laws and policies are tracked. With this commitment, the government has also allocated additional resources to prevention and response.</p>
<p>Gender-based <a href="https://gvrc.or.ke/">violence recovery centres</a> are being established in all major hospitals in the country. Moreover, <a href="https://ieakenya.or.ke/download/status-of-gender-desks-at-police-stations-in-kenya/">gender desks in police stations</a> have been established alongside civil society organisations, such as the such as the Coalition on Violence against Women and the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya.</p>
<h2>How must domestic violence in Kenya be addressed?</h2>
<p>Addressing domestic violence requires a coordinated and multi-sectoral approach that involves all sections of the society.</p>
<p>There are various prevention and response programmes that have been piloted and found to be successful, <a href="https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/preventing-vaw-framework-policymakers/en/">including by</a> the WHO, UN Women and civil society organisations. Examples of these interventions include psycho-social support for survivors of violence; economic and social empowerment programmes; cash transfers; working with couples to improve communication and relationship skills; and community mobilisation interventions to change unequal gender norms among others. The government must adapt these and scale them up so that they can be used across the country.</p>
<p>The enforcement and implementation of laws and policies related to gender-based violence must be improved. This includes training of the police, and those who provide medical and legal support for survivors of physical and sexual violence. </p>
<p>More advocacy and capacity building is required for law enforcement agencies as well as institutions that implement the national policy on gender-based violence. </p>
<p>Men, boys and community leaders must be sensitised on the rights of women through community mobilisation activities by the community health volunteers, women groups and civil society organisations. Women and girls must also be educated on their right to be free of violence and shown where, and how, to seek services if it does happen. </p>
<p>These steps are all needed, and all important. Something has to shift in order to protect women and girls from this violence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170109/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yohannes Dibaba Wado 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.</span></em></p>Statistics show that about 41% of women in Kenya have reported physical or sexual violence from their husbands or partners in their lifetime.Yohannes Dibaba Wado, Associate research scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1586352021-05-06T20:08:56Z2021-05-06T20:08:56ZADHD affects girls too, and it can present differently to the way it does in boys. Here’s what to look out for<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399122/original/file-20210506-19-qp2hyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5863%2C3896&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two female Australian comedians recently revealed they’ve been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).</p>
<p>In an interview before her shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/culture/comedy/it-s-good-to-come-back-fiona-o-loughlin-on-comedy-adhd-and-asexuality-20210326-p57eev.html">Fiona O’Loughlin</a> alluded to lifelong challenges including disorganisation and inability to sustain attention. </p>
<p>O'Loughlin, 57, described her diagnosis as a “seismic shift” in her life, and said medication has helped her immensely. But her struggle with focus will be a story familiar to many girls with ADHD.</p>
<p>And in an article published <a href="https://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/health/em-rusciano-on-being-diagnosed-with-adhd-as-an-adult/news-story/8df3c0ca7e38b4de5f8516d9367011ec">this week</a>, Em Rusciano also revealed she’s been diagnosed with ADHD. For Rusciano, too, treatment has been transformative. The 42-year-old wrote <a href="https://www.facebook.com/EmRuscianoOfficial">on Facebook</a>:</p>
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<p>I don’t feel the world coming at me at 100 all the time anymore. The constant sensory overload has stopped. I don’t feel overwhelmed by life quite as much.</p>
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<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1388629305215889413"}"></div></p>
<p>While some of us might perceive ADHD as a condition that affects males (particularly boys), it affects girls and women too. And it’s important to understand that the way it presents in girls can be quite different to the way it manifests itself in boys.</p>
<h2>What is ADHD?</h2>
<p>Best understood as a persistent, and sometimes lifelong, neurodevelopmental disorder, <a href="https://www.guilford.com/books/Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity-Disorder/Russell-Barkley/9781462538874">ADHD</a> <a href="http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/42255/2/Lily%20Hechtman.pdf#page=206">includes problems</a> with sustaining attention, resisting distraction, and moderating activity levels to suit the environment (for example, sitting in a classroom).</p>
<p>Young people with ADHD <a href="http://www.russellbarkley.org/factsheets/TheWorldFederationOfAdhdGuide.pdf">vary considerably</a> in their behaviours. A child might exhibit symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity (for example, fidgeting and squirming, or frequently leaving their seat in class), or inattention (careless mistakes, trouble focusing in class, difficulty keeping their belongings in order), or more commonly, both. Hyperfocus (an intense fixation on one activity) can also be a symptom.</p>
<p>Of course, these behaviours are common in childhood to varying degrees. Diagnosis is based on whether symptoms are excessive for the child’s age, developmental level, and cultural background (parents across <a href="https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=NR50775&op=pdf&app=Library&oclc_number=720806889">different cultures</a> <a href="https://journals.lww.com/jrnldbp/Abstract/2006/04000/Mothers__Views_on_Hyperactivity__A_Cross_Cultural.6.aspx">may differ</a> in whether they see a child’s behaviour as hyperactive or normal).</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm">diagnosis</a> is only made if there’s clear evidence that the symptoms impair functioning across several life domains such as at school, at home and with friends.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-a-crime-to-have-adhd-26307">It's not a crime to have ADHD</a>
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<h2>Does ADHD look different in girls?</h2>
<p>Researchers have only recently <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1087054711416909">started to unravel</a> the expression of ADHD in girls. </p>
<p>The way ADHD presents in girls and boys is <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-57877-009">in many ways similar</a>, but there are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890856709614258">a few noteworthy differences</a>. Most importantly, while symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity are present across genders (with some studies showing more hyperactivity in boys), <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4195638/">symptoms of inattention</a>, which can be easier to overlook, are seen more frequently in girls. </p>
<p>Further, the onset of ADHD symptoms can <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890856709626125">differ across gender</a>. Symptoms of hyperactivity tend to present early in school life. Inattentiveness, by contrast, has a slightly later onset. So girls with ADHD can often <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1087054711416909">go undetected</a> until academic and organisational demands increase in late primary and high school. </p>
<p>Girls with ADHD are also at higher risk of developing <a href="https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10092/6292/44177_final%20version%20of%20gender%20paper%20to%20AACAP.pdf?sequence=1">depression and anxiety</a> than boys. If depression and anxiety occur at the same time as ADHD, it can be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4195638/">more difficult</a> to diagnose ADHD. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1087054711416909">range of possible mechanisms</a> have been implicated in the difference in ADHD expression between genders, from hormonal changes, to cognitive differences, to social factors. But we need more research to truly understand the reasons behind the disparity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two boys in a classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399130/original/file-20210506-20-1hwztxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399130/original/file-20210506-20-1hwztxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399130/original/file-20210506-20-1hwztxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399130/original/file-20210506-20-1hwztxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399130/original/file-20210506-20-1hwztxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399130/original/file-20210506-20-1hwztxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399130/original/file-20210506-20-1hwztxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">ADHD tends to be recognised in boys earlier than it is in girls.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Boys versus girls</h2>
