Parenting Teenagers: Female Role Models

Helping teen girls develop confidence today needs to be a creative and thoughtful exercise. Unplug from the media and go to resources like bookstores and museums and show your daughter what powerful ancient women used to aspire to. In many egalitarian communities, women not only ruled the roost but ran the temples and local politics and were greatly respected priestesses and healers. Delve into the history books on women's religion to discover times when women shared the dais with men and learn how archaeological findings have uncovered many more images of female deities than male.

Have a look at modern-day culture by revisiting the past. When we stop expanding the parameters of our philosophy, science, art and experiences of the world, past and present, our world becomes very small. Think outside the box and trust your daughter to develop her own role models. Keep broadening her perspective and spend some time at the Louvre (or on the Internet!) looking at the Goddess Athena, the Venus of Willendorf or Diana of Ephesus. They'll knock her socks off.

Know that no matter what age we are, we women can always find strong (and statuesque) leaders to inspire us.