Girl Power - Your Shortcut... From the Vault

0:00Listen up, Squizzkids! You have got just one more week to send in your questions for Aaron Blavy and put him in our Q&A hot seat. We've switched it on and it's already warming up, but we need your questions to turn up the heat. The creator of Bad Guys, Pig the Pug and the brand new Game of Pets is coming back and you get to do the asking. Why is he so good at writing naughty characters? Was he one himself? Was he a pet of his own? And what is it that he loves so much about the grumpy Mr Snake? What's his favourite sandwich? And before his books became famous did he ever feel like giving up and what was it that kept him going? And after reading Game of Pets, what is it that we should be looking out for in case our pets are secretly part of an intergalactic game show? I've got my eye on you, Fluffy. Funny questions, thoughtful questions, something that you've always wanted to know, send it in. Ask a grown-up or a teacher to help you send an email to squizzkidsatthsquizz.com today

1:04you right now and we'll pick the best ones to ask Aaron. One more week, your question, Aaron Blavy in the hot seat, what are you waiting for? Hey, squizzkids, it's Christy here. It's Sunday so I'm back down here again in the Squizzkids Vault and I found a box marked girl power. Let's see what's inside. Here's a football. A science kid. A superhero cape and a pair of enormous platform shoes. Ah, that must be an odd to the spice girls. Did you know they're one of Bryce's all-time favourite groups? They helped make girl power famous. But there's much more to this story than pop stars and stunning footwear. Today is the United Nations International Day of the Girl, a day to celebrate girls,

2:07listen to their ideas and stand up for their right to learn, follow their dreams and help shape the world. So pop those platform shoes to one side or pop them one if you like. We've got some big footsteps to follow in. Let's explore girl power from the vault. This is a Squizzkids Podcast. Girl fresh take on what's happening in the world around you. Girls are more likely to do housework, less likely to go to school and they're doing something about it. This is your Squizzkids shortcut to girl power. The podcast where we dive into the who, what, when, where, why and how of the big news stories. I'm Amanda Power. No Bryce call it. Bryce, the world is home to 1.1 billion girls under 18.

3:10And given that October 11 is the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child, it seemed like the perfect time to talk about where this phrase girl power comes from, why there's an international day for girls, what chores and weddings have to do with it, and how superheroes and sport stars are a sign of better times. Oh, sounds great. Now listen carefully because there's a Squizz at the end. Where? Amanda, I think I'm showing my age, but doesn't the phrase girl power come from that British pop band from the 1990s, the Spice Girls? They are definitely the ones who made it popular Bryce, but it actually started a little earlier in America when this girl punk band called Bikini Kills, don't ask me what that means. Start, start an magazine. And that magazine subtitle was Girl Power. The band was known for its feminism, which means standing up for women's rights, but it

4:10was definitely those five Spice Girls who really pushed the slogan girl power into popular culture and even into the Oxford English Dictionary. I remember. They were all about friendship between girls, about girls helping their friends feel confident, powerful and strong, and it may or may not be true that I can sing the lyrics to every single one of their songs from the album Spice World, but that's probably not for now. Tell me what you want, but you really, really want. And there it is. Anyway, back to the Spice Girls. They made the phrase girl power a part of the popular culture, didn't they? Sure did. Nowadays, if you Google Girl Power, you'll find playlists, t-shirts, and you'll find shirts, organisations running workshops, sports, camps for girls. It's a really common thing to see girls being encouraged to seize opportunities and make the most of their abilities. So if that's the case, why do we need an international day of the girl child? Why?