<p>ADHD is the <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/the-mental-health-of-children-and-adolescents">most common</a> psychological disorder among Australian youth. The second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, published in 2015, reported <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/the-mental-health-of-children-and-adolescents">7.4% of 4-17-year-olds</a> had ADHD over the previous 12 months. </p>
<p>Interestingly, more than twice as many boys have ADHD than girls. The disparity in prevalence may be a result of ADHD being <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-57877-009">historically viewed as a male disorder</a>.</p>
<p>This gender difference in prevalence has prompted controversy about diagnostic criteria and brought the female expression of ADHD into sharper focus. </p>
<p>There’s some suggestion the current <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1995-09976-001">diagnostic framework</a>, developed on male-dominated samples, is inadequate for girls and sees more boys than girls get a diagnosis. Some researchers have suggested symptom thresholds for diagnosis in girls should be modified. </p>
<p>Are there female expressions of hyperactivity-impulsivity (for example, internal feelings of restlessness) that could be added to the diagnostic criteria? Should there be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1087054711416909">gender-specific cut-offs</a> for current criteria (for example, a lower threshold for hyperactivity for girls)? </p>
<p>Until further research is conducted, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01670100">the jury is out</a> on any changes to the current system.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/imaging-study-confirms-differences-in-adhd-brains-73117">Imaging study confirms differences in ADHD brains</a>
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</em>
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<p>Importantly, many parents and teachers have long-held <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1395774/">stereotypes of an ADHD child</a> as a disruptive and hyperactive boy with difficulties staying still and keeping on-task. This perceptual bias <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178118317347">influences who they recognise</a> as potentially having ADHD and refer to treatment. </p>
<p>Research shows even when students display equivalent levels of impairment, <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.973.2615&rep=rep1&type=pdf">teachers still refer more boys</a> than girls for ADHD treatment.</p>
<h2>Some signs of ADHD in girls</h2>
<p>Does your child do the following <em>more than other children of her age</em>?</p>
<ul>
<li>make careless mistakes</li>
<li>daydream or appear spaced out</li>
<li>fail to pay close attention to details</li>
<li>have difficulty remaining focused in class, reading, homework, conversations</li>
<li>doesn’t seem to listen (appears distracted)</li>
<li>have difficulty organising tasks and materials</li>
<li>is reluctant to engage in tasks that require mental effort (schoolwork, homework)</li>
<li>often loses everyday things</li>
<li>is forgetful in daily activities.</li>
</ul>
<p>Keep an eye out for an increase in symptoms in late primary or early high school, as workload increases.</p>
<p>A good rule of thumb for when it’s time to seek help is when a child is starting to fail, fall behind or perform significantly below their ability either in schoolwork, friendships or family relationships. </p>
<p>There’s no cure for ADHD, but treatment aims to manage symptoms. Across genders, the first line of treatment for children is stimulant medication (such as Ritalin, Adderall or Concerta) and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15374416.2013.850700?journalCode=hcap20">behaviour management</a> (parent training and classroom management).</p>
<p>As more research on female ADHD emerges, we can consider treatment modifications specific to gender. </p>
<p>For many girls, ADHD is a serious and debilitating illness. Ensuring girls are identified early and accurately and that they receive evidence-based treatment is crucial. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-out-of-4-kids-with-mental-health-disorders-arent-accessing-care-118597">3 out of 4 kids with mental health disorders aren't accessing care</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Murrihy 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.</span></em></p>A better understanding of ADHD in girls will enable earlier recognition, diagnosis and, importantly, treatment for girls, than currently exists.Rachael Murrihy, Director, The Kidman Centre, Faculty of Science, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1595142021-04-29T12:23:06Z2021-04-29T12:23:06Z#MeToo on TikTok: Teens use viral trend to speak out about their sexual harassment experiences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397693/original/file-20210428-13-1th7r6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C0%2C4928%2C3280&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Girls face lasting negative effects of sexual harassment.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/sad-girl-in-her-bedroom-royalty-free-image/1051068192?adppopup=true">FatCamera/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/teen-girls-seek-out-safe-spaces-online-in-their-own-metoo-movement/">recent TikTok video</a> that has been liked by <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@emileegrant1/video/6940756521949089029">almost half a million</a> people encourages girls to record themselves putting one finger down for every time they have been sent unsolicited dick pics, begged for nudes, catcalled, repeatedly asked out after already saying no, and forced to do something sexual when they didn’t want to.</p>
<p>Similar videos about sexual assault posted by young women became popular in 2020. The <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@emileegrant1/video/6940756521949089029">new video</a> is aimed at teens and focuses on sexual harassment. By calling attention to how common sexual harassment is for teen girls, the “Put a finger down: Sexual harassment edition” video has become the 2021 TikTok teen version of the #MeToo movement of 2017.</p>
<p>This trend brings together two nearly universal realities in the lives of teen girls: the ubiquitous presence of social media and the daily barrage of sexual harassment. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tuYEhtgAAAAJ&hl=en">developmental psychologist</a>, I think this trend showcases how teens have developed a modern way of coping with a long-standing problem. </p>
<h2>Teens online</h2>
<p>Pre-COVID-19, a Pew Research Center poll found almost half of teens in the U.S. reported <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/">being online “almost constantly.”</a> Over the past year as they were stuck at home during <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22295131/social-media-use-pandemic-covid-19-instagram-tiktok">remote schooling</a>, teens relied on social media even more to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2020.0478">cope with the forced social isolation</a>. </p>
<p>Lockdowns and remote learning are <a href="https://theconversation.com/teens-are-wired-to-resent-being-stuck-with-parents-and-cut-off-from-friends-during-coronavirus-lockdown-136435">especially painful for teens</a>, because they are at the developmental stage when the need to connect with peers is at an all-time high. </p>
<p>At the same time that teens are spending <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22295131/social-media-use-pandemic-covid-19-instagram-tiktok">more hours of their day on social media</a>, the content of what is getting posted has become increasingly focused on <a href="https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2020/09/16/covid-19-is-changing-how-why-and-how-much-were-using-social-media/">social issues</a> and “real-life” challenges and worries.</p>
<h2>Epidemic of teen sexual harassment</h2>
<p>It only makes sense then that a popular post on social media addresses one of the biggest sources of stress in teen girls’ lives: sexual harassment. Research with middle school and high school girls has shown that in fifth grade <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.11.010">one out of four adolescents have experienced sexual harassment</a> in the form of sexual comments, jokes, gestures or looks. By eighth grade it is one in two. My colleagues and I have found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01151.x">90% of girls have experienced sexual harassment at least once</a> by the end of high school. </p>
<iframe src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6940756521949089029?lang=en-US" style="border:0;width:100%;min-height:825px;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>It occurs so commonly, and in public spaces like hallways and cafeterias, that by middle school almost all students (96%) have <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0272431610396090">witnessed sexual harassment happening at school</a>. If it isn’t in the school building itself, it is on their phones: <a href="https://www.planusa.org/full-report-the-state-of-gender-equality-for-us-adolescents">four out of five teen girls</a> have had at least one friend who has been asked by a boy to send a “sexy or naked” picture.</p>
<p>These sexual harassment experiences don’t leave girls unscathed. Girls <a href="https://www.aauw.org/resources/research/crossing-the-line-sexual-harassment-at-school/">describe sexual harassment as making them feel</a> “dirty – like a piece of trash,” “terrible,” “scared,” “angry and upset” and “like a second-class citizen.” Seventy-six percent of girls report feeling unsafe because they are girls at least once in a while. </p>
