"When I was growing up... there weren’t any female role models", Jane Goodall gets her own Barbie doll.*
I remember Barbie as a kid but I wasn't much of a doll person. I actually couldn't be bothered with them. Lol.
I was more of a climbing trees, falling and scraping my knees while running through open fields, swinging on tyre swings over rivers kinda girl.
Not sure much of that has changed, other than a bit of make up and heels.
Adventure still courses through my veins and I've never been overly conventional, even though, admittedly, I've given it a jolly good go!
To fit in, belong, be a good girl, be liked, to be accepted, loveable, and loved.
Still a recovering people pleaser, I think that one of the most important gifts we can pass on to younger generations is provide the environment and freedom for them to be.
To understand the plethora of Codes of Conduct we're given over our lives, (of which there are many), but to know that being unconventional, different and being authentically true to oneself is not only available to us, but celebrated!
The biggest problem we still face, I think, is passing down toxic, limiting, racist, sexist, outdated belief systems to younger generations.
This is how it's always been and how it should be.
Girls should be a, b, c. Boys should be x, y, z. There is little to no space for anyone who doesn't identify as either.
In many cases, I believe that this is one of the biggest causes lack of self-love, low self-esteem, body perception disorders, suicidal tendencies, self-harm and so much more.
The rejection of our authentic expression in the world.
That is what causes us to
'Turn DOWN the YOU'
in our lives. Turn down the parts of us that don't quite fit in, belong or that others consider to be unacceptable - even 'disgusting'.
Oh yea, I've been called that for being gay. And I'm sure many others have been called worse things.
Creating shifts in perspective about how girls feel about ourselves, about what we think is possible for us and how we see our potential from a young age is crucial to how we show up as adults.
Seems like common sense, right? But alas, it is sadly not, for much of the world.
I love the idea of someone like Jane Goodall as a role model doll for girls!
We can only empower a new generation of women (and men) by consciously choosing to open up and make it OK to explore the plethora of possibilities in all we're capable of!!
A spin on Cindy Lauper's "Girls just wanna have fun, P!nk the singer, flips it around in her new song Irrelevant with,
"Girls Just Wanna have Rights".
To Turn Up the YOU in all we do with rights, opportunities, and the freedom to be, do and have anything we want.
Perhaps instead of throwing our toys out the cot, it's time to create some new ones.
* Source: LinkedIn the Female Lead.