By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

In our Mighty Careers blog series, we celebrate the careers that Mighty Girls around the world are dreaming of pursuing one day! In each blog, we provide a career role model, as well as recommendations for books, clothing, and toys to support and encourage her aspirations. Whether she’s three or thirteen, you’ll find options here to teach her more about her dream job — and help her start preparing to live it!

In this post, we’ll talk about the Mighty Girls who dream of designing the future as engineers. From the first day your infant Mighty Girl tried to figure out how to make her stack of blocks taller, she’s been engineering; but, while numbers are rising, in most nations fewer than 12% of engineers are female. We’re betting this generation of Mighty Girls will change that, but to do so, they need all the support and encouragement we have to give!

If you want to foster your Mighty Girl’s interest in engineering, this blog will give you the resources to do that. Whether you’re sharing stories of women engineers, tinkering with some great engineering toys, or getting her a shirt that lets her declare to everyone what she wants to be when she grows up, you’ll be letting her know that her dream can become reality.

For more Mighty Careers posts, check out the earlier entries in the series about astronauts, wildlife biologists, and pilots. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

Since 1970, Earth Day has grown from a one-time event involving 20 million Americans to an annual global day of awareness involving more than 22,000 organizations in 192 countries. On April 22 and throughout the month of April, people everywhere focus on the wonders of our amazing planet and the need to protect it.

In preparation for Earth Day, A Mighty Girl will provide a variety of resources that parents and educators can use to introduce environmental issues and concerns to children. We begin our new blog series with this post showcasing girl-empowering movies with an environmental theme. These films showcase the beauty and fragility of the Earth and both the fictional and real Mighty Girls and women who have worked to protect it.

So curl up with your Mighty Girl and share one of these great films; they’re sure to get her thinking about how she could change the world. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Lili Sandler, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

April has arrived, and with it, baseball and softball season! Both iconic and poetic, few games have captivated the American public year after year with the same level of passion and devotion. While baseball has, unfortunately, remained a male-dominated sport in the professional realm, its steadfast allure has earned it a place in the heart of many a Mighty Girl, young and old alike.

For that reason, we have pulled together a list of some of our favorite books, toys, clothes, and more for the baseball and softball lover in your life. Whether watching her favorite team on TV or at the ballpark, learning about women’s roles in the history of baseball and softball, tossing a ball around in her own backyard, or playing on a real live team, if you know a Mighty Girl with an interest in America’s pastime, there’s sure to be something for her here!

WOMEN IN BASEBALL HISTORY

While girls and women have always been interested in the game of baseball (Vassar College boasts an all-girl’s baseball team as early as 1866, only 9 years after the first national baseball association was formed) their ability to play at a professional level was limited to only 12 seasons. From 1943 - 1954, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was home to more than 600 women athletes who played for 15 different teams throughout the midwestern United States. Many books have been published discussing the history of the AAGPBL, several of which you can find in our baseball and softball section.

For a survey of the AAGPBL and an introduction to some of the players therein, readers 10 and up will enjoy Sue Macy’s A Whole New Ball Game: The Story of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. In it, Macy addresses many of the societal issues the young women of the time were forced to deal with in order to play ball, as well as the economic issues of running a baseball league.

A well-known and equally-loved movie, Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own tells the story of the AAGPBL through the eyes of a pair of sisters who play for the Rockford Peaches. Starring Geena Davis, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, and Tom Hanks, this film is recommended for ages 9 and up. Continue reading → Continue reading