<p>The more sexual harassment girls experience, the more likely they are to feel <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.01.006">emotional distress</a>, depression and embarrassment, have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2007.00523.x">lowered self-esteem</a>, suffer from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9431-5">substance abuse</a> and have suicidal thoughts. Their attitudes about their bodies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0165025419870292">become more negative</a>, with many girls not liking their own bodies and starting to have the kinds of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028247">eating behaviors that can lead to eating disorders</a>. And the more sexual harassment girls experience, the more likely they are to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1077801215599079">suffer in school, be absent more often and disengage from academics</a>.</p>
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<h2>Coping in isolation</h2>
<p>Yet, despite the damage it is inflicting, girls rarely talk about their experiences. Even though they report feeling scared, angry, helpless and embarrassed, they rarely report the harassment to teachers or parents and rarely tell the harassers to stop – largely because of worries about the social consequences. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.planusa.org/docs/state-of-gender-equality-2018.pdf">More than 60%</a> of teen girls worry about retaliation, “that the other person would try to get back at” them if they confronted or reported the harasser. More than half of girls worry that people wouldn’t like them if they said something, or worry that people will think they are “trying to cause trouble” or “just being emotional.” Half think they won’t be believed. </p>
<p>So, instead of saying something, more than 60% of teen girls say they try to “forget about” or “ignore” the harassment, chalking it up to “just part of life” as a girl. The problem with trying to ignore sexual harassment is that it does not work. Decades of research on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.127.1.87">most effective ways to cope with stressful events</a> shows that seeking social support and confronting the source of the stress are much more effective coping strategies than trying to downplay or ignore the problem.</p>
<h2>Virtual – but beneficial – connection</h2>
<p>So, while the latest social media hashtag fad might seem trivial, talking about sexual harassment experiences in a TikTok video is likely profoundly beneficial. Teens use social media to connect with others. Research has shown that, although passively scrolling through others’ social media feeds can lead people to negatively compare themselves with others, which can contribute to feeling envious of others’ seemingly better lives, actively using social media – by posting their own thoughts – <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12033">can increase a person’s sense of social connections</a>. </p>
<p>Social connection, in turn, leads to greater psychological well-being. This social media effect seems especially true for girls: In studies in which girls used social media to honestly talk about themselves, they perceived greater social support, and their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2010.0374">well-being and positive feelings got a boost</a>.</p>
<p>This sense of honest social connection is particularly important for teens who have been sexually harassed. Our research has shown that teen girls are more likely to stand up for themselves and confront perpetrators of sexual harassment when they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21727">believe their peers support them</a>. If honest disclosures on social media about their experiences help teen girls feel connected with others, they may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.4.464">feel empowered to say something in real life</a>, too.</p>
<h2>Putting a spotlight on sexual harassment</h2>
<p>Beyond helping the girls who make the videos, this recent social media trend likely also benefits the people watching the videos. The 2017 #MeToo movement made <a href="https://www.planusa.org/docs/state-of-gender-equality-2018.pdf">more than half of teen girls</a> feel that they could tell someone about what happened to them. It helped them feel less alone. </p>
<p>It also helps label these pervasive everyday behaviors as problematic. It is good for girls to recognize this doesn’t have to be just a “part of life.” </p>
<p>It is also good for boys to see that girls are not flattered by these behaviors. Our research shows boys sexually harass girls <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12150">largely because their friends do it</a> and because it <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11199-013-0320-1">becomes the norm</a>. They often think this is how boys are supposed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0743558420933224">express romantic interest</a>. Boys are rarely taught what sexual harassment is, and they often don’t realize how upsetting it is to girls. </p>
<p>Maybe these 45-second videos, instead of being just a fad, can be the public service announcement all teens need.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">Follow @TheConversation on TikTok</a>.</em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christia Spears Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A viral TikTok video is helping girls bear witness to the harassment they experience at school.Christia Spears Brown, Professor of Psychology, University of KentuckyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1548712021-03-22T15:11:47Z2021-03-22T15:11:47ZSecuring the education of Kenya’s girls during COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388263/original/file-20210308-19-ou9sri.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children in a classroom at a rural school in Kenya.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wayne Hutchinson/Farm Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/covid-19-and-school-closures-what-can-countries-learn-from-past-emergencies/">has disrupted</a> education in many countries. Similar to other epidemics – such as the Ebola crisis in West Africa which pushed about <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/05/01/back-to-school-after-ebola-outbreak">five million children</a> out of school in 2013 – the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the closure of schools <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/covid-19-and-school-closures-what-can-countries-learn-from-past-emergencies/">in about</a> 194 countries. </p>
<p>In Kenya there was a nationwide closure of schools between March 2020 and January 2021. This disrupted the education of about <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/images/Kenya_basic_Education_COVID-19_Emergency_Response_Plan-compressed.pdf">18 million learners,</a> with a total of about 15 million children in primary and secondary schools. </p>
<p>Evidence <a href="https://campaignforeducation.org/en/2020/05/19/covid-19-how-to-ensure-continuity-of-education-in-africa/">suggests</a> that the disruptions to education by the pandemic have negative consequences on already vulnerable students, such as those living within poor households, and <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/202101050132.html">girls</a>.</p>
<p>This threatens the great progress Kenya had made in its education sector. </p>
<p>For instance, overall, Kenya has achieved <a href="https://education.go.ke/images/Approved_Basic_Education_Statistical_Booklet_2019_approved_compressed.pdf">gender parity</a> in primary and secondary school. This masks disparities that exist in certain regions, though – in 23 counties, more boys attend school than girls. In addition, the transition from primary to secondary by both sexes increased by 12 percentage points between 2018 and 2019. </p>
<p>I’m an <a href="https://aphrc.org/person/benta-a-abuya/">education specialist</a> and have done a lot of work on the education of girls and their transition to secondary school. I have concerns that the longer girls spend out of school, the more they are at risk of dropping out. </p>
<p>The main reasons why girls may drop out of school <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0738059311000393">include</a> poverty – which impairs the ability of the households to keep girls in school because they may need them to stay at home to work within the homes, and sometimes on farms – and opportunity costs, where households choose who to send to school. There’s also the risk – when girls are at home for long periods of time – that they’ll get pregnant as a <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/74146/file/Protecting-children-from-violence-in-the-time-of-covid-19.pdf">result of</a> gender based violence. </p>
<p>The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education may cut back on the gains that Kenya has made in gender equity and inclusion. The government needs to respond to these issues holistically, and address the well-being of girls. </p>
<h2>Supporting girls</h2>
<p>There are several strategies that the government must take. </p>
<p>For girls who fall pregnant, the Ministry of Education should encourage school reentry. It was encouraging to see that the government is working on school <a href="https://knowledgecommons.popcouncil.org/departments_sbsr-rh/1323/">reentry policies</a> not only to encourage learners to get back into the system, but to improve transition, retention and completion rates.</p>
