6 April 2009 - Lack of real-life experience puts girls at risk
New Girlguiding UK research calls for better information
on the risks girls face and the skills they need to stay
safe.
Girls today are not given the experience and information they
need to assess risk and make good decisions about their safety,
according to new Girlguiding UK research.
Redefining risk: Girls shout out! is based on polling
among almost 1,000 members of Girlguiding UK aged between 10
and 18 and a series of in-depth focus groups. Key findings of
the report include:
- Half of girls believe they are not given enough freedom to do
things on their own
- Two-thirds of those over 13 feel that there are still more
rules for girls than for boys
- A fifth over 16 have been in a car when the driver has been
drinking
- One-in-five has considered meeting someone they encountered
online, even though equal numbers have experienced someone lying
about their identity
- Three-quarters believe that learning from past experiences
helps you to deal with risk.
Research indicates that the reporting of serious but rare
threats, coupled with the concerns of worried adults, can actually
distort the focus away from the more common daily risks facing
young women today. Trends identified in this new report are making
girls more vulnerable and ill equipped to deal with the challenging
real-life situations that they encounter every day. Indeed, some
actions to protect girls are actually putting them in more
danger.
Half of girls aged 10 to 18 believe that they are not given
enough independence to do things on their own (47 per cent.)
Two-thirds of girls over 13 feel that there are still more rules
for girls than for boys (65 per cent.)
Girls feel that peers with more protective or nervous adults in
their lives find it much harder to assess threats or handle
different situations. Girls who described their own parents as very
protective tend to agree that they are more cautious than their
friends. Half of those questioned believe that their own parents
worry too much about their safety (52 per cent).
Media headlines and the reactions of anxious parents cause girls
to be preoccupied with traditional 'stranger danger'. 40 per cent
of girls acknowledge that 'what I see or read on TV, in the
newspaper and on the internet makes me worry about my safety'. This
focus on very serious, but infrequent, crime has led girls to be
given inadequate advice, often causing them to misidentify risks,
prepare inadequately and unwittingly expose themselves to more
common threats. 42 per cent admit they sometimes find themselves in
situations they don't know how to handle.
Research indicates that fears about letting girls go out by
themselves means they spend more time on the internet which can be
an even riskier environment, often not understood by adults, where
there are even fewer rules to keep them safe. While girls describe
a risk-averse culture in the 'real world', they are exposed to
significant threats in the virtual world.
Almost half of all the girls questioned have seen things online
that have made them upset or frightened (46 per cent). Over a
quarter have been bullied over the internet (29 per
cent). Older girls are concerned that younger girls are now so
familiar with the internet they have become too trusting of it,
particularly because there is insufficient guidance information
available about to protect themselves. A fifth of all girls have
considered meeting someone they met online in real life (19 per
cent), even though similar numbers have come across someone online
who turned out not to be who they said they were (20 per cent).
Almost all girls questioned believe that carrying a mobile phone
makes them safer (95 per cent), unaware of the risks of being
distracted or displaying valuables. 85 per cent of 16- to
18-year-olds speak on a mobile phone and 79 per cent listen to an
iPod while walking alone at night. Two-fifths also take shortcuts
through parks or alleyways after dark. Meanwhile, a fifth of girls
of this age have been in a car when the person driving has been
drinking, while a quarter has been unable to get home after a night
out.
Rather than impose more rules, girls say that better
information, more up-to-date guidance, and more life experience
gives them the best chance of staying safe. Three-quarters believe
that learning from past experiences helps you to deal with risk (75
per cent), while two-thirds believe that challenging themselves in
situations where there are people around to look out for them makes
them safer in the real world (64 per cent).
Girls also argue that knowledge is much more likely to help them
make responsible choices than to lead them into risky behaviour. In
focus groups girls also argued that drinking responsibly at home,
under their parents' supervision, helps them to behave more safely
when they were out with their friends.
Chief Guide Liz Burnley said: 'All of us who care about young
women have a responsibility to keep them safe. But we also have a
responsibility to equip them for the world they live in today. As
the UK's largest organisation providing a safe space for girls and
young women, we know that educating girls responsibly about
difficult issues – from eating disorders to sex and relationships –
will give them the knowledge to make good decisions for themselves.
We know the freedom to try new things – from learning survival
skills to the rules of street safety – will help them stay
safe day-to-day.
'From our experience we know that doing things that they might
find frightening – from travelling to the other side of the world
or flying down a zip wire – will give them the confidence to
broaden their horizons and reach for new goals.'
A panel of young women from across the UK have developed a call
to action based on the research. Key points include:
- Girls to be given more experience and better information – in
safe environments
- New guidance on online safety to be developed specifically for
girls
- An end to gender-bias in public information
campaigns which enforce the idea that girls need to be looked
after by boys
- The introduction of a new young person's taxi scheme with youth
cab ranks
- Best-practice schemes like free rape alarms and flip-flops for
walking home to be made available nationwide
Ann Elledge, Director of Personal Safety at the Suzy Lamplugh
Trust, said: 'As girls grow up and become independent they need to
learn how to stay safe. It is necessary for them to take acceptable
risks once they are equipped with the appropriate information and
skills to assess and deal with such risks. They should then be able
to develop their own personal safety strategies.
'Girlguiding UK have produced an excellent report which includes
a wealth of valuable information about the concerns girls feel
about their safety and the skills they feel they need in order to
stay safe. As a society, we need to listen to what they say and
respond accordingly.'
Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online
Protection (CEOP) Centre, said: 'The Girlguiding UK Redefining
Risk report provides a contemporary picture of the experiences
of children and young people online and reflects what our
Thinkuknow Education Team hear from children and young people every
day: that parents and carers often don't know what they do and
where they go online, or the risks that children may face in online
environments.'
Redefining risk: Girls shout out! is the fifth
report in Girlguiding UK's new Girls shout out! research series.
Copies of the report can be downloaded from: www.girlguiding.org.uk/girlsshoutout.
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