girls with attitude! · 42% of girls and young women aged 11 to 21 say they have experienced...

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Girls with attitude!

Girlguiding’s Girls’ Attitudes Survey is the UK’s largest annual study into girls’ views and experiences as they grow up today. Each year, Girlguiding’s Advocates help design the survey, guiding us on the topics to include and the kind of questions most relevant to girls. The Advocates are members of Girlguiding’s national youth panel – 18 young members aged between 14 and 25 from each Country and Region. We then commission an expert research agency to conduct the survey.

This year we canvassed the views of 1,574 girls and young women aged 7 to 21. The survey builds on themes from previous years and explores emerging issues that girls and young women have said are important to them. The findings show that too many girls and young women are struggling with their mental health and well-being. They give a stark insight into the pressures girls and young women face – gender stereotypes and sexism, anxiety about employment, fear of physical and emotional harm, and online threats such as cyberbullying and pornography.

Girls feel that the adults in their lives are out of touch with their concerns and do not provide the information or support they need to remain resilient in the face of increasing pressures. And girls have made clear again that their voices are not being heard.

In spite of all this, there are positives. Girls are still taking action in their local communities and beyond to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. Take a look at the full report to read some of their ideas for change at www.girlsattitudes.org.uk.

How to use this resourceGirlguiding offers girls a safe space in which they can share their experiences and build resilience to the challenges they may face. That’s why we’ve created this resource. It links some of the findings from the Girls’ Attitudes Survey with suggested activities collected from Girlguiding’s current programme resources.

The resource is split into three sections that reflect key themes of the survey findings: well-being and relationships; gender stereotypes and aspirations; and social action and using your voice. Discuss the findings with your unit and ask them to choose from the activities. You’ll learn more about what the girls in your unit think and be able to support them to express their own views.

Activities for all sections to explore the 2015 Girls’ Attitudes Survey and what it means to your unit. Explore ideas about relationships, aspirations, stereotypes, equality and using your voice.



Well-being and relationships

Activities

Rainbows●● What●is●a●friend?●What●is●a●bully?●(Roundabout All About Me)

This activity will help Rainbows understand the difference between a friend and a bully, and the reasons why someone might be a bully.

It will take: 20–30 minutes

You will need: Two large sheets of paper, scissors, pens

What to do1. Split the Rainbows into small groups or work as a unit. This activity will work

best with a Leader or Unit Helper facilitating each group.2. Ask two Rainbows to lie down on a large sheet of paper each and draw round

them.3. In the middle of one of the shapes, write ‘Friend’ and in the middle of the other write ‘Bully’.4. Ask the Rainbows what qualities they think make a good friend and write their suggestions inside the

‘Friend’ drawing. Possible suggestions could be: someone who has the same interests as you, someone who cares, someone who is an equal – doesn’t try to boss or cling to you, someone who lets you be you.

5. Ask the girls what characteristics they think a bully has and write their suggestions inside the ‘Bully’ drawing. Possible suggestions could be: someone who says mean things to you, someone who threatens you, someone who scares you.

6. Now discuss with the girls what could make a friendship end (for example staying angry, not letting each other play with others). Ask them what they do when a friendship ends. Possible suggestions could be: realising it may be time for a new friend, looking for a new friend, enjoying spending time with other people, enjoying time on your own doing what you want. Possible negative suggestions could be: fighting, teasing, running away, worrying. Write these ideas on the outside of the ‘Friend’.

7. Discuss with the girls why they think someone bullies. Write these reasons on the outside of the ‘Bully’ drawing. Possible suggestions could be: bullies are not happy people (they may be scared or angry or have problems at home) so they may want to take out their negative feelings on others, they make others feel small by acting big and threatening, they were bullied themselves.

8. Explain to the girls that people can be bullied for many different reasons, for example children who are clever and those who find learning more challenging, thin children, larger children, shy children and outgoing children, children with glasses, red hair or an accent. Bullies don’t really need a reason – they want to bully, so they find anything they think will make a child upset. They may choose children who are ‘different’. But we are all different, just as we all share some characteristics. And there’s nothing wrong with being different.