<p>It’s also vital that parents are involved in strategies as they are key to supporting the education of their girls. For instance, the African Population and Health Research Center – through the <a href="https://aphrc.org/publication/advancing-learning-outcomes-and-leadership-skills-among-children-living-in-informal-settlements-of-nairobi-through-community-participation-2/">Advancing Learning Outcomes and Transformational Change</a> – is partnering with community-based organisations and local radio stations in urban informal settlements to deliver life-skills and parental counselling sessions to adolescents and their parents respectively. </p>
<p>This means community resources can be harnessed to respond to the pandemic and the programme has been able to engage parents in support of their children’s education.</p>
<h2>Remote learning</h2>
<p>The government must also encourage strategies that support remote learning, such as online technologies, even as schools reopen for face to face learning. Educators should design activities with <a href="https://bettercarenetwork.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Education%20in%20Emergencies%20and%20for%20Reconstruction.pdf">a longer term goal</a> in mind, rather than having short term measures. </p>
<p>In May 2020, the Ministry of Education put in place a <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/images/Kenya_basic_Education_COVID-19_Emergency_Response_Plan-compressed.pdf">three-pronged approach</a> to remotely support learning:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Online learning and strengthening the Kenya Education Cloud – an online portal for the submission of content for evaluation;</p></li>
<li><p>Broadcasting of radio and television programmes for primary and secondary school levels; and</p></li>
<li><p>Access to textbooks and other teaching and learning materials in remote areas </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Broadcasting through radio and television programmes seemed to be where most of the focus was as the Kenya Institute of Curriculum and Development rolled out digital learning.</p>
<p>These strategies can worsen existing inequalities. For instance, some students may not have access to the internet. In addition, <a href="https://palnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Usawa-Agenda-2020-Report.pdf">just 42%</a> of children report that they can access learning through TV and a further 19% through the radio. Some of the challenges that remain with digital learning <a href="http://ziziafrique.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Are-Children-in-Arid-Areas-Accessing-Digital-Learning-during-Covid.docx-1.pdf">include</a> affordability of gadgets or internet; connectivity to and fluctuations of power; ability or availability of parents to supervise learning; and capacity of teachers in driving online learning.</p>
<p>To overcome these challenges, the government should consider partnering with the private sector to make gadgets – like smart-phones and the internet – affordable for learners. It should also actively build the capacity of teachers so that they can provide online teaching. </p>
<p>In addition, there should be awareness campaigns within the community that highlight the importance of supporting the education of girls, particularly during and immediately after the pandemic. </p>
<h2>More accessible</h2>
<p>The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development has an education channel <a href="https://kicd.ac.ke/our-services/educational-media/kicd-edu-channel-line-up/">which provides learning</a> through radio programmes. The government must use this to reach children who cannot make it to school. One way to overcome the challenge of access to radios would be to hold lessons communally – where several children from different households can listen in to a single radio. </p>
<p>The government can also learn from programmes that successfully run education projects for marginalised children. For instance, <a href="https://pacemakerinternational.org/">PACEMaker International</a> develops material and shares it to schools via WhatsApp. Moreover, the PACE fellows – volunteers who act as teaching assistants – can offer learning support to under-resourced schools. PACEMaker can expand the use of fellows to reach and support girls out of school. </p>
<p>In conclusion, pandemics such as COVID-19 have the potential to reverse many years of progress for girls. Kenya must ensure that all girls and young people have the resources, tools and social support from the parents and communities to continue learning during this critical period school reopening and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154871/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benta A. Abuya 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.</span></em></p>There are concerns that the longer girls spend out of school, the more they are at risk of dropping out.Benta A. Abuya, Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1560922021-03-07T14:36:24Z2021-03-07T14:36:24ZStop telling girls to smile — it pressures them to accept the unjust status quo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388104/original/file-20210305-19-12d6kla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C0%2C8456%2C5646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Global movements for social change are being led by girls, who are the most affected by environmental, labour and social justice issues.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Girls are constantly told to smile, from T-shirts sold in stores that say “<a href="https://www.walmart.com/ip/Everyone-Loves-a-Happy-Girl-YOUTH-SHORT-SLEEVE-TEE/119028349">everyone loves a happy girl</a>” to the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/02/19/807407891/artist-tatyana-fazlalizadeh-wants-you-to-stop-telling-women-to-smile">catcallers telling young women to smile when they walk down the street</a>. </p>
<p>Audrey Hepburn once famously stated that “<a href="https://www.momtastic.com/parenting/parenting-in-the-news/575251-happy-girls-are-the-prettiest/">happy girls are the prettiest girls</a>” — now this quote is reiterated in the post-feminist marketplace on T-shirts, pillow cases and stationery.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most public callout to a girl to smile was Donald Trump’s caustically sarcastic tweet that climate activist Greta Thunberg “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/24/she-seems-very-happy-trump-appears-to-mock-greta-thunbergs-emotional-speech">seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!</a>”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-end-of-the-trump-years-means-for-american-and-global-girlhood-154227">What the end of the Trump years means for American and global girlhood</a>
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<p>But lift up the hood of this pressure to be perceived as carefree and happy and look underneath: something much more disturbing is revealed.</p>
<p>I have been studying the experiences of girls, particularly tweens aged eight to 12, with regards to consumer culture for the past 15 years. The pressure on girls to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540518806954">be fun, happy and smiling</a> reveals much about the cultural expectations projected onto girls and girlhood.</p>
<h2>Perpetual fun?</h2>
<p>This constant expectation of girls to be always smiling depoliticizes girls and positions them as compliant in their own subjugation. “Fun” acts as a distraction from deeper political issues, discouraging girls from considering the exploitation and violence that girls worldwide face.</p>
<p>Directing their attention to the myriad social and political issues facing girls, like the <a href="https://plan-international.org/emergencies/effects-of-climate-change-girls-rights">climate crisis</a> or <a href="https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/">missing and murdered Indigenous girls and women</a>, would upset the happiness and fun of girlhood.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388101/original/file-20210305-13-fmuty4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young girls lead a MMIWG march" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388101/original/file-20210305-13-fmuty4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388101/original/file-20210305-13-fmuty4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388101/original/file-20210305-13-fmuty4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388101/original/file-20210305-13-fmuty4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388101/original/file-20210305-13-fmuty4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388101/original/file-20210305-13-fmuty4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388101/original/file-20210305-13-fmuty4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young girls walk together during the annual Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver on Feb. 14, 2021. The march is held to honour missing and murdered women and girls from the community with stops along the way to commemorate where women were last seen or found.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Feminist scholar Sara Ahmed writes that <a href="https://socialtextjournal.org/the-promise-of-happiness/">happiness is promised to those who commit to living their life in an unchallenging way that does not upset the status quo</a>. To challenge the status quo by drawing attention to these issues disrupts the fantasy.</p>
<p>If everyone loves a happy girl, as the T-shirt says, then unhappy girls are unlovable: it’s a clear warning to girls to maintain happiness or else face being “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549417733003">psychologically and aesthetically unappealing</a>.”</p>
