CAWP Announces Online Initiative, Teach a Girl to Lead™

Schoolchildren first learn about American leaders when they celebrate national holidays. Girls and boys study the accomplishments of great men, and textbooks reinforce the absence of women leaders from U.S. history and government. Teachers, parents and group leaders scramble for resources to make women leaders central to the discussion.

To refocus the picture to include women, the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, will develop Teach a Girl to Lead^™, a unique website that will connect educators, leaders of youth organizations, parents, authors, librarians, women leaders and students.

In 2011, President Barack Obama challenged the nations of the world to take action to empower women and girls. In response, the United States and a dozen nations have joined the global Equal Futures Partnership launched by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In developing Teach a Girl to Lead^™, CAWP will collaborate with the White House and the U.S. Department of Education to align the new initiative with the Administration’s broader civic engagement efforts.

CAWP’s new “Teach a Girl to Lead^™” web site will offer one-stop shopping for anyone interested in expanding civic engagement and public leadership opportunities for girls and young women. Resources available on the web site will help educate both boys and girls about the importance of civic participation and the significant roles women have played and continue to play in our democracy. The initiative will include three online components:

■ Leaders Lineup – Virtual speakers’ bureau of women public leaders committed to addressing young people about the role and importance of women’s full civic participation;

■ Teaching Toolbox – Multi-media resources, extra-curricular educational materials, reading lists and fun activities for K-12 and college students;

■ Programs and Places – Clearinghouse of organizations and websites committed to enhancing the civic participation of women and girls, women’s political history, and research on women’s civic participation.

“Where these tools are employed, “ observes CAWP director Debbie Walsh, “Young people – male and female – will learn from an early age that public leaders can look like their mothers, aunts and grandmothers. Ideally, the knowledge, confidence and motivation that girls and young women develop will mean that any one of them can look in the mirror and see a leader.”