Think Girls Make Good Leaders & Can Be Good Students

Gender discrimination has come a long way in the past few decades. Colleges have gone co-ed, a woman will soon appear on the $20 bill, and Hillary Clinton is again a candidate in the upcoming presidential election. But according to a new study from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, we still have a ways to go before we reach true gender equality. 

The study polled 20,000 students at a diverse group of 59 middle schools and high schools to learn about how they viewed girls' leadership abilities. They found that many teen girls, teen boys, and parents have biases against teen girls as leaders.

When it comes to politics, for example, 23 percent of girls preferred male politicians, 8 percent preferred female politicians, and 69 percent had no preference; 40 percent of boys preferred male politicians, 4 percent preferred female politicians, and 56 percent had no preference.

The study's findings are important because girls make up half our population. If we don't support girls' dreams of making it big, then how can we all ever achieve our dreams? Girls are just as qualified to lead as guys are, and studies show that female leadership styles can be just as effective (if not more so) than traditionally male leadership styles.