Girls in Australia should be growing up believing anything is possible – that they have choices and opportunities in their lives to shape the world they want to see. Instead, many are forced to abandon their leadership aspirations out of concern for their own safety in Parliament.
This isn’t good enough. In new polling we conducted this month of 507 young women aged 18-25, that figure has increased dramatically.
In our latest research, we asked girls and young women around Australia to share their hopes, dreams and concerns for the future, along with the people who inspire them the most. We found that they are overwhelmingly eager to lead change on the big social issues facing their generation and they look up to fierce, determined and unapologetic female leaders for inspiration.
Girls are redefining what it means to be a leader and projecting powerful self-assurance about their own potential. Almost two thirds of the girls and young women who participated in this research told us they are confident in their ability to lead and three-quarters actively want to become leaders in their careers, communities or countries.
This report builds on Plan International’s evidence base from Half A Billion Reasons and It’s Our Time. Having painted a picture of the lives of adolescent girls globally and in our region, this report highlights the national context in one of our nearest neighbours, the Solomon Islands.
What makes it hard for all young women and girls in the Solomon Islands to have the chance to go to and complete secondary school or have a second chance to complete informal education? What are the stumbling blocks or barriers?
The opportunities for adolescent girls globally; to be educated, to lead, to enter the workforce and to be treated as equal at all levels of society, will determine whether families can break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and whether countries’ economies prosper and grow.
This report calls on all Australians – parliamentarians, policy makers, donors and individuals – to recognise that investing in adolescent girls can change the world.
Young women want more female leaders, and they think women are just as good as men at being leaders, including top jobs such as Prime Minister and CEO. But they are far less optimistic than young men about their own opportunities to become a leader.