Survey findings●● 42% of girls and young women aged 11 to 21 say they have experienced bullying on social media.

A third of 7- to 10-year-olds have also experienced cyberbullying – on social media (13%), by mobile phone (12%) or on a website (8%).

●● 85% of girls and young women aged 11 to 21 who suffered bullying say it made them feel isolated and lonely. Around two in three say the bullying stopped them from speaking out about their views (69%).

●● 62% of girls and young women aged 11 to 21 say that a girl or young woman they know has experienced a mental health problem. Nearly three in five say that mental health is awkward to talk about (57%).

●● 45% of girls and young women aged 11 to 16 say they have learned about healthy relationships at school, but 84% said they would like to learn about this.



Brownies●● How●do●I●feel?●(Brownie Adventures)

It’s really important to think about how things make us feel – and to remember that something that makes us feel happy may not make another person feel the same.

It will take: 30 minutes

You will need: Pens and pencils, scissors, a pair of compasses or something round to draw around, card, split pin

What to do1. Draw and carefully cut out a circle from the card.2. Draw faces or write words to show different feelings around the outside

of your wheel – like the numbers on a clock. Here are some suggestions to help you: excited, scared, shy, calm, thankful, unhappy, disappointed, lonely, bouncy, proud, angry, bored, confident, jealous, embarrassed, giggly.

3. Make your pointer. It will be like the minute hand of a clock. Cut out an arrow shape from the card and fix the end to the middle of your circle with a split pin, so that it spins round.

4. With Brownie friends, think of situations that make you feel a certain way. Share them as a group and all point your feelings wheels to the right feeling. Are there any differences between you? For example, whizzing around on a rollercoaster might make you feel really happy but another Brownie very scared.

Guides●● Healthy●or●unhealthy●(Go For It! Breaking Barriers)

Claudine’s two close friends, Safi and Jacqueline, and her Aunt Hirwa always make time for her. Claudine knows she’s lucky to have them. Sometimes at school she hears rumours about other girls not treating each other nicely or about girls who are in relationships that make them feel sad. This got Claudine thinking about what makes a healthy relationship. The following activity gives you a chance to think about it too.


You will need: Two large sheets of paper, markers or pens, strips of card or paper, sticky tack

What to do1. Claudine is aware that some girls in her school are being bullied, which makes her want to know more

about how to recognise positive and negative relationships. Take two large sheets of paper and label one ‘healthy’ and the other ‘unhealthy’. Depending on your Patrol numbers, you could divide into smaller groups.

2. Chat about which characteristics make a relationship ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’. Healthy or positive relationships are safe, happy relationships in which you feel respected and free to be yourself. An unhealthy or negative relationship is one that makes you feel unhappy, scared, intimidated or controlled. Relationships can be friendships, between classmates, with family, boyfriends or girlfriends. Think about how you might want people to treat you.

3. Everyone in the Patrol should write down these characteristics on strips of paper or card and use sticky tack to attach them to the sheet of paper they relate to.

4. As you stick up a characteristic, chat in your Patrol about why you think this makes a relationship healthy or unhealthy. What do you think the impact of this characteristic would have on the people in the relationship?

Take●it●further ● If you would like to know more about

healthy relationships, speak to your Leader about inviting a Peer Educator to the unit. Leaders can find out more by emailing [email protected].



The Senior Section●● You’re●hired!●(Girls In Action: Change the Story)

For young women to consider qualities that are important in a partner and to think about healthy versus unhealthy relationships


You will need: ‘Job description’ questions (see below), pens, paper

What to do1. Using the job description questions below, ask girls (in small groups) to

come up with a job description for their ideal partner or friend. You can make this less personal (to account for the different experiences of the group) by asking them to come up with an ideal partner or friend for someone else.

2. Once they have filled in the job description, bring all the girls together as a bigger group and discuss what they came up with.

3. Here are some questions you can ask. • Which were the most important sections for them on the job description? • Do they think that any sections are influenced by media such as magazines and TV? • What should we all expect from a boy/girlfriend? What is it unrealistic to expect?

