It’s a New Dawn: Playing Rock Music and Learning about Ableism
“Greta was no stranger to danger. They could not believe [...]
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Friendship and Leadership Keeps the Strong Girls of Inlailawatash Playing #LikeAGirl
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From the Slopes to the Spotlight: How Olympic Gold Medalist Dara Howell Uses Failure As Fuel
At 17, she was the youngest female competitor in the [...]
Canadian Women’s Foundation launches #GirlPowered, by girls for girls
Canadian Women’s Foundation launches #GirlPowered, by girls for girls Integrated [...]
Meet Tina Tchen: A Champion for Gender Equality from the Obama Administration
“Every social change movement goes through ups and downs … we may be in one of those step-back moments, but we’re not going all the way back.”
Although she’s concerned, Tina Tchen’s unique vantage point helps her put things in perspective: Tina served as Assistant to President Obama, Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, and Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls. She also led the first-ever United State of Women Summit.
You can join us for a rare opportunity to hear Tina’s outlook on leadership, public policy, and empowering women and girls, at the Canadian Women’s Foundation Breakfast events in Toronto and Calgary this October.
Keep reading to find out how she’s continuing to rally for equality, and why she sees a silver lining in the storm clouds.
Lending a Hand and Making a Difference
Research shows that girls as young as 6 have gendered ideas about intelligence, and who is best suited to careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
TechGyrls is a program that gives girls ages 9 to 13 the opportunity to explore, create, design, and share in all things STEM. Funded by the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s Girls’ Fund, this YWCA Cambridge program is empowering girls to engage in STEM when society tells them they can’t.
The program doesn’t have a curriculum. Instead it’s led by the girls’ interests and ideas, making each program as unique as the girls who participate. Naturally, when the program received funding to purchase a 3D printer, the TechGyrls were excited to learn how to use it.
After spending some time learning about how the printer worked and designing their own products to print, one TechGyrls group at a Cambridge Public School decided they could to do more. They looked to eNABLING the future, an online community that openly shares the files and instructions needed to print and produce prosthetic hands.
6 Ways to Raise Confident Girls: Tips from Canadian Women’s Foundation Parents
This is the fourth post in our Confidence Stories series in partnership with Always®. Confidence Stories features stories, tips and ideas for supporting girls and building confidence.
At the Canadian Women’s Foundation, we want every girl to believe in herself and realize she matters. Every day we work to better understand the challenges that girls face and invest in the programs that help girls move into adolescence with confidence.
My work at the Canadian Women’s Foundation gives me a unique advantage as the parent of a 5-year-old girl: I have the ultimate guide to raising girls right at my fingertips! I know that the evidence-based approach to investing in girls’ programs WORKS. I’ve seen the impacts in the research, in the Foundation’s results, and in my daughter.
Tips to Keep Girls Playing #LikeAGirl
When I started playing football as a young girl, I had no idea how far the game would take me.
But what I knew was that I loved it and that I wanted to be a part of it. Yes, there were days that were hard and made me want to quit, but I’m grateful that I didn’t. Whether it has been as a player, an NFL coach, or even getting my doctorate in Sports Psychology, all of the strength and fortitude I needed to succeed came through playing sports.
Sports make girls feel better about themselves!
What’s Possible in a World That’s Girl-Powered?
It’s not news that girls are bombarded with thousands of negative messages every day, everywhere they look.
Sometimes it seems like we’re trying to mop up a flood with a cotton swab, but more and more, people are speaking out about disempowering messages and limiting stereotypes aimed at girls. As consumers we’re questioning why girls are marketed to differently than boys, challenging magazines that portray girls’ as no more than the “sum of their fashion, makeup and hair”, and calling out the media industry on its dismal representation of girls.
Some Clothes Cost More Than You Think
“Girls just want to wear diamonds.”
“Allergic to Algebra.”
“I’m too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me.”
“Future trophy wife.”
It’s hard to believe, but stores in Canada market girls’ T-shirts bearing disempowering messages like these. Stereotypes sell, even though they’re the last thing girls need.
