There are challenges for women young and old in my community, but I can narrow down these problems to one thing: stereotypes. Even as babies, there’s a clear difference in what is told to girls and boys. Boys are praised with messages about their strength, agility, and smartness while girls are complimented on their looks. This leads us to think that we aren’t supposed to do messy activities or that we have to be perfect, which leads women to not been encouraged to be daring or try new things.

Another issue that I’ve faced is boys not taking girls seriously, especially in things considered “for boys”like technology. Last semester, I was in an engineering course and we were discussing each of our device designs for a major project. While I was presenting, one boy in my group kept interrupting me and would ignore me if I was saying something, but would listen attentively if another boy was speaking. This situation has almost certainly happened to other girls and not being respected is extremely infuriating and discouraging. For women to go to other careers, they should be encouraged and treated like equals instead of feeling inferior.

What girls everywhere need is encouragement. If young girls grow up believing that they should test the limits, and that they shouldn’t feel like they should lower themselves to inflate others egos, boys would learn to equally respect girls and women would grow up to expand their horizons. Every single person has been indoctrinated with gendered stereotypes by the media, toys, and more. By doing something as simple as encouraging girls to review non-stereotypical subjects, play with different toys, or even watch different shows, girls’ perspectives can be widened and a whole new world of possibility and confidence can be explored.