From Girls to Women

Where We Are Thirty Years After the Beginning of the Modern Women's Movement

This report was produced by Monitor Radio and originally broadcast in May of 1993.
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Self-Esteem

The girls of today are the women of tomorrow. What life will be like for future generations of women may depend on the messages these girls receive as they enter adolescence. In this program, one of a series focusing on the challenges facing girls in today's society, Monitor Radio's Anne Donohue looks at girls' struggle for self-esteem.

Girls and Science

The sciences have traditionally been an area dominated by men. Recent evidence, however, shows that in mathematics the gender gap between boys and girls is narrowing. But the breach in the sciences is growing. Boys generally score higher than girls on tests, and they're more likely to embark on careers in the sciences. In the is program, part of a series on the challenges facing girls, Monitor Radio's Anne Donohue looks at how some educators are trying to bridge that gap.

Girls and Pregnancy

It is estimated that a million teenaged girls in the United States will become pregnant this year. Half of them will carry their pregnancies to term. Despite efforts to make sex education and birth control more widely available, many American girls are becoming mothers before they're eligible for a driver's license. In at least one part of New York City, one in every five births is to a mother under the age of 15. In this program, part of a series that focuses on the challenges facing girls, Monitor Radio's Anne Donohue reports on one program that's trying to change that statistic.

Girls in China

The communist revolution in China promised to bring equality for women, but change has been slow in coming. Women are still treated as second-class citizens in this traditional society. Some accounts say that infanticide of baby girls continues, especially in rural areas. And a few entrepreneurs are doing a booming business arranging for the adoptions of chinese girls by westerners. China is now moving toward market reforms and a more open society, but it is not clear that the prospects for young women have improved very much. In this program, part of a series that focuses on the challenge facing girls, Monitor Radio's Meghan Cox Gurdon talks to girls in China about their future.

Girls in Tanzania

For most girls in the developing world, the working day starts long before the school bell rings. Girls spend several hours carrying water, collecting firewood, cooking, cleaning, and washing before and after class. Boys have domestic chores, too, but educators say they are given much more time to study. This disparity is easy to see in the impoverished east African nation of Tanzania. In the secondary schools, Tanzanian girls, as a group, never reach the standards boys achieve at any level -- or in any subject. Domestic work is just one reason girls in Tanzania lag behind the boys. Monitor Radio's Joyce Hackel visited Arusha in Tanzania to report on how girls there are faring in education.

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