"The ability to offer help is one of our greatest gifts," says Becky Hoeffler.

A Durham, North Carolina woman has stepped up to help elderly neighbors stay safe during the coronavirus threat by getting their groceries! Becky Hoeffler, a Duke University employee who's currently working from home due to the virus, was inspired to start her project when she called to check in on her grandfather. "He told me, 'I’m on my way to the grocery store' and I was just kind of concerned because he’s 91 and I thought, 'is there a reason you have to go to the grocery store?... So that’s what made me think, maybe I can go grocery shopping for others since I do live in a community that has several senior citizen neighbors." Since then, Hoeffler has helped several of her at-risk neighbors avoid crowded stores by getting their groceries on her lunch break. "I think utilizing people power is one of the best ways that we can combat the virus," she says. As Hoeffler told A Mighty Girl, "The ability to offer help is one of our greatest gifts." Continue reading → Continue reading

Our top picks of girl-empowering toys for all ages!

Several times a year, we release special guides for our supporters, including our annual Halloween Costume Guide, Holiday Gift Guide, and Books of the Year. By popular request, this year, we've prepared a special guide for Prime Day 2018 showcasing the best deals for the Mighty Girls in your life.

With Amazon offering over 100,000 deals for this year's Prime Day, it can be challenging to find the best deals for your family. To help make it easier, we've sorted through all of the options to find the most empowering and high quality toys and gear for kids of all ages, babies through teens. From building sets to arts & crafts to pretend-play toys, there's something that every Mighty Girl will love! Continue reading → Continue reading

We received a record number of photo submissions for our 2015 Halloween Gallery and we're awed by the creativity and variety of these Mighty Girls' amazing costumes. As we've always said, Mighty Girls know that their costume possibilities are limited only by their imaginations and with costumes ranging from ones based on favorite superheroes to ones inspired by historic role models, these Mighty Girls clearly know no bounds!

In this post, we've showcased a small sample of these incredible costumes -- to browse the nearly 2,000 photos submitted, visit the 2015 A Mighty Girl Halloween Gallery. And, to help you and your Mighty Girl learn more about the wonderful characters and historic figures depicted, we've also linked to our character collection and biography section where relevant.

And, if you're seeking girl-empowering dress-up clothing or costumes anytime of year, visit our extensive costume collection with options for all ages from infants through adults in A Mighty Girl's Halloween Costume Guide. You can also find Mighty Girl stories for many of the upcoming holidays, including Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas, in our Holidays & Celebrations collection. Continue reading → Continue reading

A Q&A by the A Mighty Girl Team

When Target announced that they would be removing gendered signs from the toy sections of its US stores, A Mighty Girl – and many in our community – were thrilled. Our Facebook post announcing this change, as of this writing, went viral with over 75,000 likes and 30,000 shares. While the response in our community was overwhelmingly positive, as word of the announcement spread, some commentators also had questions and concerns about the change. How would this affect shoppers? What does it mean for girls, boys, and parents? And, perhaps the root of many concerns: what’s the big deal about gendered marketing anyway?

LEGO ad, 1981

As supporters of ending gender discrimination and stereotyping, we applaud Target’s decision – and the many other efforts like it happening both in North America and around the world – so we wanted to address some of the most common questions we’ve been hearing about gender-neutral signage and marketing: how it works, why it’s important, and how it fits into other efforts to change the way the world sees girls and boys.

Gender-neutral marketing and merchandising is about much more than political correctness; instead, it’s a sign of the times, one that points to a shift away from strictly limited gender roles and towards a world where everyone can pursue their interests and talents without feeling like the odd one out. By the end of this blog post, we hope those with concerns will see why this decision is about so much more than signs. And, if you'd like to explore these issues in more depth than is possible in a short post, we've also recommend several books on this topic in the resource section below. Among the recommendations is an excellent new release for parents filled with advice on how to raise kids who are less constrained by gender stereotypes, Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue. 

If you share our feelings about gender-neutral toy marketing, please support companies that are doing the right thing by changing the way they organize their toy departments. You can leave a message congratulating Target for their decision on their Facebook page. Continue reading → Continue reading

We received a record number of photo submissions for our 2014 Halloween Gallery and we're awed by the creativity and variety of these Mighty Girls' amazing costumes. As we've always said, Mighty Girls know that their costume possibilities are limited only by their imaginations and with costumes ranging from ones based on favorite superheroes to ones inspired by historic role models, these Mighty Girls clearly know no bounds!

