As a health educator, researcher, speaker, coach, and founder of Helping Our Teen Girls In Real Life Situations, Inc. (HOTGIRLS)^®, I am passionate about all of these issues. I have devoted more than 15 years of my life to uplifting adolescent girls by conducting research on women’s and girls’ health issues and developing programming that addresses pertinent public health and social justice issues such as girls’ education, health disparities, HIV/AIDS, sexual health, youth violence, teen dating violence, and media literacy.

As we discussed girls’ leadership and economic empowerment, I was inspired to ask the audience if they had heard about an amazing girl empowerment movement called The Girl Effect. I was surprised that less than half of the audience was familiar with the powerful videos that left me in tears the first time I watched them. Simply put, the Girl Effect describes “the unique potential of 600 million adolescent girls to end poverty for themselves and the world.” According to The Girl Effect, when we invest in a young girl’s education in the developing world, she grows up to be a woman who can support herself and pull her entire family out of poverty.  Here’s why:

• When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
• An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent.
• When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man.

Despite all of the unsettling public health and social justice issues facing adolescent girls around the world, there is good news: Research indicates that we can make a huge impact on solving global problems like HIV/AIDS, poverty, and illiteracy just by supporting adolescent girls. Although The Girl Effect emphasizes the plight of adolescent girls in the developing world, I have personally witnessed the power of education, self-empowerment, and leadership to positively transform the lives of girls in the United States.

Here’s a video clip from the panel discussion:

Panelists [L-R]: The Honorable Nan Orrock, Georgia Senator, District 36; My amazing 13-year-old mentee, Mary -Pat Hector, Founder & National President of Youth In Action; Jessamyn Ressler-Maerlender, Interim Executive Director of The Refugee Women’s Network, Inc.; Dr. Carla Stokes; Dawnn Lewis (Actress & Singer)

The event culminated with each participant filling out a commitment card and pledging to commit to making a difference in the lives of women and girls. This task felt natural for me because it is in alignment with my personal mission to help women, youth, and girls achieve their personal best in life, make healthy choices, and create positive change in their own lives and communities. On a personal level, I am committed to expanding my girl empowerment programming and reaching women and girls around the world through speaking, writing, and creating curricula and programming devoted to supporting adolescent girls in realizing their full potential. To this end, I am currently writing a book and developing a health education, life coaching, and empowerment curriculum for adolescent girls that will be available in 2012. It was inspiring to have the opportunity to brainstorm with women and girls across generations and learn that we are all concerned about our collective empowerment and committed to taking action to improve the health and lives of women and girls.

A few days after the panel discussion, I was excited to learn that hundreds of bloggers are joining together to spread the word about The Girl Effect during the week of October 4-11. How’s that for synchronicity?

Watch these inspiring videos to learn about the Girl Effect and find out why girls are “the most powerful force of change on the planet”:

Click here to watch more Girl Effect videos.

I hope that you are as inspired by the Girl Effect campaign as I am and will join me in helping girls reach their full potential. Even if you are not involved in girl empowerment efforts, there are many ways that you can help this movement and be part of the solution.

So what are you going to do to help uplift girls? Leave me a comment and let me know how you are committed to making a difference in the lives of  girls!

How You Can Help

• Spread the Word About The Girl Effect – You can help spread the word by forwarding this post to a friend or colleague, sharing the videos, tweeting, posting on Facebook, planning a party, and more! Click here for other ideas.
• Join The Girl Effect Blogging Campaign – If you feel moved to spread this message, I hope you’ll join me in writing a post about The Girl Effect during the week of October 4-11. Joining the Girl Effect Blogging Campaign is a great way to connect with other bloggers who are committed to empowering girls. Just click here to learn more and sign up! You’ll receive the details on how to create your post. I hope you’ll join me!
• Volunteer your time to girl-serving organizations
• Be a mentor to a teen girls
• Donate to organizations that educate and empower girls – As the founder of Helping Our Teen Girls In Real Life Situations, Inc. (HOTGIRLS)®, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and lives of underserved young women and girls, I know first-hand how challenging it can be to raise funds for girl empowerment organizations — especially in the current economic climate.  I encourage you to contribute financially to support the important work of girl empowerment organizations that are working to positively impact the lives of girls.

