NASA astronaut Lt. Col. Catherine Cady Coleman, recently returned from a space mission in July, was our main event speaker Nov. 5, 1999. The biggest drop is in perception of competence . Even girls who excel in math in elementary school are half as likely as boys by the time they enter high school to feel competent in them. This decline in perception of competence in middle school precedes by two years a real drop in performance. While girls enter elementary school decidedly ahead academically, they leave high school significantly behind .
College continues the decline.
One in five girls will experience a serious eating disorder by their early 20s. Among the causes of these alarming statistics are rampant lookism promoted by the media and the culture, gender bias in the classroom and growing awareness among girls of gender stereotypes that devalue women. This loss of self value is at the core of epidemic rates of eating disorders, self-mutilations, depression, drug use and sexual acting out among teen girls, according to Dr. Pipher. Pipher suggests the best way for families to fight pressures on their daughters to conform to unreal and unhealthy images of female, is to help them become healthy resisters. This is accomplished primarily through awareness of unhealthy media messages, self-awareness, body awareness and the learning of specific coping skills.