The Girls Project is a multifaceted, empowerment program for public elementary, middle, and high school girls. Our innovative, girl-centered program includes leadership development, creative and cultural expression, physical activity, and direct social action.
The Girls Project was started in 1997 with fifteen girls in one Lower East Side elementary school in response to what the principal of the school called the “rampant harassment” of girls on the playground. Since then, The Girls Project has been implemented in five elementary schools, two middle schools, and six international high schools, reaching over 250 girls per year.
There has been much documentation of the "crash" in self-esteem, physical activity, and academic achievement girls too often experience in adolescence. In order to help prevent or remedy this crash, The Girls Project addresses myriad interrelated issues confronting girls, such as:
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Sexist stereotypes pervade girls’ everyday lives, impacting their belief systems about themselves, their bodies, and options in life.
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Violence against girls is a serious and rampant problem that girls fear and/or suffer through at home, in school, and in their communities.
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Physical activity begins to taper off during preadolescence for girls. In fact, very few girls over the age of 9 are engaged in sports or other challenging physical activity on a regular basis.
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Negative media messages barrage girls with overpowering and often provocative messages about their bodies and sexuality.
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Sexual health risks such as sexually transmitted diseases continue to be on the rise in spite of the recent reduction in teen pregnancies.
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Negative body image and resulting eating disorders continue to have disastrous effects on girls of all ages from as early as nine years old on.
All of these conditions contribute to a decline in girls’ educational performance, health, and self-esteem, and invariably lead to lower life expectations for far too many girls.
The Girls Project is the starting point on a social change continuum that includes preventing violence against women, promoting economic self-sufficiency, and eliminating all other oppressive limits placed on the lives of girls and women. As we have witnessed over the years, when girls develop a healthy self-image and the skills to protect themselves as pre-adolescents and adolescents, they are less likely to be abused or discriminated against as teens and adult women. Girls Project participants learn about healthy choices and how to take control of their own lives, and in doing so become confident, informed, and powerful young women.
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