More Information

• Subscribe to my email newsletter to receive tips and resources for educators and girl advocates and updates about my upcoming events, projects, and programs for girls.
• Click here to read other Girl Effect blog posts.
• The Coalition for Adolescent Girls
• Girls Count Report on Adolescent Girls
• 10 Actions: How Girls Today Can End Poverty Tomorrow
• “Half the Sky” by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl Wudunn
• Girl Up

• GirlsHealth.gov (Office On Women’s Health)
• Teen Survival Guide: Tips for On the Go Girls (Office On Women’s Health)
• TeensHealth

This page is under construction. Check back soon for more links!

DISCLAIMER

Dr. Carla LLC receives no compensation for the links provided in this section. Dr. Carla LLC does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, products, procedures, opinions, services, physicians, clinics, hospitals, health care providers, organizations, or other persons and things that may be mentioned or referenced on this Dr. Carla.com web site or obtained through any links provided on this web site. The information provided by external links listed on this site offers the views of individual authors and does not necessarily represent or imply approval or recommendation by Dr. Carla LLC or by your health care provider.

The specific tests, products, procedures, opinions, services, physicians, clinics, hospitals, health care providers, organizations, or other persons and things that may be mentioned or referenced on this Dr. Carla.com web site do not endorse, sponsor, nor are they affiliated in any way with Dr. Carla or Dr. Carla LLC.

Questions about your unique medical condition and circumstances can only be answered by your health care provider. Read the full disclaimer.

• Center for Young Women’s Health
• WebMD
• Go Ask Alice!

This page is under construction. Check back soon for more links!

DISCLAIMER

Dr. Carla LLC receives no compensation for the links provided in this section. Dr. Carla LLC does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, products, procedures, opinions, services, physicians, clinics, hospitals, health care providers, organizations, or other persons and things that may be mentioned or referenced on this Dr. Carla.com web site or obtained through any links provided on this web site. The information provided by external links listed on this site offers the views of individual authors and does not necessarily represent or imply approval or recommendation by Dr. Carla LLC or by your health care provider.

The specific tests, products, procedures, opinions, services, physicians, clinics, hospitals, health care providers, organizations, or other persons and things that may be mentioned or referenced on this Dr. Carla.com web site do not endorse, sponsor, nor are they affiliated in any way with Dr. Carla or Dr. Carla LLC.

Questions about your unique medical condition and circumstances can only be answered by your health care provider. Read the full disclaimer.

Although there has been a considerable amount of discussion about the video’s positive implications for Black girls, it also has a universal message regarding the diversity of beauty that all girls and even boys can benefit from.  It was refreshing to watch the Sesame Street video after being exposed to so many years of TV programming that promotes the message that women and people of color must transform their appearance in order to conform to mainstream beauty ideals that celebrate fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes.  However, after the buzz dies down, television networks must continue to be held accountable for their role in disseminating media messages that harm children’s self-esteem and overall health.

While the “I Love My Hair” video is a step in the right direction, there is still a lot of work to be done to counteract the negative impact that these pervasive images have on girls’ and boys’ body image, self-esteem, and perceptions of beauty.  Children of color need to see themselves reflected in the media in positive ways on an ongoing basis.  To this end, the “I Love My Hair” video will have a bigger impact if it inspires more positive media programming and media literacy education for children.  Sesame Street can continue to counteract harmful programming by giving this lovable brown-skinned muppet a permanent and progressive role in the Sesame Street cast that shatters stereotypes about Black girls (as long as she’s not relegated to the role of blonde-haired Prairie Dawn’s sassy, booty shaking, gold digging, sidekick).

Click here for ABC News coverage regarding the “I Love My Hair” video sensation.

Grown folks: Beware that if you watch this video too many times it may get stuck on auto-loop in your head.  Over the weekend, I caught myself singing “don’t need a trip to the beauty shop, ’cause I love what I got on top….” while doing the dishes.

And speaking of hair whipping and being grown, check out the Sesame Street “I Love My Hair”-Willow Smith “Whip My Hair” Mashup:

I have a hunch that this version will probably be more appealing to girls than the original Sesame Street version (at least until they see Willow Smith’s new “Whip My Hair” video). I love that this song encourages girls to have the courage to honor and celebrate their authentic selves without fear of judgement:

“I Love My Hair” Conversation Guide: Real Talk for Parents and Concerned Adults

I recently watching a disturbing video of a mother violently brushing her daughter’s hair, while verbally abusing her and inevitably damaging her self-esteem.  The social worker in me wanted to call DFACS and jump through my laptop. Even though I couldn’t tolerate more than 15 seconds of the video, it reminded me of how fortunate I was to grow up with loving, kind, and emotionally stable parents who expressed their love for me regularly, including while they groomed and styled my hair.

