Girl Scouts advocates in support of girls at all ages of development growing into leaders, in their own life and in the world. And new research released June 30, 2015, at the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (#DWEN) Summit brings fresh awareness to the ongoing global challenges female entrepreneurs face, and the need to support girls in filling the entrepreneurial pipeline so they can be the leaders of tomorrow.
Dell’s
Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard found that gender-based differences
hold high-impact female entrepreneurs back in all 31 countries in the study,
and that leadership roles remain male-dominated, making it less likely girls or
aspiring young female entrepreneurs would know a woman entrepreneur. This is
where Girl Scouts comes in!
Studies by the Girl Scout Research Institute
(GSRI) on girls’ attitudes, well-being, and healthy development, such as The
State
of Girls: Unfinished Business and Generation
STEM: What Girls Say About Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Math, show that while progress has been
made for girls across the US with regard to their educational attainment,
challenges persist, such as a lack of confidence in their leadership potential
and inadequate access to the resources they need to succeed. These study
insights heighten the imperative to support girls—not just for their or their
families’ benefit, but also for the healthy growth of the world economy.
Such
challenges remain considerable when it comes to girls establishing and fully
developing their leadership potential in areas that interest them. According to
recent GSRI studies, girls have limited exposure to STEM fields and shy away
from careers in politics. Moreover, leadership isn’t a top goal for many girls. These findings show that while girls do have
interest in fields that have been traditionally male-dominated, a gap exists in
their confidence in their ability to succeed in them, as they perceive a number
of societal obstacles standing in their way.
As
we all know, Girl Scouts continues to advocate for action to help girls
overcome obstacles to leadership—from working to affect public policy and offer
programs for all girls, including the underserved, to generating visibility
through social media dialogue and public speaking by Anna Maria Chávez, who says “We have an obligation to
demonstrate the power of our voice and the value of our perspective, by serving
as pioneers and role models for today’s young girls. Communities, business
leaders, and governments all over the world must stand up and recognize the reality
that sits at the very core of the Girl Scout mission—that girls matter.”
We couldn’t agree more, Anna!
