A diverse selection of girls is represented in the pictures, including wheelchair users, girls wearing head coverings and a girl with no hair at all. What they have in common is that they are all happily absorbed in whatever it is that they wish to do. About us – The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives and expanding opportunities across Asia and the Pacific. Learn about our impact, approach, mission, vision, and values. Did you see that BBC series last summer, Astronauts: Do You Have What it Takes? It featured a group of people that went through the same training that NASA astronauts and the person who won it was supposed to be invited to apply to be a real astronaut. Well, it was won by a woman called Suzie Imber, a professor of planetary science at Leicester University. What I really liked about the series was that each contestant excelled at something different. And that the people you thought might not stand a chance, turned out to be some of the strongest. The point is, you could not predict who would win. Just as you cannot predict which children will achieve their dreams, whatever they may be. Girls Can Do Anything is a rhyming picture book portraying scores of young girls - all with different body shapes, skin colours, hairstyles and clothing choices – gleefully participating in the hobbies and careers that they choose for themselves. I was never all that good at history. The school curriculum in the late 70s and early 80s left a great deal to be desired, being mostly either about the first and second world wars, or medieval medicine – a course of leeches anyone? If you are a teenager, or parent of teens, you won’t be surprised to learn that these are still hot topics on the whiteboards of today’s GCSE students.

About our brand | Girlguiding

The campaign idea was to widen the work opportunity for women in non-traditional female work careers like surveying, building, welding, plumbing, and butchery. In celebration of the publication of Girls Can Do Anything on 2nd August, award-winning author Caryl Hart discusses the lives and achievements of five women who have inspired her. With funding from a variety of donors, including the Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation, Jerry and Thao Dodson, the Merali Foundation, Lana Condor, the RYTHM Foundation, and the Mark and Thuy Barnett Foundation, The Asia Foundation’s scholarship programs in Vietnam support girls from disadvantaged and low-income families. The girls are selected from six regions to attend secondary school through graduation, to build key life and leadership skills, and to enter university, where many pursue traditionally male-dominated STEM fields. Our education programs are distinguished by the locally grounded, personalized support we provide to each of our young scholars. I have read many books in this style, but each one is so different from the last and I always want more of them. I really liked the diversity represented in this book. Each girl is unique from hair type to skin color to interests to different ability levels. For example, there is a girl in a wheelchair and a girl with a prosthetic leg. Girls with long hair, girls with short hair, a girl with no hair. The illustrations work as a great way to explore the message that everyone in the world is different. The 2012 Olympic Games marked a turning point for me in terms of disability awareness and the television campaign that marked the run up to the games was a major influence in the writing of Girls Can Do Anything. For the first time, the Paralympic games were given the airtime they deserved and the achievements of people with disabilities were publicly and noisily applauded across the nation. Here were people who were not made less by their disabilities, they were shown to be so much more. They were billed as superhumans who have accomplished phenomenal feats despite a whole host of obstacles including a wide range of disabilities.

We began because girls wanted an equal world, where they could have the same opportunities as boys. So much progress has been made since we started. But things can still be tough for girls. The impact of the pandemic on girls’ wellbeing, online pressures, discrimination and sexism all present unique challenges. It’s been over a century, and the reason we were founded hasn’t gone away. We know that girls face pressures and expectations in every area of their lives. They’re limited by gender stereotypes, and they can face barriers to accessing the things they need to be happy. The Girls Can Do Anything gallery of inspirational women would not be complete without a portrait of this incredible young woman. She said: “I was a Brownie, Guide and Ranger in Dorset as a child. It was whilst I was a Ranger that I and another Ranger were asked to take on running the Guide unit that met before Rangers. I don’t think we really thought about not doing it. The Guide unit was without a leader and if we didn’t step up it would close. We were under 18 when we started running the unit, so the Ranger Leader also had to be present in the building, but we loved it and once I started as a leader I didn’t want to stop. Another example of the impact of this support is Ha Thi Anh, one of just two female students in the department of civil and industrial construction at the National University of Civil Engineering. Once a shy student from a rural province, Ha Anh is now a confident and accomplished student. She enthusiastically participates in all program activities—including soft-skills training workshops, supplementary English lessons, and volunteer activities. In any activity, she always plays a leadership role by gathering and organizing her peers. In her, we find an abundant source of energy and an intense desire to rise. She regards her family’s situation not as a fault, but as a motivation to achieve her goals. She works part time as a tutor to help cover the cost of living in Hanoi. She cultivates her English capabilities in any way possible and seeks advice from senior students and friends in her major. She explores opportunities for study abroad and many other previously unimaginable things, with the hope of a brighter future and supporting her parents.

Girls Can Do Anything: another five inspirational women

There is no single or simple approach to this mission, but roundtable participants all agreed that education is the key for these girls, and that they need holistic support, including tuition, soft-skills development, and leadership training, so they can rise to their full potential. We shared our successes and challenges, as well as the stories of girls in our programs who have achieved things far beyond our hopes. We talked about collaborating to maximize our resources, support one another, and inspire more action for girls’ education, and we discussed the progress that has been made and the many people who are working in their own way to support girls and young women who have been left behind due to circumstances beyond their control. The Asia Foundation’s Dinh Kieu Nhung working with Vietnamese scholarship students (Photo: Whithney Legge / The Asia Foundation) She said: “I have many memories of the girls I’ve volunteered with over my years with Girlguiding, particularly those who have joined us very shy and have thrived during their time with us. So why does it matter that a woman went into space 55 years ago? She wasn’t the first person to do so. In fact, she was the 12th. Why does it matter that Helen Sharman went into space 24 years before Tim Peake? What we do – Good governance, women’s empowerment and gender equality, inclusive economic growth, environment and climate action, and regional and international relationsWhen discussing her reasons for wanting to write Girls Can Do Anything, author Caryl Hart explains 'I realised that, as a children’s author, I had an opportunity to show our youngest children that the world belongs as much to girls as it does to boys. I wanted to demonstrate that girls are allowed and entitled to create a space for themselves wherever they choose - whatever their interests or passions may be, and for that to be okay.' That’s why today, we’re excited to share our refreshed brand with the world. It’s a chance to focus on our core mission to be here for all girls – enabling them to discover the best in themselves and make a positive difference in their community. We’re showing the world that we’re still that pioneering, vibrant space where all girls can fulfil their potential and find their voice. We hope that it encourages even more girls to join us and experience the magic of guiding for themselves. Why do girls need Girlguiding? Karen also recalled how the girl was not keen on singing – something which features a lot in Girlguiding meetings – and how they overcame this so she could still join in. Our Girlguiding personality has four characteristics that guide how we look and behave. These characteristics support the brand purpose: