Girls’ confidence drops as they grow up. Our Kansas City camp turns them into leaders | Opinion
Meet Kierra.
She is a 7-year-old girl who experiences her world with confidence. If you ask her, she’ll tell you that she’s a leader in her class, on the playground and at home.
She is happy with who she is. As Kierra celebrates her eighth birthday, she notices that things are subtlety changing. She often doesn’t feel comfortable raising her hand in class or speaking up.
By the time Kierra turns 14, her confidence decreased by 30%. She is no longer happy the way she is.
If you ask, Kierra will tell you she doesn’t consider herself a leader.
Kierra’s story isn’t unique. It’s actually the norm. And her story is why Madam President Camp exists.
The data paints a picture of girlhood that needs to change.
In 1991, the groundbreaking study Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America by the American Association of University Women revealed that 60% of elementary-age girls said they are happy the way they are. By middle school, the number drops to 37%. Two generations later, in 2018, a poll from youth research firm Ypulse and the authors of the book “The Confidence Code for Girls” found that between the ages of 8 and 14, girls’ confidence levels fell by 30%. Conversely, even at their lowest point — age 14 — boys’ confidence remains 27% higher than girls’ confidence.
Additionally, according to the 2015 KPMG study Women’s Leadership Study: Moving Women Forward into Leadership Roles, a woman’s view of leadership begins to take shape early in childhood, starting with the values she learns, her exposure to leadership skills, and whether she has positive leadership role models. A full three-quarters — 76% — of women stated they wish they had learned more about leadership and had more leadership opportunities while growing up.
This data tells us that supporting girls as they grow is critical to create a future where women not only see themselves as confident leaders, but also hold positions of influence in the community, and are actively engaged in the decisions that affect their lives.
Twelve years ago, two Kansas City businesswomen, Lee Smithson Burd and Pam Kelly, recognized there no organization was focused solely on inspiring girls to learn to lead. They saw an opportunity to inspire girls to use their voices to become leaders.
Since its creation in 2012, Madam President Camp has served hundreds of Kansas City girls, ages 11-13, in weeklong day camps by creating an environment that encourages their natural leadership skills. Beyond leadership, our nonpartisan programming supports girls as they learn to put their voice into action to create change in their communities.
Our program is based on a cognitive learning approach that fosters a connection between the girls’ existing knowledge and new concepts in the area of leadership and community engagement. It provides recognition that each girl has experiences that shape her beliefs, opinions or perceptions of the information she encounters during the Madam President Camp curriculum.
The curriculum themes, or modules, serve as a scaffolding of knowledge, which has been demonstrated to increase confidence: Girls begin by gaining a clear understanding of leadership and civic engagement. They practice how to communicate those goals and topics. And through self-discovery, they create a path to their own personal action.
At Madam President Camp, we continue to imagine a future where women leaders thrive. A future where women are celebrated for their unique abilities and can freely use their voice to create impact in their community. We are proving that by strengthening the health of a community through its commitment to civics, democracy, leadership and equal representation of diverse voices in policy creation, the health of a population can be improved.
Learn more at madampresidentcamp.org