Support girls need while growing up to feel empowered and confident

By: Shashwat Mishra

In today’s world where women empowerment is making a positive change for millions of women all around the world, we all need to make sure that a girl grows up feeling safe, empowered, and confident. Doing this as a parent or a guardian takes a lot of efforts and commitment as we are developing a future leader, scientist, scholar, doctor or simply a role model for all the other women and young girls to look up to.

In this article I bring you four fundamental points to keep in mind while raising a girl child, to ensure that she grows up feeling empowered and confident.

• Having great role models:

It has been concluded from Bandura’s social learning theory, which talks about children learn by imitating their parents and other adults. Therefore, it is affirmative that girls require great role models, and their first role models are their parents. It greatly influences their behavior and habits because they imitate what their role models do daily. Hence having great role models for girls may lead to them developing habits, which may directly or indirectly build their confidence and make them feel empowered.

• Talking to her and communicating: 

Girls are sensitive and more emotional by nature. They always need attention and support when they are suffering through a certain emotion, or just want to tell what happened that day. Listening to her, with full attention and care, without judging them, makes them feel heard which positively influences their mental and emotional health. So, a simple act of just listening to her and talking to her, can influence her confidence and health.

• Teaching self-defense: 

Humanity exists in our world, but everything can never be as white as a paper, there are miniature specks of dust on it. Likewise, there are evil minded people and bullies who can severely harm a girl’s mental health and, of course physical well-being (by physical abuse). Therefore, it is necessary to teach girls how to defend themselves in these situations. Not just through random tricks and strategies like the YouTube and TikTok preach. Learning how to fight is equally important for girls as it is for boys. Learning to fight, helps a girl maintain her fitness, build strength and mental toughness, and boost her confidence greatly. 

• Following her interests: 

Restricting her, forcing opinions, and forcefully pressing her to follow the career path desirable to parents, or sometimes never letting her even work, and straightaway thinking of marrying her at a young age (this is done by some of the families with backward mindset till date throughout the world). Girls too have unique and vivid interests like boys, but the gender-based discrimination, steals away the hopes and dreams of girls. So, girls should be given equal freedom to follow her interests and dreams. This support gives her lots of strength, confidence and makes her feel empowered. Also, if she is encouraged and guided properly, nobody can stop her from becoming the best singer or the best engineer or maybe the most respected retired army officer.

Being confident and empowered since childhood, develops healthy and fulfilled life for her. These may seem small steps and points but they create a lasting impact on her mental and emotional health. These are small points of action which help to build courage, confidence and make her really felt heard and empowered, and pave the way for a fulfilling life and career.