Make "Day of the Girl" Everyday!

Since 2012, the United Nations has marked October 11 as the International Day of the Girl. https://www.un.org/en/events/girlchild The day aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls' empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights. As the United Nations states on their website, “an investment in realizing the power of adolescent girls upholds their rights today and promises a more equitable and prosperous future, one in which half of humanity is an equal partner in solving the problems of climate change, political conflict, economic growth, disease prevention, and global sustainability.”

While not a “holiday”, organizations use the International Day of the Girl observance as an opportunity to raise public awareness of the different types of discrimination from which many girls around the world suffer. We do not need to remind you of the statistics and reports about the disparity and discrimination of women in the business world. However, we can not expect to see a significant change in the disproportionate representation of women in business leadership and business ownership until GIRLS understand - and gain confidence of - business and envision themselves in these roles. SheEO™ Academy brings awareness of the need to specifically introduce GIRLS to business leadership and business ownership and provide programs to reduce those disparities. When each GIRL realizes that she can “be a SheEO” and then begins to take those options seriously, she will reject the discrimination.

But it cannot stop there. In traditional education, correlations are drawn between 1) what is taught by the teacher and 2) in which profession it will be used. But what about the business in which that profession exists? A business owner or business leader will use the hard skills such as mathematics, writing, and problem solving. But will also use soft skills like negotiation, public speaking, and leadership. Statistics show (and society tells) that GIRLS may succeed in the hard skills, but are not shown the connection to (or given the chance to apply) those soft skills.

On this International Day of the Girl, I want to #tellher #shecan #BEaSheEO! Then let that little GIRL grow up and make an “informed decision” regarding how she will do it. At SheEO™ Academy, we educate, enrich, expose and empower GIRLS to take steps towards business leadership or business ownership.