Today’s population of adolescents has the size and power to catalyse change, both for themselves and for their communities. Globally, many youth are finding their voices and raising them to advocate for much-needed social changes in order to bring about a more secure and inclusive future. However, not all adolescents are afforded opportunities to define their own paths and explore who they want to become. Possibilities are often the starkest for adolescent girls, who tend to participate less in education, the labour force and civic life than their male counterparts. Evidence shows how empowering girls can significantly benefit them as they transition to adulthood, as well as leading to positive impacts on their families and society at large. However, girls and young women live in complex environments in which internal and external barriers prevent them from actualizing many game-changing opportunities. In most societies, formal and informal gender norms shape how freely a girl can develop, often scripting how she “should” behave and what she can or can’t do with her future. When people and societies buy into limiting gender scripts, girls and women are often hindered from dreaming, achieving, and fully participating in many domains of public life.
