Data show that girls start to lose their confidence as early as kindergarten. If that trend continues, we could see yet another generation of women who lag men in the workplace.
What can we do right now to start closing that leadership gap? Girls Leadership, an Oakland, Calif-based nonprofit that teaches girls life and leadership skills for healthy relationships, emotional intelligence and assertive self-expression, is working on the answer.
Simone Marean, Girls Leadership’s executive director and co-founder:
When girls internalize that expectation to be sexy, we see the cost, even in early elementary school. We see a drop in their confidence. We see a real narrowing of their interests very early on, and when it gets to adolescence, we see girls suffering from depression, stress, and anxiety at around twice the rate of boys. This loss of voice, this wellness gap stays with girls throughout their college and early career experience. Even in 2015, we’re not seeing women participate at the same level of leadership as men, and that all starts in kindergarten.
(from Fortune Magazine)
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