<p>Fun can be had with others, but at its root is an individual endeavour to be responsible for one’s own fun. The <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dont-tell-me-to-smile-more-provocative-proclamation-for-women-to-reclaim-ownership-of-their-smile-launched-by-undnyable-300884702.html">call to smile</a> is not an invitation to celebrate the resolution of the misogynistic and patriarchal structures that are often at the root of unhappiness.</p>
<p>Happiness and fun are forms of <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2019/03/08/author-interview-qa-with-sarah-banet-weiser-on-empowered-popular-feminism-and-popular-misogyny/">popular feminism</a> that frame gender equality as individual empowerment eclipsing a feminist structural critique. Unhappiness deviates from the <a href="https://soundcloud.com/toprankpodcast/episode-18-commodity-feminism">post-feminist script</a> in which women — who are responsible for their own happiness and emancipation — need to think positively and be inspired to make change. The emphasis is on individual actions over collective consciousness. </p>
<p>These moral demands for happiness and fun <a href="https://2019.steirischerherbst.at/de/vorherbst/1377/the-happiness-imperative">undermine citizenship and commitments to community</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388102/original/file-20210305-17-1w5qsje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A girl holds a cardboard sign with a picture of George Floyd and text reading I CANT BREATHE" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388102/original/file-20210305-17-1w5qsje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388102/original/file-20210305-17-1w5qsje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388102/original/file-20210305-17-1w5qsje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388102/original/file-20210305-17-1w5qsje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388102/original/file-20210305-17-1w5qsje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388102/original/file-20210305-17-1w5qsje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388102/original/file-20210305-17-1w5qsje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A girl at a protest in Washington, D.C., holds a sign featuring George Floyd.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Obi Onyeador/Unsplash)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Girls’ leadership</h2>
<p>The call to happiness and fun lets patriarchal structures and institutions off the hook for the injustices, unhappiness and pains of girls worldwide, and posits the responsibility for their own happiness on girls’ shoulders. But girls are no longer complying, including Greta Thunberg, who brilliantly turned Trump’s own words back on him.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1351890941087522820"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/greta-thunberg-trump-tweet-happy-old-man-b1790085.html">Thunberg’s clapback</a> to Trump flips the script exposing the misogynistic and ageist rhetoric on girls to be happy.</p>
<p>A global youth movement led by girls — like water activists <a href="https://naaee.org/about-us/people/autumn-peltier">Autumn Peltier</a> and <a href="https://www.maricopeny.com/">Mari Copeny</a>, education activist <a href="https://malala.org/malalas-story">Malala Yousufzai</a> and climate activist <a href="https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/vanessa-nakate/">Vanessa Nakate</a> — are countering these narratives. They are fighting <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/01/19/797298179/you-need-to-act-now-meet-4-girls-working-to-save-the-warming-world">against climate change</a> and advocating for social change using a whole and complex range of emotions,including happiness and fun. </p>
<p>Girls are refusing to be dismissed by misogynistic critics who tell them to “smile more.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156092/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Coulter receives funding from SSHRC.</span></em></p>Telling girls to smile pressures distracts them from the very real, dangerous and sometimes deadly challenges that girls around the world face.Natalie Coulter, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, and Director of the Institute for Research on Digital Literacies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1542272021-03-02T17:28:58Z2021-03-02T17:28:58ZWhat the end of the Trump years means for American and global girlhood<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387035/original/file-20210301-18-1y4hj2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3272%2C2384&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Fearless Girl statue stands across from the Charging Bull statue in New York's financial district. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Kamala Harris’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/07/kamala-harris-victory-speech-transcript/">rousing victory speech</a> in November 2020, the vice-president-elect of the United States directly addressed the country’s children — but first, she spoke specifically to girls:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many little girls (and boys) probably did watch with rapt attention as the world contemplated the historic significance of Harris’s win as the first woman of Black and South Asian origin to be elected vice-president. Some parents attested to the significance of that moment, and the hope and inspiration that it ushered in.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1325290099194667009"}"></div></p>
<p>Did Harris’s achievement also mark a turning point for girlhood in the U.S. — and the world?</p>
<p>Donald Trump’s presidency was marked by a toxic climate of aggressive hyper-masculinity where women were often insulted, bullied, mocked and harassed. Trump’s comments and tweets <a href="https://theweek.com/articles/655770/61-things-donald-trump-said-about-women">were sometimes rampantly sexist</a>, excused as mere locker-room banter by his followers but found to have “<a href="https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/jlp.19034.sco">dangerously ingrained</a> an ideology of denigration and objectification of women” by one researcher. </p>
<p>The conservative and regressive policy decisions of the Trump administration disproportionately affected women of colour, along with anyone else who did not belong to the <a href="https://ocul-crl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01OCUL_CRL/1vru3a1/cdi_informaworld_taylorfrancis_310_1080_15564886_2019_1671284">white elite heteronormative order.</a> </p>
<p>A <a href="https://ocul-crl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01OCUL_CRL/1vru3a1/cdi_crossref_primary_10_1080_09589236_2020_1767546">recent quantitative study</a> explored the correlation between the increase in racially motivated hate crimes following Trump’s election and the deterioration of mental health in young college women. <a href="https://theconversation.com/joe-biden-and-kamala-harris-could-transform-american-childhood-150112">Scholars have also pointed out</a> that exclusionary Trump policies like immigration bans and the separation of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border jeopardized the “children’s safety and well-being” and particularly targeted kids from racialized and marginalized backgrounds.</p>
<h2>Girlhood under siege</h2>
<p>At the crossroads between misogyny and anti-children policies, American girlhood, unsurprisingly, came under siege during the Trump years, threatening to smother the spirit of the Fearless Girl statue facing the Wall Street Bull in New York City’s financial district. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387037/original/file-20210301-20-c71mx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Fearless Girl statue wearing a pink pussy hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387037/original/file-20210301-20-c71mx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387037/original/file-20210301-20-c71mx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387037/original/file-20210301-20-c71mx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387037/original/file-20210301-20-c71mx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387037/original/file-20210301-20-c71mx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387037/original/file-20210301-20-c71mx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387037/original/file-20210301-20-c71mx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this March 2017 photo, the statue of the Fearless Girl sports a pink hat, a symbol of opposition to Trump’s presidency.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When it comes to the cultural iconography of girlhood, few can match the confidence, defiance and courage exuded by the Kristen Visbal statue, installed on the eve of International Women’s Day in 2017. </p>
<p>It symbolizes an audacious resilience in girls — in the U.S. and around the world — that could not be suppressed even during Trump’s tenure. </p>