4. Ask girls to go back into their small groups. Using their job descriptions, ask the girls to write five ‘interview’ questions that could be used with a prospective boy/girlfriend. (What would you want to know about someone if you were thinking about having a relationship with them? How would you find this out?)

5. Return to the larger group and share the questions the girls have come up with. Groups could act out the interviews to each other, deciding whether to show a perfect interview or a bad one!

6. Think about these questions. • How realistic is it to interview a potential boy/girlfriend? • As we can’t really interview people like this, what other signs could you look for to indicate how someone might behave in a relationship? • How else can you learn about a potential boy/girlfriend?

7. If time allows, ask the girls to spend a few minutes thinking how they would answer their own questions.

Take●it●further ● Why not ask for a Peer Educator to visit

your unit and deliver a session on healthy relationships? Leaders can email [email protected] to find out more.

‘Job description’ for a boy/girlfriendAge:Description of looks:Personal qualities (including values, attitudes etc):How does this person make you feel when you are with them?How does this person act and talk with you when you are alone with him/her?How does this person act and talk to you in front of friends?How does this person resolve differences, problems or conflicts?What would you like your parent(s)/carer(s) and/or friends to think of this person?



Gender stereotypes and aspirations

Activities

Rainbows●● Which●job?●(Roundabout All About Me)

What are the Rainbows’ dream jobs? This fun activity will help them to explore the range of jobs that they could do in the future, and the skills that are required.

It will take: 20–30 minutesYou will need: Different job titles written on pieces of paper – include some jobs the girls might be more likely to associate with men (one set for each group), large sheet of paper, pens

What to do: 1. In small groups, each Rainbow mimes out the job that’s written on her piece of paper. She cannot

talk, so has to act out the different parts of the job for the others to guess.2. Once all the girls have had a go, ask the group to sort the jobs on their pieces of paper into jobs that

men traditionally do, women do or both.3. Ask each group to share their thoughts and ask them to explain why they think a woman couldn’t or

shouldn’t do a particular job.4. Ask the group to pick one of the jobs they think a man would do and, as a unit, brainstorm all the

things that the job involves and all the skills needed. For example, a chef needs to be good at cooking, have a good sense of what sells, be creative to make up new dishes, be able to follow recipes, be able to give orders to others, organise the kitchen etc.

5. When the group has a list, discuss if there are any parts of the job a woman couldn’t do.

6. Depending on time, the Leader could suggest another example – this could be a typically feminine job.

7. Leaders can explain that in our country women should be able to do whatever job they want, but that in other countries this is always not the case and women are not given the same opportunities as men. Discuss with the Rainbows what they think of this.

Survey findings●● Two thirds of girls aged 7 to 10 say that girls are better than boys at looking after children (64%)

and cooking (63%), while more than half say they are better at being caring (56%). Three in five girls say that boys are better at building things (57%), with only 6% of girls saying that girls are better at this.

●● For girls aged 7 to 10, top career choices are singer or dancer (34%), teacher (29%) and vet (26%), with artist or designer (24%) and beautician or hairdresser (23%) close behind. Bottom of the list are engineer or architect (3%), scientist (6%) and lawyer (6%).

●● 81% of girls and young women aged 11 to 21 report that in the past week they have seen or experienced some form of everyday sexism – for example stereotypes or sexism in the media, hearing sexist jokes etc.

●● 61% of girls aged 9 to 10 think that jokes about girls being stupid or weak lead to girls and women being treated differently. Among girls and young women aged 11 to 21, 74% feel that the small amount of coverage of women’s sport leads to girls and women being treated less fairly than men.

●● There’s good news too! The majority of 7- to 12-year-olds agree that boys and girls have equal chances in life (70%), and 64% agree that girls can do anything boys can do.

Take●it●further ● Invite some parents or people in the

community who have unusual or non-stereotypical jobs to come to the meeting to talk about what they do.



