By Kacie Otto
When I was a kid, Thursday nights after school were my favorite because that was the night we met for Girl Scouts in the cafeteria at my school. I really believe that part of my foundation as a feminist and leader started with my involvement in the Girl Scouts as a small kid.
I was thrilled this week because the Women’s Center got to take a part in educating a small, new group of future female leaders. As a part of our fall programming, we invited a Girl Scout Troop to our office to learn about different representations of girls and boys in the media and how those images might affect us. We used the Miss Representation film’s fourth and fifth grade curriculum to inform our discussion with the girls. The group of 14 Girl Scouts were ready and willing to talk about how Barbie does not always represent real girls, and GI Joe does not always represent real boys.
The Girl Scouts used adjectives to describe female leaders like Hilary Clinton, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Katniss Everdeen and then made scratch art bookmarks where they could use empowering words that describe themselves. Hopefully, these bookmarks will stand as an encouragement to the girls in times when they are feeling not so confident in themselves.
I think this program is one of the reasons that the Women’s Center is so valuable to the UMKC campus and community of Kansas City. We were able to encourage a new generation of female leaders within our community through this collaboration with the Girl Scouts. Perhaps, we’ve even inspired some future Roos.