<p>Poet and activist Maya Angelou once wrote how she would “<a href="https://mashable.com/2015/04/07/maya-angelou-stamp-quotes/">love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels</a>.” Throughout Trump’s presidency, girls rose to Angelou’s challenge, mounting sustained challenges to his inequitable and reckless policies — from gender and race issues to immigration and climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387028/original/file-20210301-17-1a04boi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Malala Yousafzai" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387028/original/file-20210301-17-1a04boi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387028/original/file-20210301-17-1a04boi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387028/original/file-20210301-17-1a04boi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387028/original/file-20210301-17-1a04boi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387028/original/file-20210301-17-1a04boi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387028/original/file-20210301-17-1a04boi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387028/original/file-20210301-17-1a04boi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Girls activist Malala Yousafzai has been a vocal Trump critic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Department for International Development</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Malala Yousufzai, the young education activist and Nobel laureate from Pakistan, criticized Trump’s discriminatory attitude towards Muslims and called his calls for immigration bans <a href="https://time.com/4151167/malala-donald-trump-muslim-comments/">“tragic” and “full of hate”</a> in 2015, even before he was elected.</p>
<p>She also publicly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/25/malala-has-a-message-for-trump-on-womens-rights/">criticized Trump’s sexism</a> and later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/12/malala-yousafzai-slams-trump-for-cruel-child-separations">called him out for the cruel, unfair and inhumane separation</a> of more than 2,000 children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.</p>
<h2>Girls against Trump</h2>
<p>Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg also took on Trump. As she castigated world leaders for lacking the moral fibre to tackle climate change at the World Economic Forum in Davos, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/12/politics/trump-greta-thunberg-time-person-of-the-year/index.html">Trump notoriously accused her</a> of having anger management issues.</p>
<p>The more Trump mocked and derided her, the more Thunberg upped the ante, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/greta-thunberg-wishes-old-man-trump-a-wonderful-future-1.5274624">valiantly returning fire tweet by tweet until Trump lost the election</a> and she used his own insults against him. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1324439705522524162"}"></div></p>
<p>When the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-quietly-abandons-proposing-ideas-to-curb-gun-violence-after-saying-he-would-following-mass-shootings/2019/10/31/8bca030c-fa6e-11e9-9534-e0dbcc9f5683_story.html">Trump administration reneged</a> on the promise of gun control following mass shootings, a trenchant critique came from the Naomi Wadler, 11 years old at the time. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387032/original/file-20210301-22-1ljutss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A girl wearing an orange scarf talks into a microphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387032/original/file-20210301-22-1ljutss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387032/original/file-20210301-22-1ljutss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387032/original/file-20210301-22-1ljutss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387032/original/file-20210301-22-1ljutss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387032/original/file-20210301-22-1ljutss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387032/original/file-20210301-22-1ljutss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387032/original/file-20210301-22-1ljutss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Naomi Wadler, a Virginia elementary school student, speaks during the March for Our Lives rally in support of gun control in Washington, D.C, in March 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She spoke for all the “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/the-story-behind-11-year-old-naomi-wadler-and-her-march-for-our-lives-speech/2018/03/25/3a6dccdc-3058-11e8-8abc-22a366b72f2d_story.html">African American girls whose stories don’t make the front page of every national newspaper</a>” and her orange scarf is now an artefact at the virtual exhibition called <a href="https://www.girlhoodlive.com/"><em>Girlhood: It’s Complicated</em></a> at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>It’s clear that when girls and young women are at the forefront of major movements with their tireless commitment to justice and equity, and as they form a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56068522">formidable coalition</a> transcending borders and cultures, the old structures of patriarchy and misogyny can be challenged and hopefully dismantled.</p>
<h2>Trump impact</h2>
<p>When Trump won the U.S. election in 2016, an educator offered a strategic toolkit to the parents of girls in the U.S. to <a href="https://time.com/4672017/teach-children-donald-trump/">survive his presidency</a>. In the wake of his re-election bid in 2020, the issue of girlhood had entered the arena of political debate — a video entitled <a href="https://lincolnproject.us/news/mirror/"><em>Girl in the Mirror</em></a>, released by the conservative, anti-Trump Lincoln Project, urged American voters to imagine the impact of another presidential term marked by misogyny and sexism on girls and young women. </p>
<p>Fortunately, the U.S. and the world were spared that outcome. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387062/original/file-20210301-17-1cybycs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Amanda Gorman, in a yellow coat, reads a poem at the inauguration." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387062/original/file-20210301-17-1cybycs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387062/original/file-20210301-17-1cybycs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387062/original/file-20210301-17-1cybycs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387062/original/file-20210301-17-1cybycs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387062/original/file-20210301-17-1cybycs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387062/original/file-20210301-17-1cybycs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387062/original/file-20210301-17-1cybycs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">American poet Amanda Gorman reads a poem during the 59th presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was also fitting that the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice-President Harris featured the powerful poetry of a talented young woman, <a href="https://theconversation.com/poet-amanda-gormans-take-on-love-as-legacy-points-to-youths-power-to-shape-future-generations-153867">Amanda Gorman, who boldly asserted</a> from the balcony of the U.S. Capitol:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“… Yet the dawn is ours</p>
<p>Before we knew it</p>
<p>Somehow we do it</p>
<p>Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
… </p>
<p>The new dawn blooms as we free it</p>
<p>For there is always light,</p>
<p>If only we’re brave enough to see it</p>
<p>If only we’re brave enough to be it.”</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154227/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mayurika Chakravorty received funding from SSHRC. SSHRC Connections Grant, 2019 (co-applicant) Project: Republic of Childhood: Imagining the Future of Children's Rights.</span></em></p>It’s clear that when girls and young women are at the forefront of major social justice movements, the old structures of patriarchy and misogyny can be challenged and hopefully dismantled.Mayurika Chakravorty, Instructor, Department of English and Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies (Childhood and Youth Studies), Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1543882021-02-10T15:21:11Z2021-02-10T15:21:11ZAgainst the odds: four women share how they forged careers in science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383219/original/file-20210209-19-6bgy6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When women do science, society benefits in myriad ways.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Solskin/Stock image/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="http://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/women-science">Less than 30%</a> of researchers worldwide are women and UNESCO data shows that <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000253479_eng">only about 30%</a> of all female students choose science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields at a tertiary level. Four African women scientists share their experiences in forging STEM careers.</em> </p>
<h2>Dr Dayo Akande, Nigeria</h2>
<p>I can’t forget my experience as a secondary school student: after qualifying for a science competition at state level in 1989, I was asked to stay back and let my male schoolmate go, because there was only sponsorship for one person to attend the presentation. He was the only one recognised when they returned. I felt bad, as if it was a crime to be a girl. </p>
<p>There is also the bias of being seen as not capable. Not being given an equal chance to show what you are capable of. I was once dropped for a scholarship because I was pregnant – a decision made not by the funders but by a committee chaired by a female professor.</p>
<p>Such biases have consequences for the STEM sector. It stands the chance of losing the best hands. And women will get discouraged from participating fully in the sector, being recognised and meeting their potential.</p>