5:11Okay, Amanda. The United Nations has dozens and dozens of international days. There's a day of Indigenous peoples, a day for biological diversity, a day against nuclear testing. Why do girls get one? Well, the UN says that these days are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern and fire them up to address problems. Uh-huh. There's been an international women's day since the early 1900s, and that tries to make things more equal between men and women. But in 2011, the UN decided that it should draw attention to issues faced specifically by girls in their younger years. So on October 11, 2012, the first international day of the girl child was celebrated. Okay, so what are some of those issues that are faced especially by girls? Well, education is a big one. So yeah, girl power is a well-known thing in Australia, in America, in Europe, but there are 32 million girls worldwide who are primary school age, just like U-squiz kids listeners,

6:12and they're not going to school. What? And it gets even worse when they become teenagers. So globally, nearly a quarter of all girls aged 15 to 19 don't have a job and they're not at school or university. And that's compared with one in 10 boys of the same age. So I'm imagining some kids are listening, thinking, no school, that sounds alright to me. Well, yeah, I guess it could sound like fun not to go to school if you're staying home and playing video games or hanging out with your friends. But yeah. These primary school-age kids who aren't getting educated are usually extremely poor, and they're having to help their parents trying to scrape together a living, just put food on the table. So imagine that you can't read, you can't write, and you're doing back-breaking work, it's really not much fun. And then of course, there are places where girls aren't allowed to go to school. We've talked on Squids Kids today about the challenges facing girls in Afghanistan who are trying to get educated. That's right. Taliban, an extremist religious group that regained power in Afghanistan in 2021, has

7:17stopped most girls from being able to go to school. OK, so education is one area of concern for many millions of girls. You mentioned weddings and chores earlier. What do they have to do with the situation facing some girls today? What? Bryce, hold onto your hat for this statistic. OK. A new report from the Save the Children Organization estimates that one girl under the age of 15 is married every seven seconds. Oh, what? But that is really young, and every seven seconds that is really often. Yeah, in the time we've just spoken these last few sentences, at least two children have gotten married. Wow. Another way of thinking about that is that one in four women in the world today got married when they were still a child. Why would their parents let them? Well, usually it's their parents arranging it. Oh. They're doing it because they think it's the best thing for the family and for the girl.

8:18They sort of think of marriage as a way of protecting a girl and making sure she has a husband to take care of her. And in some cases and places, people still think that the main role of a girl is to get married and have babies. And I'm guessing those attitudes to what girls should be doing has something to do with the chore situation as well, huh? Yeah, that's right. So worldwide, according to UNICEF, girls ages five to 14 spend more than 160 million hours on household chores than boys of the same age do. Hmm, that doesn't sound like gender equality to me. Well, and if a girl is doing more than her fair share of chores, then she's not able to spend as much time on homework and the cycle continues. But you mentioned that things are getting better. How? The first thing to know is that every single statistic we've talked about with education, child marriage, chores, the numbers are improving, as organisations like the UN work to educate

9:23people about the problem with discriminating against girls, but also about the positives of getting girl power going. And they're definitely more role models for girls now, aren't they? So, lately, we're seeing women go into science and computing, we're seeing more women in politics, we're even seeing more girl power at the movies. So price, you know, when you and I were kids, the only superhero movies were about that man, superman, spider man, there were a lot of men. Yeah. And there were comic book girls superheroes just in the comic books, but they used to often be like the weakest in the gang or they were drawn in ways that drew a little more attention to their looks and their outfits than actually their characters and their powers. You're right. So now, we've got full-length feature films about Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, yeah, you get that idea. Girl power. And we see the same on our sports fields. Women started competing at the Olympics starting in 1900, but only in three sports.

10:25In 1988, only a quarter of all Olympic athletes were women, and the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 was the highest percentage so far at 49%. Oh, so close to half. So despite being almost equal on that front, if you turn on the telly or pick up a paper, you'll see that only about 10% of the total sports coverage on any given day in Australia is showing women's sport. That could have something to do with the fact that only 10% of sports journalists are women, even though women make up half of all journalists. Well girls, if you love sport and writing, that is a great future career option. Girl power. Time for the quiz. This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening. Question number one, how many sports were women allowed to compete in when they were first allowed at the Olympics?

11:25That's right, it was a measly three. Question two. How often is a girl under 15 married in the world today? Yep, you got it. It's an astonishing every seven seconds. Question three, what is the name of the British pop group who help make famous the expression girl power? It's right at surprise, it's favourite, the spice girls. The spice girls! That's all we have time for today. Thanks for joining us as we explored the who, what, how, where, when, and why of girl power. Now get out there and have a most excellent day. Over and out.