My feminist Mother once gave me a stern talking to when I used the word “chick” to describe a girl. Though raising confident girls is a new focus in my life, it’s no secret to anyone that knows me that women’s issues (equality, empowerment) have long been a thing for me. I’m embarrassed to admit that in college I dropped out of Computer Programming because I was the only woman in the class. In the end, I pursued one of the more woman-friendly technical programs in University, Digital Communications. In early 2009 I attended my first Montreal Girl Geeks event, a few months later I was running them. For the last 6 years I’ve watched a local community which helps women break into tech grow from dozens to thousands. Clearly, there’s a disconnection somewhere.
In July 2014 came my daughter Lia. I began to worry (shock) that despite my best intentions, she too might find herself maneuvering many of the same disconnections. Flash forward a return to work as a marketing exec (at a tech company where I was the only mother) and here I am expecting girl no. 2 in May… Still nagging at the back of my mind: What can I do to help raise confident daughters to the point where they will never need a special community for women? And I had a hunch that I wasn’t alone.
I had some ideas, but I needed some of that oh-so-sweet validation.
I ran a survey to figure out how common it was that those raising girls think about these things. What problems they face (if any), what would make it all easier (where my idea comes in, but I’ll get to that later), and how they’d know they were successful.

Facebook Ad
I shared the survey with a small personal email list of 14 people who have young girls in their lives, on a few Facebook groups (2 focused on parenting, 1 on women in tech) and ran a small Facebook ad campaign for $50 asking people to complete the survey. This all yielded 142 responses. Not enough to be super scientific, but enough to know if I was off my rocker.
Of the respondents, 70% (100) were mothers, 12% (17) Aunts and 9% (13) Fathers. The other 9% spread across family friends, teachers and grandparents. Most, 64.5% (91) of respondents, focus their attention on just 1 or 2 girls, but if we look at the amount of girls all respondents influence, more than 357 girls are represented in this survey.
Interestingly, 62% of respondents focus on girls who are 5 years old or less which tells me that most are newer parents.
The Importance of Raising Confident Girls
Incredibly, 40% of respondents said they think about ways to empower the girls in their lives every day… yep, every day. Not surprisingly, mothers think about the empowerment of their daughters more often than aunts, fathers etc, who sway more heavily to a few times a week or month.
When asked to rank how important girls’ empowerment was to them on a scale of 1 to 5, 56% said 5 out of 5 and 39% said 4 out of 5. Huge.
What happens when we compare how often it affects their buying experiences on a scale of 1 (never) to 5 (every time)?
Again, stated overall importance doesn’t translate perfectly to day-to-day habits (as we’d expect), but the empowerment of girls is on the brain a ton…
Brands and Retailers, What The What?
When buying things for the girls in their life, 64% of respondents think about how gender neutral or positive it is every time or nearly every time they go to make a purchase. How are retailers and brands answering that call? …Hello?
Sadly, 64% of respondents are struggling to find gender neutral or positive items when they go to make a purchase.
Ugh, whyyyyy is this still a problem in 2016?
39% of those who struggle when shopping mostly blame local retailers, worse still, 23% remain convinced that there are no good options.
Notably (and maybe a little scary), of the 36% who said they don’t struggle when shopping, 31% of them said it was because gender neutrality or positivity isn’t something they think about often when pulling out their wallets. (Might be worth cross referencing those with their importance ratings above, hmm.)
Comparing the 2 groups (those who struggle vs. those who don’t) is pretty interesting. (Click the image to enlarge)
Local retailers seem to be holding the (ahem, empty) bag on this one. People who do struggle say the problem is local availability, and only 16% of those who don’t struggle say they can find stuff locally. Ouch.
It’s sad also to see that 23% of those who struggle believe that nothing good exists and that 14% can’t even find good options online. Fail.
What Are The Standout Brands & Retailers?
Unsurprisingly, those who struggle to find good options were much more vocal when asked for standout brands and retailers than those who don’t struggle, 110 to 36 in fact. Here are all of them tallied to the top 5:
Top 5 Good Brands or Retailers
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Top 5 Bad Brands or Retailers
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It’s worth mentioning that “All of them are bad” was mentioned almost as many times as Toys “R” Us and Disney. And isn’t it curious that LEGO appears in both lists? Maybe it’s something to do with the brand’s mixed messages over the years…?

A magazine ad from 1984 versus a more recent promo of the LEGO beauty salon and accompanying “beauty tips”
Before moving on I want to share a comment that someone left when asked for standout brands or retailers:
I genuinely loathe the movement to remove gender from society. It has NOTHING to do with female empowerment. At all.
