I’ve written before that our young daughters have few role models. Now, a CBS News article claims that 25 percent of young women surveyed by Oxygen Media “would rather win ‘America’s Next Top Model’ than the Nobel Peace Prize.” I suppose this isn’t much of a surprise. Only 11 women have won the Prize, some sharing it with men -Baroness Bertha von Suttner (1905), Jane Addams (1931) shared with Nicholas Murray Butler, Emily Greene Balch (1946) (shared with John Mott, YMCA), Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan (1976), Mother Teresa(1979), Alva Myrdal (1982) (shared with Alfonso García Robles), Aung San Suu Kyi (1991), Rigoberta Menchú Tum (1992), Jody Williams (1997), Shirin Ebadi (2003) and Wangari Maathai (2004).
I have only myself to blame. My daughter has watchede almost every episode of “America’s Top Model” and I’ve never even uttered one of the names above in our household, with the exception of Mother Teresa. I have to admit that winning the Nobel Peace Prize requires a great deal more work than “Top Model,” and most of our children today are not really into blood, sweat, sacrifice and pain unless they’re saving up for a Coach purse or Jimmy Choo shoes.
As if our daughters’ aspirations, or lack of, aren’t heartbreaking enough, the article quotes a USA Today poll where HALF of the young women respondents “would rather get hit by a bus than get fat.” Wow. They would opt for broken bones, chronic pain and massive internal injuries as opposed to getting fat. At least we can be comforted by the fact that more than half of all respondents to a Pew Research study cited FAME as their number one aspiration. That’s getting a little closer to the Nobel Peace Prize…maybe.
CBS News Legal Analyst Lisa Bloom, author of “Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World,” claims that “while most American women can name at least one Kardashian sister, the majority can’t name a single branch of the federal government.”
ARGH!!!! I’m a failure. I admit it. I let my daughter watch mind-numbing television shows, although I’m pretty sure she can name the branches of government (note to self, chec on this).
Perhaps it’s a symptom, perhaps is the disease, but it is clear that young girls find their role models in celebrities. A century ago, women had few choices. Today, they are unlimited, yet still the choice to “be someone” is more attractive than “doing something.” As mothers, we owe it to our daughters to educate them on the incredible woman who sacrificed everything – friends, family, and life – to give today’s women the ability to vote, be independent and make our own choices. Encourage them to make good ones.