<p>The entire populace must be made aware of the need to allow women to compete and show their capabilities in STEM. Everyone is responsible: parents, teachers, policy makers and women too. My parents, for instance, have always said, “You are not inferior (intellectually) compared to any male.” I’m also married to a man who spurs me on and helps to make the journey easier. </p>
<p>The most effective intervention, I think, is to let women step on the stage and show what they are capable of.</p>
<h2>Professor Ekanem Ikpi Braide, Nigeria</h2>
<p>STEM appeals to me because it pervades all aspects of life. Most problems in nation building can be solved by applying STEM. The problem–solving attitude required of scientists makes life very exciting. </p>
<p>Personally, I have not experienced any bias (in my career) but I have seen many women experience bias. In most instances, particularly among elites, it is subtle and not direct. No one would say “I cannot employ you because you are a woman” or “I cannot promote you because you are a woman” – though the reason is actually gender. Among parents, particularly in the rural areas, it is more direct. Many parents would say, “Let your brother go to school first because we do not have money.” </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/appointment-breaks-proverbial-glass-ceiling-in-science-in-nigeria-133932">Appointment breaks proverbial glass ceiling in science in Nigeria</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Culturally, in most societies, girls are regarded as inferior to boys. Somehow this belief has permeated all aspects of life in Nigeria and discrimination continues.</p>
<p>The starting point for removing discrimination against girls is education, which is not affordable for many households because of poverty. Early marriages and unwanted pregnancies hinder girls’ education. </p>
<p>But when girls are educated, there is <a href="https://borgenproject.org/importance-of-girls-education/">a multiplier effect</a>: there is <a href="https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/why-educating-girls-makes-economic-sense">an improvement</a> in literacy, family income, family health, credentials for employment and occupational aspirations. </p>
<p>One of the ways Nigeria could make a positive change is by enforcing the 2004 <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=87623&p_country=NGA&p_count=253">Universal Basic Education Act</a>. It mandates every government in Nigeria to provide compulsory and free basic education for every child from primary school to junior secondary school. If enforced, it would make it possible for girls to acquire basic education. </p>
<p>There are other policies, including the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/media_24466.html">Strategy for Acceleration of Girls’ Education</a>. These policies exist but are not fully enforced as fees are still being charged in many schools. </p>
<h2>Professor Aina Adeogun, Nigeria</h2>
<p>The key ingredients to career progression are opportunity, availability and focus. For Nigerian women scientists, appreciable time is lost to childbearing and family care. Because of the expectation that women are the partners to sacrifice for the family, a lot of otherwise excellent female scientists in Nigeria have not been able to attain the peak. By the time they are ready to progress in their careers, there are no special integration programmes to assist them.</p>
<p>Perceptions will take time to change. Education about the role of the girl child in nation building is key. We can initiate this by having groups that interact with secondary schools through parent and teacher association platforms. Such engagements should feature female scientists as speakers. Female scientists who are starting their careers must be involved too, for mentoring and to “pass the baton”.</p>
<p>Effective interventions do exist. Universities like Oxford and Cambridge have recognised the peculiarities and pressures on female scientists. They have programmes that include providing reintegration grants of up to £10,000 to hire a postdoctoral student for female academics returning after maternity care. This type of targeted approach to bridging the gap between female and male scientists is non-existent in Nigeria. </p>
<p>My personal principle is: “If there is one reason why a particular concept will work, then pursue that one reason and leave out the 50 reasons why it won’t work.” </p>
<p>I have my great grandmother, grandparents and parents to thank for this. They made me realise that I can do whatever I set my heart on doing. We need to reorient parents’ perceptions on how to give all children equal opportunities to flourish from the early stages. </p>
<p>This can-do approach to life will ensure that we position our intuitive and highly resourceful girl children to become trailblazers in STEM.</p>
<h2>Professor Rebecca Ackermann, South Africa</h2>
<p>I’ve always been interested in figuring out how things work, and really that’s at the core of what scientists do. Notice something interesting. Try to explain it. I’ve always been careful to do science on my own terms, though. That includes healthy work hours and an equal focus on family and friends, so as not to burn out. Academia is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.</p>
<p>I’ve encountered bias in my career. It has ranged from overt sexual harassment, to bullying and verbal abuse, to more subtle things like my work being overlooked. It has happened to me and others I know, including my students. </p>
<p>It reflects overt but also systemic bias that is so pervasive and ingrained that people don’t even realise they are biased. Women simply aren’t taken as seriously as men in society. This dynamic is magnified in STEM fields, where women are often underrepresented.</p>
<p>Bias pushes women out of STEM fields, which is a detriment to science. All science is shaped by the people doing it, and it is well known that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05326-3">diversity</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05316-5">produces better science</a>. </p>
<p>Diversity brings more backgrounds, experiences, worldviews and angles to considering a problem, which shapes which questions are asked and how evidence is interpreted. This removes the bias that comes from homogeneity of thought, giving us more scientific certainty that we’re getting the correct answer.</p>
<p>Many people think that if we each do our small part to promote diversity in science, including gender diversity, we will move towards equity and justice. In my view this slow, gradual approach has been largely unsuccessful. STEM fields need to be pushed towards justice. This includes, among other things, educating ourselves on the importance of diversity in science, doing bias training, advocating for employment equity and making it happen, creating inclusive spaces and practices. I see predominantly women and people of colour in the transformation space, which tells me that not everyone is putting in the work to move us in the right direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154388/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Less than 30% of researchers worldwide are women. The biases and perceptions that keep women and girls out of STEM must be tackled.Natasha Joseph, Commissioning EditorOgechi Ekeanyanwu, Commissioning Editor: NigeriaWale Fatade, Commissioning Editor: NigeriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1466562020-10-12T12:17:45Z2020-10-12T12:17:45ZTeachers play a critical role in shaping girls’ future as coders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360868/original/file-20200930-14-1wzgf1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C0%2C4432%2C2939&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With the right encouragement, girls could become the future stars of coding.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/programming-royalty-free-image/694160714?adppopup=true">Fat Camera / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>It doesn’t take long to help girls see a future for themselves in computer science, but it depends largely on how good their teachers are at recognizing the skills the girls have in coding, which is basically <a href="https://learn.onemonth.com/what-is-coding/">writing language for computers</a>. We found that girls ages 10 to 12 can come to see themselves as coders in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21665">as little as a week</a>. And there are diverse roles within the world of coding that allow girls with various personalities and skill sets to see themselves as coders. However, if educators recognize girls only for when they play a background role and help others, but not when they are more assertive and confident, then they may not develop their assertiveness and confidence in a way that enables them to succeed as coders.</p>
<p>To reach this conclusion, my colleagues and I focused on three girls from different backgrounds – one was Black, one was Hispanic and one was white – who participated in a one-week coding camp. We analyzed over 40 hours of video footage from the camp, interviews with the girls and open-ended survey responses to determine how the camp influenced each girl’s coding identity – that is, their sense of belonging in the field of computer science and their potential for future success.</p>
<p>We found that in order to develop a stronger coding <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20237">identity</a>, girls need to have opportunities to develop and perform coding skills. They also need to do so in front of people they view as experts and be recognized for those skills. Our study found that educators’ own biases around gender can affect how they recognize skills and what types of behaviors they recognize.
