I promise to do my best… to overturn the patriarchy

Julia Peters is a member of Girlguiding’s Advocate panel, the group behind Girlguiding’s Girls Matter campaign. She regularly meets with the 17 other Girlguiding Advocates to discuss issues girls care about and seek change. She was a Guide and is now a Brownie leader.

Why is being equal so important to me? It’s simple – so many pressures are on me because I’m a girl, and that isn’t right.

I’ve had girl friends who wanted to do science, technology, engineering or maths qualifications after they finished school, and they were told that that’s what boys do – girls should be doing things like teaching or nursing.

In the past I’ve not continued to do sport, go to the gym or go running because of the pressure to look right when you’re doing it – you tend to get comments like “you run like a girl” and about how you should look while you’re keeping fit. Friends have walked out of the gym because groups of guys were looking over at them and wolf-whistling.

Because of these things, throughout my life I always pushed myself to lead, to speak out, to make my own decisions – because I’ve felt pressure to do exactly the opposite, and I try to compensate for it.

The eight changes that the Girls Matter campaign is calling on politicians to make:
- Listen to girls and young women, take them seriously and make sure their voices count
- Demand that schools take a zero-tolerance approach to sexual bullying and harassment 
- Call on all schools to teach body confidence and gender equality 
- Make girls' rights a priority in the UK's approach to international development 
- Stop children's exposure to harmful sexualised content in mainstream media 
- Empower girls and young women to speak out and be heard on the impact of media sexism and stereotyping 
- Modernise sex and relationship education so all young people can make informed decisions and stay safe 
- Guarantee that women will be equally represented in parliament
To find out more about Girls Matter, visit www.girlguiding.org.uk/girlsmatter

Being a Girlguiding Advocate is amazing – I meet other young women who feel the same way about the pressures we face.

We meet to discuss the issues girls care about, and seek change. Body confidence, everyday sexism, representation in parliament, better sex and relationships education – these are just some of the things we discuss and take action on.

So why fight for equality?

In a more equal world I feel like I can make a difference and be a positive role model for my Brownies. I can speak out about issues that are affecting me and that are affecting girls now.

A more equal world means that my Brownies can grow up and be exactly who they want to be – not that they have to stop caring about certain subjects at school, or act in a certain way. They feel accepted, safe, and they don’t feel pressure to act differently.

At Brownie meetings, they don’t feel like they have to hide who they are. If they want to join in with games, they do. They know the other girls are going to be supportive, and they aren’t going to be judged for acting how they want to act. That’s the power of Girlguiding.

We should all be equal. That’s just how it should be.