I agree that removing gender from society having nothing to do with women’s empowerment. The problem, as I see it anyway, lies in where gender stereotypes become a limiting factor for experiences or opportunities. In the case of LEGO, recent. complaints. are. many. (maybe due to the stark contrast of being so against stereotyping in the 70’s and 80’s). But I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.
Empowering The Empowerer
Respondents highlighted a few areas which would help them to inspire and promote confidence in the girls in their lives. When asked what kind of content they’d want to receive, the top 3 responses were:
- Tips and resources for parents/caretakers
- Inspiring stories of empowerment (role models)
- Book/movie/TV recommendations for girls.
Here’s how all content types stacked up:
59% of respondents said they’d subscribe to receive ongoing content about girls’ empowerment, 32% said maybe, and only 9% said no. It’s looking like the empowerers could use some support themselves.
What An Empowered, Confident Girl Looks Like
My favourite section by far of the survey: looking into the future, how would you know you’d been successful in raising a confident and empowered girl?
68% of respondents say that how their daughter expects to be treated by others would be their sign that they’d successfully empowered her. 56% said that how she treats others would be indication, and 54% said a positive body image would mean they’d done their job. #LOVE
Here’s how all the options stacked up (respondents were limited to 3 only):
Notably, what a girl wears and her obsession with pink or princesses isn’t being used as indication if she’s feeling confident or empowered. Testament to the fact that removing gender isn’t a priority for respondents.
Would This Make it Easier For You?
The results of this survey have finally tipped me over the edge of wanting to do something more; those of us trying to raise confident girls can use all the help we can get, even if help is as simple as delivering practical advice, when you need it. There are so so many great resources and inspiring examples of empowerment that I want more people to know about. So, I’m in the process of building a newsletter for mothers (and others) raising confident little girls to make it a little easier.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in you can subscribe here. I’d also love to hear your feedback in the comments below.
Thanks for reading!
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12 Comments on "Raising Confident Girls"
Look forward to seeing how this project will evolve. Thank you for this!
My pleasure Liz, thanks for reading :)
I really like what you’ve done here and I’ll keep following. I think about this continuously and I’m not surprised others do as well. I might have added “what she expects of herself” as an indication that I’d done my job right. Thanks Georgiana!
Ooh good one, Amanda… That’d likely top my list as well. Thanks for taking the time!
I wonder what we can do to make it much easier for “girl influencers” (i.e., everyone) to break the buying habits, convo habits, etc that push girls to choose princesses, choose pink, shy away from sports, shy away from science, etc. I can’t help thinking a nice big list of convo hacks could help.
For example, I once heard that, instead of saying to a little girl when you see her, “Oh, you look so pretty!”, you should say, “Those are neat shoes” because all kids like to talk about their shoes. :) (Kids and adults – who am I kidding.) Instead of telling her you love her hair, you should ask her what book she’s reading right now.
A “not this but this” list might give us the tools we need to hold better conversations with the girls in our lives. …Possible future post or newsletter subject? :)
Oh Joanna you read my mind :) I’ve read great articles on just this topic, so fascinating and yet frustratingly hard habits to break (I try my damnedest with my 4, 7 and 13 yr old nieces, let me tell you…)
Love the idea of making it even more digestable though. Cheatsheet-esque… I love it.
oh and ps. Honoured to have YOU read ME! (sqweee)
Great intiative- amightygirl.com is a great resource I look at almost everyday and could give you some inspiration.
Thanks Jennifer! I’m a big fan of A Mighty Girl, their Facebook posts are a constant source of inspiration for me. Thanks for reading! :)
Very interesting stuff. I’m not sure I relate playing with “girl” toys and wearing pink means I will feel less empowered as a woman later on. If my girls want to dress as fairy princesses or play with gi joes they can. I don’t believe empowerment comes from what we play with or what colors we dress in. I consider myself an empowered women because I make my own choices and see myself without regret, shame and judgement. I want to teach my girls the same and how will be through example.
Couldn’t agree more Nicole, as long as they have the option to play with *all* as totally and entirely acceptable. From the looks of the survey, I think most of us feel the same way. Pink is not anti empowerment. I think the problems come when anything “boyish” starts to feel like it’s not for them… I can see that playing out later in her life.
Thanks for the comment!!
Well done! An interesting read, beautifully presented and easy to follow.
That’s so nice of you to say Jennifer, thanks so much for reading!!