GIRLS SHOULD BE SEEN AND HEARD

"GIRLS SHOULD BE SEEN AND HEARD," SAYS NEW GIRLS' RIGHT CAMPAIGN
Girls Pick Up the Megaphone to Promote a National "Bill of Rights"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 17, 2001

Instead of going on a diet, Deidra Brown - at 5-feet-10 and 264 pounds - decided to star in and help produce a national public service announcement aimed at inspiring girls around the country to accept and appreciate their bodies - no matter what their size.

The commercial is part of a national public education campaign being sponsored by Girls Inc., a not-for-profit organization that inspires all girls to be "strong, smart, and bold." The campaign, which promotes a Girls' Bill of Rights, includes three PSA's, a website for girls, an action kit, posters, and a book, Strong, Smart, and Bold: Empowering Girls for Life by Carla Fine (Cliff Street Books/HarperCollins, March 2001.)

In one of the 30-second PSAs, Brown - dressed in a sweater and baggy jeans - is sitting on bleachers surrounded by friends who encourage her to suit up and jump into the swimming pool. Besides appearing in the PSA, Brown also, helped to produce the spots with 25 girls from across the country during a three-day "Production Camp."

The book, Strong, Smart and Bold: Empowering Girls for Life, distills the organization's 55 years of research into issues faced by girls and offers concerned parents and educators time-tested techniques, exercises, and activities for inspiring girls to be "strong, smart and bold."

Parents, educators, and girls can also log on to, the organization's new website www.girlsinc.org for the latest information about girls issues, policy, and advocacy. The site also contains strong, smart, and bold activities for girls, abstracts on history-making women as well as the biographies of Girls Inc. girls from across the country. A Girls Rights Action Kit illustrates ways girls can advocate for themselves and identify supportive adults in their lives. Also available is a free Girls' Bill of Rights poster designed by Nickelodeon.

"We developed the campaign after a Harris poll we conducted found that girls, while optimistic about their futures, are still limited by gender stereotypes," said Girls Inc. President & CEO Joyce Roch'. "The campaign gives girls across the country an opportunity to make their stories, issues, and concerns heard nationally."

According to the Harris survey, students agreed that girls are "under a lot of pressure to please everyone" (63%) and are "expected to speak softly and not cause trouble (56%)." The poll also revealed that girls (81%) perceive that they are still expected to be "kind and caring," to "dress the right way" (75%), and "to spend a lot of their time on housework and taking care of younger siblings" (65%).

Like many girls across the country, Brown has committed to fighting the stereotypes and opening doors for girls to come. She says, "I know the true beauty of a woman comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors."