The primary mission of, Girls on the Run-Upper Peninsula, a nonprofit organization is to “inspire girls to recognize their inner strength and celebrate what makes them one of a kind” (Girls on the Run, 2018). Located in Chippewa County, the program embraces the empowerment approach (researched based curricula) through building young girls confidence, character, collaboration, and contribution skills. Volunteers from all over, help girls to develop these skills through employing dynamic discussions, activities, and running games that serve to improve girl’s self-images and confidence through health and fitness. Although the program was started as Girls on the Run-International the program has grown to include independent divisions with a network …show more content…
Gender bias represses girl’s potentials, it is for that reason the program mission is to eradicate these learned limitations through building confidence and character to meet the challenges that all women face. According to the conflict theory, conflict is a necessary element in society, societal groups and institutions struggle against one another for power and resources (HBSE Lecture M09). Social Change is the concept that conflicts within a society help to bring about necessary societal change. Taking this stance, women have united to eliminate the existing disparities they face in power relations. As stated previously, the program mission is to eradicate these learned limitations through “inspiring young girls to build lives of purpose and to make a meaningful contribution to community and society” (Girls on the Run, 2018). This mission statement aligns with the empowerment theory which clearly teaches “the attributes achieved by good-enough person-in-environment transactions;” motivation, problem solving skills, maintaining psychic comfort, maintaining self-esteem, and self-direction (Turner, 2011, p. …show more content…
374). Based on this concept, girl’s life course trajectories will be impacted by limited access and opportunity, health disparities, and disparities in socioeconomic opportunities (Hutchison, 2015). Evidence of how the program seeks to promote resilience among girls was found through several related research articles. The programs web-site offers results one study, Girls on the Run: A longitudinal Study of Program Impact, which was implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of youth development outcomes in: competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, health and most importantly if these life skills were learned and transferred to other social situations (Weiss, n.d.). Despite reported research discrepancies, a positive correlation is shown in regard to the program’s effectiveness. However, this research article excluded dates of when the research was conducted. Analogous to, Girls on the Run: A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of a Developmentally Focused Youth Sport Program (2011) is a peer reviewed research article found on Google Scholar meeting the criteria that shows empirical evidence of the program’s effectiveness. Research has found that development-focused youth sport programs, such as Girls on the Run has the potential to enhance positive youth
In the 1960s, Girls Inc. focused on homemaking skills, with the hopes of turning the girls into exceptional young ladies. Then in the 1970’s, a new executive director came on board and took a critical look at the organization’s mission of educating girls into...
Oklahoma Girls State was the experience of a lifetime. I made lifelong friends, I abandoned my comfort zone, I learned so much about our great nation, and I was pleasantly surprised by what the program did for me personally. However, the one thing I noticed was that some girls didn’t have as enjoyable of an experience as I did due to the fact that they are exceptional leaders in a way that wasn’t appreciated at Girls State as much as it could have been. I believe that finding a way to help the girls who weren’t as bold have a better experience could enhance the program by a landslide.
Athletes in times of difficulty can be important role models.” This shows that sports are in fact helpful because they can grow children into being important role models for the rest of society. Studies have shown time and time again that playing sports can be beneficial to children and we also believe this to be true. Many people still think that sports cause “too many injuries”, or coaches “are not fair enough”, but adolescents will experience these things all throughout their lives because injury can happen anywhere and they will not always be the best at what they are doing. Sports are beneficial to the youth because they can teach children and teens important life skills, help them maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle, all while improving their mental health.
Sexism is still a prevailing problem in the world today. Unfortunately, this contributes to other forms of discrimination. In the article, Black Girls Matter, the author, Kimberlé Crenshaw, brings this to light. Young girls of color are often ignored by national initiatives in regards to both racism and sexism combined. The author supports her criticism with the use of personal stories of young girls of color, namely, Salecia, Pleajhai, Mikia, and Tanisha along with numerical data as examples.
The foundation of the initiative is creating opportunities for women of color to advance their education and here in the United States young women of color face some of the same challenges as their male counterparts but they also face many which are different. In regards to education, colored females face higher levels of discipline than both their male and white counterparts. Although Michelle Obama has declared that “Black girls rock (Crenshaw 27)” and President Obama has founded an initiative for colored boys, the lack of political involvement in addressing the challenges faced by women has appeared to put the interests of colored boys above those of their female
Over the last twenty years the Guerrilla Girls have established a strong following due to the fact that they challenged and consistently exhibited a strong supportive subject matter that defies societal expectations. In an interview “We reclaimed the word girl because it was so often used to belittle grown women. We also wanted to make older feminists sit up and n...
For hundreds of years, women have been discriminated against, but in the past decade, women have made an extensive amount of progress. Ever since the first feminist revolution, women have strived to achieve true equality. Gender equality sounds like a simple task, yet the world still has not reached this point. Although the progress has been slow, women have made major advancements, proving that they can achieve true equality.
Over time, a women’s identity has been seen as powerless and incompetent to achieve anything. This image of women is being created at a young age at young age. For instance, little
The narrow view of the world that we often experience prevents us from even engaging for or against ideals that we would take on, given the chance. We often become deaf to opportunity, however. While it may seem we are complicit in many of the injustices that our society perpetuates, often times we are not even aware of the issue. An uninformed decision will be as bad as no decision. Many problems exude from the state of our social values. The role that women play in society is slowly changing from that of a ‘nurturer’ to any role a woman strives for. Progress has come through much pain and the hope is one day there will be real equality in the results of our societies spoken and unspoken laws.
Although teenage girls can be impacted nagatively, it also makes them aware of the issues that face women in our world today and empowers them to make a change.
What comes to mind when you think about ethics and ethical situations? Ethics are moral principles that govern a person or groups behaviors. Ethics could be described as someone’s beliefs on what is right from wrong. If one feels guilty about the result of an action then that would likely determine that the action or behavior is wrong or unethical. I believe that the welfare program is intended to be ethical, but there are people receiving benefits that are not portraying ethical actions. There are a few problems with how the welfare program is managed today. I believe the welfare program enables people receiving benefits, the guidelines should be stricter, and the program could possibly be eliminated.
Sports can help many at- risk youths. In order to participate in sports you need to be committed and willing to work hard. You also have to learn to respect others and accept that winning isn’t the only measure of success. Losing can build character as well. When youth participate in a sports they enjoy, they are less likely to engage in behaviors that are harmful or dangerous to themselves and others. It is for these reasons schools should strive to maintain athletic programs for their students.
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...
"Girl Scouts: Year of the Girl - The Day to Get Involved." Girl Scouts of the United
The very existence of the class demonstrates that systemic bias can be countered on multiple fronts, but most importantly by providing a global perspective to a topic that is not well covered from a Global South youth perspective. Almost every single participant in the class is female which also enables the dismantling of gendered systemic bias. I am one of the many females in the class and I hope to contribute the best possible scholarly materials in order to disrupt systemic bias (Wikipedia: WikiProject Countering systemic bias).