Minou: original Afterward
It doesn't matter where a girl is coming from, as long as she knows where she's going.
-Girls Incorporated Motto
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| Society still tells girls they have a choice as to whether or not they will work for
pay. Yet: |
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Women are nine times as likely as men to be single parents |
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90% of today’s girls will work for pay at some time in their lives |
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74% of women with children are working or looking for paid work |
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43% of mother-only families are living in poverty. |
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| The beliefs and attitudes of both girls and boys will need to change if they
are to be prepared for the new realities of paid work and family roles. With
the following suggestions you can act privately and publicly to reduce or
eliminate societal barriers to girls’ achievement. |
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Introduce girls to women and men in
the world of work in both traditional
and nontraditional jobs.
Use the language of skill and success
to compliment girls.
Encourage and praise risk-taking in
girls and care-taking in boys.
Avoid rescuing girls. Help them
become problem solvers.
Watch your language. Watch other
people’s. Don’t talk in sex
stereotypes. Use gender-neutral
labels.
Make high technology relevant and
accessible to girls.
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Read what the children are reading.
Point out sexist messages/advertising. Write protest letters
together.
Watch TV with children: help them
analyze what they are seeing.
Try some role reversals at home. Let
Dad do the dishes; son bathe the
baby; daughter mow the lawn or
take out the garbage.
Encourage math competency and
mastery in girls. Point out future
career benefits.
Sustain high aspirations in early
adolescence.
Encourage self-sufficiency by
continuously questioning and
prodding children to expand their
options. |
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| You might ask these questions: |
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Why couldn’t Minou take care of herself in the beginning of the story? |
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When Minou lived with Madame Violette, what was her job? |
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Do you think Minou ever thought she would have to take care of herself? |
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How might Minou have been better prepared to take care of herself when
she was on her own in Paris? |
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Will someone take care of you when you are grown up? |
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What is the best way to prepare for a good job so you can take care of
yourself? |
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What jobs do you think you might like to do when you grow up? |
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Girls Incorporated, An Action Agenda for Equalizing Girls’ Options and Facts and
Reflections on Careers for Today’s Girls (New York, 1985)
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