Brownies●● Change●the●media●(Free Being Me)

Challenge the media message that there’s only one way to look beautiful by creating your own media piece, sending a positive story to help others be body confident.


You will need: Drawing materials and role-play props, depending on activity choices

What to do1. Inform the Brownies that they have been given the chance to take over the media – like the TV

or a magazine – so that they can share one quick message with the world to inspire people to feel confident about who they are and what they look like. Let’s prove the media wrong, and show that there isn’t just one way to look beautiful!

2. The task is to create a mock media story that Brownies can share in three minutes. 3. First, what do the Brownies want to say? Before groups start developing their story, ask them to agree

the key message they want to give and write it down. For example (key message shown as part of a headline): • Breaking news – there isn’t only one way to be beautiful! Reports from around the world prove there are many different ways to look good.’ • ‘Free to be me – an interview with an Olympic athlete who tells us why what her body can do matters more than what it looks like.’ • ‘Looking good, MY way. A new magazine is launched to celebrate feeling good about who you really are, instead of comparing yourself to the media.’ • ‘New number one hit inspires girls to shout about how great they are, on the inside!’

4. Then the Brownies should consider how they want to say it. Groups can choose any type of media they want: news story, magazine front cover, music video, advertisement, radio jingle, interview or cartoon. Give groups about 20 minutes to prepare, and give enough time for everyone to perform or share their media piece in front of the group. Thank the groups for their hard work.

5. As a group, talk about the following. • Did you enjoy seeing everyone’s media moments? • Would it be good if messages like these were sent by the media in real life? • What was your favourite body confidence message?

Top●tip! ● This activity works best when groups have a

really clear understanding of what they want to say. Help each group develop their key message before they start creating their media piece. Encourage everyone to join in, and as many participants as possible get the chance to speak out during the activity.

Leaders’●note ● Free Being Me is a body confidence programme for

Brownies and Guides. Sessions help girls recognise myths about how girls and women ‘should’ look and empower them to be confident and have positive self-esteem. Free Being Me can now be delivered by Leaders and the programme is available on www.girlguiding.org.uk by searching for ‘Free Being Me’.



Guides●● Building●your●future●(Go For It! Top Job)

The construction industry is part of our everyday lives. Just look around at all the roads, bridges, schools, skyscrapers, stadiums and airports! Through an apprenticeship in construction you could be a town planner, site manager, architect or engineer. Our 2012 Girls’ Attitudes Survey found that 60 per cent of girls are put off a career in engineering because of a lack of female role models. Could you be the one to change this? Build a bridge out of spaghetti and marshmallows that is strong enough to support a golf ball – maybe you could be the next top engineer!


You will need: Pack of spaghetti, bag of marshmallows, golf ball or paper cup of water, newspaper, paper, pens, towel

What to do 1. In your Patrol, design your bridge structure on paper. Use your imagination. It will need to be strong

enough to support a golf ball, or if you’re very brave, a paper cup of water! 2. Put down sheets of newspaper so the marshmallows

don’t stick to the floor. Then build your bridge by sticking the spaghetti together with marshmallows.

3. Once you are happy with your construction, test your bridge’s strength by placing a golf ball or a paper cup of water on it.

The Senior Section●● Rewrite●the●future●(Girls In Action: Change the Story)

What might the future look like if we all worked together to end violence against women and girls?


You will need: Pens and paper, any props required depending on method of rewriting chosen

What to do1. Read ‘Ava’s story’ (see next page). Discuss it as a group. Do you think this story needs to change? Why?2. Ava lives in the UK. How does that make you feel?3. Now work together to rewrite the story. Write it as a new story, act it out, make a film, create a

piece of art – whatever suits you. Think about the following things. • What would it be like to live in a country with no dangerous (abusive) teenage relationships? • How would it benefit the UK if women did not lose out on jobs because they are pregnant, or get paid less or do less powerful jobs because they are female? • What would society be like if women and men were treated more equally?

4. Once you’ve rewritten the story, include at the end your ideas about how the story could be changed and who could make it happen. For example, schools could make sure that all teenagers learn how to recognise unsafe relationships.

