Dear Future President,

The insult “like a girl” is offensive and limits the potential of girls. Although women and girls are treated better than they were before, women's issues are still an issue. Phrases such as “you throw like a girl” or “don't cry like a girl” or even “you'll never get ahead if you act like a girl”, diminish girls confidence and make them feel like girls can't thrive in society.

With the world's population being 51% female, why is there still the male gender superiority? With things such as high violence rates against women, lower pay for equal work, i think that we should respect women and girls better and give them the same confidence that we give boys in our society. The insult “like a girl” even affects men. When another man or boy shows his emotions by either crying or being compassionate, another man will say to him “don't be such a girl”. Not only does it make women feel like they can't show their emotions or else they will be “girly”, but it makes men feel as if they can't show their emotions as well or else they aren't “manly”. As president, I hope you bring this up to the public as an issue that needs to be fixed.

The feminine care brand, Always, aired a commercial during the Super Bowl that asked girls of different ages to “run like a girl”. In the commercial, the younger girls ran as fast as they could and they looked focused. When the teenage girls and women were asked to “run like a girl”, they flailed their arms and purposely looked like they were incapable of running. This shows that women lose confidence in themselves once they become young adults. Telegraph.co.uk said “if we want girls to be proud of their sex, we need to celebrate every aspect of it.” And that's exactly what I think we need to do.

As president, I hope you address these issues and bring confidence to young women and wipe out the idea that women are not good enough. We need to get rid of the idea that being a girl is bad.

Sincerely,

Lauren W.