After reading some of the responses to the video, it became painfully obvious that in addition to learning effective hair detangling techniques, many parents and guardians need to be taught healthy ways to build their children’s self-esteem.  Unfortunately, some parents and caretakers project negative attitudes and behaviors that they learned during their own childhood onto their children.  It is critical that parents take responsibility for breaking this damaging cycle in their households as early as possible in their children’s lives to protect their developing self-esteem. Sadly, it is necessary to remind some parents that just because they may have had a troubling childhood, this is not an excuse to jeopardize their children’s physical and emotional health.

Parents who think that this mother’s behavior is funny or engage in similar behaviors with their children while styling their hair (i.e., threatening them, yelling obscenities, or chastising them for objecting to the pain that they are inflicting on their scalp and psyches), need to be educated about proper hair care techniques (there are tons of online tips and YouTube videos that demonstrate detangling methods) and should consider seeking professional counseling and/or enrolling in parenting classes. I also recommend that all parents take the time to explore how their own childhood experiences and attitudes about hair and beauty may be shaping their interactions with their children. If you feel uncomfortable or defensive as you read this section, I strongly encourage you to take an honest and objective look at your parenting practices.  Put yourself in your children’s shoes and consider how they may feel when you interact with them.

As a girls’ empowerment coach, I help parents/guardians build their daughters’ self-esteem and counteract the harmful effects of media.  In my work as a speaker and educator, I often utilize popular culture as a tool for sparking discussion and critical thinking about a range of issues that are relevant to youth and girls. The Sesame Street video provides a great opportunity to start a dialogue about self-acceptance and body image. To help celebrate your daughter’s uniqueness and boost her self-image, I created a brief conversation guide for parents, relatives, and concerned adults to use in conjunction with the “I Love My Hair” video.

Fill out the form below to download my Real Talk for Parents ™ Self-Esteem Kit for Parents, which includes the “I Love My Hair” Conversation Guide and 10 Tips to Boost Your Daughter’s Self-Esteem and Body Image (for girls of all ages).

* PART II: READ MY LATEST BLOG ABOUT MY “I LOVE MY HAIR” JOURNEY *

Related Resources:

• Sign up for my E-mail newsletter and follow me on Facebook and Twitter to receive resources and tips for young women, parents, girls, and girl advocates.
• Download the “I Love My Hair” Conversation Guide & Real Talk™ Self-Esteem Kit for Parents of Girls
• Read my book chapter in “Girl Wide Web 2.0: Revisiting Girls, The Internet, and the Negotiation of Identity” for a research-based exploration of how Black adolescent girls navigate beauty ideals online.
• 101 Ways to Help Your Daughter Lover Her Body by Brenda Lane Richardson and Elaine Rehr
• “You’d Be So Pretty If….Teaching Our Daughters to Love Their Bodies – Even When We Don’t Love Our Own” by Dara Chadwick
• “I Love My Hair” by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley (children’s book)
• “Perfectly You” by Julia V. Taylor (children’s book)
• Check out Sunkissed Girlz, a web site created by my friend and former University of Michigan School of Public Health classmate Dr. Yanique Redwood and her daughter Alana in response to the lack of positive media for Black girls.  The site includes helpful information about Black girls’ unique hair care and styling needs.
• Sweet Honey Child – This line of products celebrates the beauty and uniqueness of brown-skinned children.
• How to Detangle Black Hair

Many American girls are disconnected from girls from different backgrounds living in their own cities, so I hope that this campaign is successful in encouraging girls to become more socially conscious and informed about important global issues that affect their female peers in the developing world. Girls are also encouraged to support the campaign by starting a Girl Up team, organizing fundraisers, and spreading the word about the campaign through social networks.  Teachers and girl advocates can utilize the web site’s resources to educate girls about the realities of life for girls in the developing world.

For more information or to give a “High Five,” visit: http://www.girlup.org.

Dating abuse is a very serious issue that can happen to anyone regardless of age, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, etc. With the heightened attention to dating abuse in the news and everyday conversations after the highly publicized incident involving Chris Brown and Rihanna, it is especially important to dispel myths that perpetuate stereotypes and make it difficult for young women and girls to speak out and seek support.

One of my favorite resources for young women and teens is Love is Respect — a great web site that provides a National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline and helpful information about healthy relationships and teen dating abuse: Visit Love Is Respect and find out more about Signs of Abuse and how you can help raise awareness about this important issue.

Update (March 24, 2010):

Check out Dr. Carla’s interview and teen dating violence resources in the “Special Report: State of Our Girls” article in the April/May 2010 issue of Heart and Soul Magazine. Read the article.