5. Share your story! You could try one of these ideas, or come up with your own. • Put on an exhibition of all the work you have done. Invite parents/carers, local youth leaders and your MP or local councillor to visit. • Make an audio recording on your mobile phone or film yourselves reading or acting the story.

Top●tip! ● Triangles are stronger than squares!

This might help when you’re making the support structure for your bridge.



• Act out the story as a play and perform it for another unit, at your school or in your community. • Write and illustrate your story. • Arrange to meet your MP or local councillor and read the story to them.

Ava’s●storyOnce upon a time there was a girl called Ava. She lived in a country where:• 50,000 children were known to be at risk of abuse• 40 per cent of teenagers were abused by their boyfriends• two women were killed every week by current or former partners• 30,000 women lost their jobs each year as a result of being pregnant• women aged 16 or over were five times as likely as men to feel very unsafe walking alone in their

area after dark• men earned 20 per cent more than women for a similar job• girls and women were often treated differently from boys and men• the top career choice for girls was hairdressing or beauty; 43 per cent of girls thought this was

because some jobs were more for girls*• four out of five children who ran away from home said they did so to escape arguments and fighting

in their families.* Girls’ Attitudes Surveys 2009 and 2011

●● Phase●One●ideas●(Look Wider – Independent Living)Practise your interview skills and work out how best to fit your guiding experiences into your answers. Create or update your CV. Research higher and further education opportunities available to you.



Activities

Social action and using your voice

Survey findings●● 77% of girls and young women aged 11 to 21 say that they don’t think politicians listen to young

people enough.●● Three quarters of girls and young women agree that having fewer female politicians leads to unfair

treatment of women (75%). A similar number agree that judging these female politians on what they wear, not what they say, has the same effect (74%).

●● Nearly three quarters of girls and young women aged 11 to 21 take part in at least one form of social action or raise awareness of issues they care about (73%), and one in four share campaigns they care about on social media (25%).

Rainbows●● Changes●(Roundabout Rainbows)

A chance for Rainbows to think about what it would be like to be in charge.


You will need: No equipment needed

What to doTalk to the Rainbows about people who can make changes to their life, like their teacher, a vet, mums and dads or carers. If the Rainbows could choose to be someone for the day, who would it be? What would they change for the day?• Being a teacher means they could give everyone an

extra-long playtime.• Being a parent means that they could let their little

sister stay up late.• Being a shopkeeper may mean everyone could have a

free comic one day.

Brownies●● Home●zone●(Brownie Adventures)


You will need: Pens and paper, modelling material such as modelling clay or air dry clay

Best and worst1. With other Brownies, draw a picture or make a model of your favourite

area of your village, town or city. Show the rest of your unit and explain why you chose that area.

2. Now do the same for an area you would most like to change. Why do you want to change it, and how do you think it could be changed?

You can make a difference1. Write a letter to your local Member of Parliament (MP), Assembly Member (AM), Scottish Member of

Parliament (SMP) or councillor explaining what you’d like to change and why – and sign all your names to the letter.

Take●it●further ● The Rainbows could act, or dress

up, like their chosen person for the others to guess who they are.



2. You could even ask your Leader to get in contact with the local newspaper and see if they are interested in your opinions and ideas.

Guides●● Patrol●message●(Go For It! Be the Change)

Can you think of a message which explains why it is important that girls your age are leading political lives and how they can get involved? You can do this as a Patrol.


You will need: Pens and paper

What to do1. Talk about the following.

• Why do you think it is important for you to be involved with decisions that affect you and the community around you? • Why is it important to understand the basics about politics? • Why is it important that you have positive female role models and good leadership skills?

2. As a group, agree a sentence that summarises the most important thing you have done in your local community, for example challenges you have undertaken, discoveries you have made and facts you have learned.

3. Write it down so you don’t forget it – this is your Patrol message. Don’t forget to allow for time at the end of your meeting to share what you have all done – make sure each Patrol message is heard.

