Super Girls: Role Models

Super Girls: Role Models

With so many women’s marches going on and women’s rights being talked about in the news, it is impossible to ignore the fact that women are still feeling like lower class citizens in a lot of respects. I think that women’s issues and women’s rights have come a very long way when you look at where we came from. But, it many ways we are not where we want to be yet and so we continue to speak out.

A wonderful friend of mine, who is a life coach and a spiritual healer, (Heather Wood of Body Love, www.fitbybodylove.com), recently did a live talk on Facebook about the kinds of role models that girls see in the media. It always seems that there are two types either, those who try to get ahead using their beauty or shock value or those who try to get ahead by acting like men, tough, and no-nonsense.
These latter women are usually called a not nice B word by men and other women, probably because people feel threatened by them. My friend made a good point in saying that girls are often still shown that women, especially mothers, need to put themselves last. That they should do everything else for everyone else before they do what they need for themselves and that if they do this they are a good wife/partner and mother. If they do not do this they are considered selfish by a lot of people. Why is that? Truthfully if a mother does some things for herself on a regular basis she feels better about herself which makes her kinder and happier to others. She becomes a better mother and wife/partner because she’s taking care of her own needs.

This point is proven in the role of women/mothers in Disney movies for example, don’t get me wrong I love Disney, but it is true that the role of women in Disney movies has always been one of two extremes, either dead or non-existent or weak on one side or very strong, very powerful, very villainous on the other side. Think about it, who are the ones who save the day in Disney movies, many men right, if a female does save the day, like Mulan for example, she’s not actually a woman she’s a young girl. The same with Merida from Brave, the same with Belle from Beauty and the Beast. They are all girls, if you read up on what their ages are it is usually between 14-19. Elsa, from Frozen was the oldest at 21 and she was the first to have a strong, feminine presence and not be evil, but she was treated like she was evil wasn’t she? Because she was strong and threatening….Interesting. (Just a side note here, Frozen was written by a woman maybe that is why it has a different tone.) Look at the mothers or older women in all of those movies they are either dead, or weak and easily pushed around by others. What message does that send to young girls?

After listening to Heather talk about this and thinking about it more I started thinking about my own book and whether or not it has positive female role models. I believe it does, but they are very mixed in a lot of ways. The two main characters are very strong, intellectual, brave females, but they are girls, both 15. The villain is also a woman but again fairly young she is only 23. The only thing that I think saves my book from following the same old path that the Disney movies took is that I do have two strong mentors that help the girls along the way. One of these mentors is very old, her name is Alianda, and the other is younger, around 30, her name is Niandrin. These women are both independent and brave they both followed their own paths in life and because of this, in a way they pushed others away from them. Technically neither of them has “it all,” a family, a career and a good partnership. However, they encourage the girls to work toward those goals for themselves. In the second book the 30 year old, Niandrin and Isobel are having a discussion about this and this is what is said;

            Isobel asked, “Do you still believe in love? Do you still think it’s possible to do both, complete ones personal journey and have someone to love?”

            “I know that for me that is not what happened, but that does not necessarily mean the same will be true for you. You will have to make your own choices and maybe you will have both, only time will tell.”

Now I do not want to give too much away so I will stop here, however, I will say that I feel good about what happens to Isobel and Mauve and I do feel that they and Niandrin and Alianda are good role models for girls. Do they follow into the same old trap as Disney characters, maybe in some respects, but I think they are still people that girls can look up to and that makes me very proud. I can also say that in the future I will be even more cognizant of the messages I am sending and try to break the mold if I can.

How about you dear readers, what do you think? Is it necessary to change the role of women in books and movies for young girls or no? Can you name strong female characters who have “it all” the three things I mentioned above. What would your female characters be like if you wrote some? I’d love to hear. Until next time dear readers remember, writing=happiness. ;)