Identity development is a highly individualized experience. The venue also matters. <a href="https://oxfordre.com/education/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-550">Qualitative methods</a> allow researchers to gather in-depth data to fully explore the multiple issues – in this case issues affecting girls of color in <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/14779960910955828/full/html">coding</a> – like in our case – as well as other <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tea.21521">STEM disciplines</a>.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>In 1990, <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED580805">women represented 35%</a> of the computer science workforce. By 2017, this <a href="https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20201/u-s-s-e-workforce">had fallen below 30%</a>.</p>
<p>Coding and programming are <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.1145/3079760">foundational</a> to most science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Coding and other STEM careers are some of the <a href="https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/highest-paying-bachelors-degree-jobs">highest-paying jobs</a> in the U.S. today.</p>
<p>If women are not entering these fields because they don’t think they have the right skills or the right personality to succeed, then they are losing opportunities for high-paying positions. And STEM fields are losing the diversity of ideas and input from women that could enhance the technological innovations of the future.</p>
<p>Educators are key to not only teaching girls about coding or how to code but also instilling them with confidence of feeling that they belong and can succeed in the field. Educators need to be aware of their own <a href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/">implicit biases</a> that can lead to differences in how they recognize what girls can do in coding, particularly <a href="https://www.blackgirlscode.com/about-bgc.html">girls of color</a>, who are even more isolated due to the <a href="https://latinagirlscode.org/">multiple ways</a> they can be made to <a href="https://yrankindetourlab.com/black-women-in-the-computing-ecosystem/">feel like they don’t belong</a>.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>What isn’t really clear is the kind of long-term impact that educators have on girls and their decision to pursue a career in coding and STEM. Researchers need to take a closer look at how girls interpret the recognition and praise they get from their teachers for the things they do in coding.</p>
<h2>What other research is being done</h2>
<p><a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/3381631.3381643">Researchers at Florida State University and Auburn University</a> have been studying how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-017-9292-y">computer science education</a> can be transformed to create more equitable learning environments for Black women and girls.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146656/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roxanne Hughes receives funding from the National Science Foundation Division of Materials Research, Grant/
Award Number: 1644779. </span></em></p>A strong identity as a scientist is crucial for girls to succeed in STEM fields such as computer science. Are educators recognizing and rewarding the right behaviors?Roxanne Hughes, Research Faculty, Florida State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1437732020-08-05T13:03:17Z2020-08-05T13:03:17ZDaily exercise rules got people moving during lockdown – here’s what the government needs to do next<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350878/original/file-20200803-20-1nw8tj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C31%2C2574%2C1695&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/indianmexican-woman-doing-push-ups-park-1157017207">TheCreativeBrigade/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s no doubt that the pandemic has been difficult for people in different ways. But for a lot of people what has kept them going has been their daily exercise.</p>
<p>Whether it’s a bike ride, a run around the park or a daily walk, many have seen lockdown as an opportunity to get active. And the explosion of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/uk-adults-online-lockdown-screen-time-zoom-tiktok-ofcom-a9582816.html">TikTok, Zoom, Houseparty</a> and other online platforms has also meant many of us have had easy access to a wide variety of exercise classes.</p>
<p>In a sense this is something that has also been encouraged by the government. Indeed, at the start of lockdown restrictions in the UK, Boris Johnson’s Conservative government constantly emphasised the importance of <a href="https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/wellbeing/exercise-coronavirus-outside-uk-rules-coronavirus-lockdown-explained-416681">“daily exercise”</a> – described as “one journey outside for up to one hour”.</p>
<p>Given that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/11/boys-do-more-exercise-than-girls-research-finds">research</a> has shown that men and boys are more likely, across all age groups, to participate in physical activity, our <a href="http://tiny.cc/GirlsLockdownActivity">recent online survey</a> aimed to discover how girls and young women, aged between ten and 20 years of age, have been keeping active during this time. We discovered that 40% of the 509 girls surveyed had increased their levels of physical activity during lockdown. </p>
<p>This is why we are now <a href="http://tiny.cc/MHOpenLetter">calling on the government</a> to reinstate coherent messaging about the importance of daily exercise, rather than simply suggesting people should <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-reasons-the-uk-governments-obesity-strategy-may-not-work-for-everyone-143695">lose weight</a>. </p>
<h2>‘It keeps me sane’</h2>
<p>Many girls in our survey said they have taken up new activities – such as walking, running, cycling and online social media workouts – since the start of lockdown. And we found that the 40% of girls who had increased their physical activity tended to be the least active before the COVID-19 restrictions were imposed. </p>
<p>Engaging with physical activity during lockdown was commonly associated with positive mental health benefits, as the girls in the survey highlighted. One 16 year-old told us how:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The results of my daily exercise are becoming apparent now, which is positive for me… I feel better about my body.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile an 18 year-old said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Being active gives me a chance to clear my head and relieves some of my anxiety.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The girls shared the sentiment that exercise was helping them through this difficult time, as one 15 year-old explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My daily exercise is an opportunity to leave my house for an hour … forget the harsh reality of the world. It definitely makes me happy and is keeping me sane. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Female cyclist cycling on sunrise forest trail" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350881/original/file-20200803-16-1vw2lq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350881/original/file-20200803-16-1vw2lq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350881/original/file-20200803-16-1vw2lq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350881/original/file-20200803-16-1vw2lq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350881/original/file-20200803-16-1vw2lq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350881/original/file-20200803-16-1vw2lq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350881/original/file-20200803-16-1vw2lq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lockdown has inspired many people to mix up their exercise routine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-cyclist-cycling-on-sunrise-forest-664996483">lzf/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These girls have experienced, some for the first time, the benefits of being active. And this experience has the potential to be transformative in terms of how these girls relate to their bodies’. </p>
<p>Less active girls will have previously received health messages from school, parents and social media about the importance of staying active, but it’s only now they have lived a more active life, that the benefits of exercise is understood.</p>
<h2>‘Endorsed activity’</h2>
<p>As the experiences of the girls in our study show, lockdown has offered positive benefits for many in terms of being outdoors, active, and healthy. Indeed, a recent survey by the charity <a href="https://www.womeninsport.org/research-and-advice/our-publications/lockdown/">Women in Sport</a>, has also shown that government messaging was a key factor for adult women becoming more active during lockdown.</p>
<p>This is why we’ve written an <a href="http://tiny.cc/MHOpenLetter">open letter</a> to Matt Hancock, the secretary of state for health and social care, calling on the government to reintroduce coherent messaging about the importance of daily exercise. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Girl exercising at home." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350880/original/file-20200803-14-1218jyo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350880/original/file-20200803-14-1218jyo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350880/original/file-20200803-14-1218jyo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350880/original/file-20200803-14-1218jyo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350880/original/file-20200803-14-1218jyo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350880/original/file-20200803-14-1218jyo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350880/original/file-20200803-14-1218jyo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exercise has become a daily part of many people’s lockdown routine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fit-sporty-woman-wearing-sportswear-doing-1779557801">insta_photos/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is important, because for the girls that took part in our survey, the government’s messaging about daily exercise was explicitly listed as a motivational reason for their increased physical activity, as this 18 year-old explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The government’s rules encourage me to complete an hour of exercise each day. I love being active as it makes lockdown a bit easier. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was echoed by many of the girls in our survey, including this 16 year-old:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The fact that the government said we could exercise once a day actually encouraged me to exercise… [the government] made me feel that I should exercise because they restricted so much activity but left [exercise] available which made me realise how important it was.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Lasting impact</h2>
<p>The health benefits of being active are, of course, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1402378/">well known</a>. It can lead to weight loss, lower blood pressure, improved metabolism and better heart health. Physical activity can also reduce anxiety and depression, increase endorphin release – the happy hormones – and reduce overall stress.</p>
<p>Yet, in the UK, the most recent Sport England Active Lives Survey shows that, despite increasing numbers of <a href="https://www.sportengland.org/activelivesapr20">people being active</a>, only 63% of adults do 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week. For <a href="https://www.sportengland.org/news/active-lives-children-and-young-people-survey-academic-year-201819-report-published">children</a>, only 47% are meeting the recommended level of physical activity and 29% are failing to achieve 30 minutes of physical activity a day. </p>
<p>Despite successful initiatives such as <a href="https://sportengland-production-files.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2020-01/Campaign-Summary.pdf?Yu_jmNiqPxjL8IlJC0EqvKXjJ_GOFpfx">This Girl Can</a>, it seems women are more difficult to convince of the importance of being active than men.</p>
<p>But as the result of our survey show, lockdown has, for many girls and women, been an opportunity to take up daily exercise. And this is something that must be encouraged long after lockdown restrictions are lifted.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143773/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Metcalfe receives funding from the Economic and Social Resarch Council. </span></em></p>Lockdown has, for many, been an opportunity to take up daily exercise. And this is something that must be encouraged long after lockdown restrictions are lifted.Sarah Harding, Assistant Professor in the School of Education, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.