Brownies, Guides and The Senior Section ●● The●campaign●debate●(Girls Matter: Hear Our Voice)

This activity will get girls thinking about different campaign methods and what works best. By using the suffragettes as an example, the girls can develop an understanding of how campaigning methods may have changed throughout the last 100 years.


You will need: Pens and paper

What to do1. Get the girls into small groups, Sixes or Patrols and give them

the examples, given below, of things that the suffragettes did to campaign for votes for women. • Presenting petitions to Parliament. • Running out in front of a horse at the Derby race, resulting in a suffragette’s death. • Breaking in and disrupting speakers in the House of Commons. • Going on hunger strikes while held in prison. • Chaining themselves to areas in and around Parliament. • Setting fire to the Prime Minister’s house. • Smashing shop windows. • Making banners. • Marching in protests.

Take●it●further ● Encourage your Brownies to use their

voice on things that matter to them by completing the Speaker badge.

Take●it●further ● Why not work towards the Guide

Communicator badge and find out about different ways of getting your voice heard?



2. Tell half of the groups that they are going to think only of the positive things about these actions, and the other half of the groups that they are going to think only of the negatives. Ask them to think about the effect that these things had on the campaign. Would it make people support them? Would it make the newspapers? Would it get them into trouble? Would anyone get hurt?

3. Give each group five minutes to write as many things as they can think of. For example, a negative might be that some women ended up in prison. A positive might be that everyone in the country learned who they were and what they wanted.

4. Get each group to feed back their thoughts to everyone else. Explain that the methods used by the suffragettes were very different and unusual at the time, even shocking – and remain so today.

5. Now that the girls have thought about the suffragettes’ campaigning methods, they should come up with their own ideas. Get the girls back into their small groups and ask each group to think about what methods the suffragettes could use if they were around today. How could they reach a large audience? Can they think of anything today that would be completely legal but also really unusual, memorable or different (for example, using social media, viral videos, flash mobs and so on)?

6. Get all the girls together to feed back their ideas. Hopefully the group will now have some really good campaigning ideas for if they want to start a campaign.

All sections●● Speaking●up●(Girls Matter: Hear Our Voice)

Sometimes you need to make your point clearly so that people understand, especially when you’re speaking out about a topic that’s important to you.


You will need: No equipment needed

What to do1. For this game, each person has one minute to talk non-stop about a topic of

their choosing. To give the group some ideas, this could be a favourite hobby, school subject or television programme, or something that they feel very strongly about, like climate change or cruelty to animals.

2. While the first person is speaking, the rest of the group has to listen carefully. If she stops for more than a few seconds they need to shout ‘Stop!’, if she repeats herself they need to shout ‘Repetition!’ and if she says ‘umm’ or ‘err’ they need to shout ‘Hesitation!’. If any of these things happen then the person speaking must stop and sit down.

3. If someone gets through the whole minute without being stopped then she has completed the game. If she gets stopped then it’s another person’s turn.

4. When everyone’s had a chance to speak, talk about how MPs and Peers (members of the House of Lords) must be clear and engaging when talking about a number of different subjects.

●● Performance●campaign●(Girls Matter: Hear Our Voice)Some groups might like to embrace the performing arts to share a message about something that matters to them, or a cause they want to shout out about. There is a wide range of ways they can do this, such as performing a play, recording a video or singing a self-composed campaign anthem.


You will need: Props and materials depending on what the group decides to do

What to do1. The group will need to decide what they will produce – is it going to be a commercial or advert,

a drama which shows the importance of their message or a documentary? 2. Ask the group to write an outline or script for their piece. Remind them it is important to make sure

their message is clear. Younger girls could make a storyboard instead of a script.



3. The group will need to rehearse their piece until they feel confident about performing it.

4. The group are now ready to record or perform for others. This could be shown at an open evening or at other events.

Leaders’●note ● If groups are making videos, make sure you have

photo/video permission from all the parents/carers of girls under 16 appearing in it. You can check the Go! records for each girl to see if parental permission has been granted or not.

girls with attitude! · 42% of girls and young women aged 11 to 21 say they have experienced...

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