In this post, we've showcased a small sample of these incredible costumes -- to browse the over 1,300 photos submitted, visit the 2014 A Mighty Girl Halloween Gallery. And, to help you and your Mighty Girl learn more about the wonderful characters and historic figures depicted, we've also linked to our character collection and biography section where relevant.

And, if you're seeking girl-empowering dress-up clothing or costumes anytime of year, visit our extensive costume collection with options for all ages from infants through adults in A Mighty Girl's Halloween Costume Guide. You can also find Mighty Girl stories for many of the upcoming holidays, including Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas, in our Holidays & Celebrations collection. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Carleigh O’Connell, Guest Blogger

Carleigh in front of the graffiti

How does a 14-year-old girl stand up on a graffiti-covered rock that makes fun of her body, take a picture, and then have the picture go viral on the internet reaching over 4 million people? Well, it happened, and it happened to me.

I am not really sure what made me step up on the rock that day. I do know that I didn't hesitate to do it. I knew it my heart it was right, and looking back, I would make the same decision if I had it to do over again. This entire experience has been a whirlwind, and I have learned so much. One of the most valuable lessons I've learn is that sometimes you have to stand up for yourself when no one else will, and do what people don't expect you to do.

The way I saw it, I had a choice. I could have just walked away, cried in my room or tried to ignore it altogether, but that wasn't an option for me. I knew the moment I saw the graffiti that I had to respond, and that's exactly what I did. I responded back to someone's hurtful behavior instead of becoming the victim and letting them get away with it.

Some call this bullying; I just call it "mean." Whoever wrote this wanted to bring attention to themselves. I can only assume that they were trying to be funny or cool around their friends at my expense. So, I turned the tables and highlighted the fact that it wasn't about them, it was about me, and I am not okay with being someone's target or springboard for popularity. Continue reading → Continue reading

Doctor Who was a popular theme for Mighty Girls this Halloween so in celebration of the long-running British science fiction television show's 50th anniversary today, we present our A Mighty Girl tribute to the immortal time traveler!

If you're new to the program, one of its unusual features is that the lead character, the Doctor, periodically "regenerates" into a new body and a new actor takes on the role. The new season marks the character's 11th regeneration and, before actor Peter Capaldi was announced as the newest incarnation of the Doctor, there was much speculation that a woman could take on one of the most famous roles in television.

Actor John Barrowman, who played Captain Jack Harkness on the show, endorsed the idea, stating “We’ve had great guys playing the role. The character of River Song was so popular in the last part of the series and it [had] such an impact -- why shouldn’t we have a female doctor?” Helen Mirren, who was widely floated as an excellent choice for the role, added, “I think it’s absolutely time for a female Doctor Who. I’m so sick of that man with his girl sidekick. I could name at least 10 wonderful British actresses who would absolutely kill in that role.” Continue reading → Continue reading

This year, we've received a huge number of photo submissions for our Halloween album and we're awed by the creativity and variety of these Mighty Girls' amazing costumes. As we've always said, Mighty Girls know that their costume possibilities are limited only by their imaginations and, with costumes ranging from ones based on favorite superheroes to ones inspired by historic role models, these Mighty Girls clearly know no bounds!

In this post, we've showcased a small sample of these incredible costumes -- to browse the over 700 photos submitted, visit the 2013 A Mighty Girl Halloween Album. And, to help you and your Mighty Girl learn more about the wonderful characters and historic figures depicted, we've also linked to our character collection and biography section where relevant.

If you missed our earlier post highlighting creative Mighty Girl costumes from 2012, check out our blog post, A Mighty Girl Halloween: 50 Mighty Girls in Costume.

And, if you're seeking girl-empowering dress-up clothing or costumes anytime of year, visit our extensive costume collection with options for all ages from infants through adults in A Mighty Girl's Halloween Costume Guide. You can also find Mighty Girl stories for many of the upcoming holidays, including Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas, in our Holidays & Celebrations collection.
Continue reading → Continue reading