Who Runs the World? Girlhood in 2020

Sometimes it takes an outsider to show us who we truly are. To get some perspective on the lives of girls in Irvine, The Vine spoke with a journalist living in Europe.

Sacha Nauta is the public policy editor for The Economist. When she decided to research what life is like for girls growing up in the modern age, she reached across the globe to connect with a variety of friend groups as well as individuals, including a group of girls from Irvine.

“It was quite a hunt,” says Sacha. “I used my own network to look for interesting eleven to sixteen-year-olds, and then I saw where are the gaps in terms of diversity, both socioeconomic background and ethnicity, as well as urban/rural, which was quite important. They’re such different experiences. In the end I’d like to think I have a relatively representative sample of girls.”

When Sacha’s research led her to a tight-knit group of twelve-year-old girls living in Irvine, she initially planned to travel to their neighborhood to speak in person. Due to the pandemic, she had to make other arrangements. Sacha spoke both with each individual member of the six-person group, as well as collectively, via Zoom. Beyond studying the interests, attitudes, and friend interactions of the subjects from Irvine, she connected with friend groups across the US and other countries.

“We spoke primarily with groups of girls in the United States, on both the East and West coasts, as well as Middle America,” says Sacha. “And then we spoke with girls in Britain, particularly London versus rural England. And finally we spoke with girls in the Netherlands, where I’m based myself, mostly because I speak the language. The point was to only speak to girls in their primary language. We spoke with girls in Amsterdam as well as other parts of the country.”

Although the girls, who all participated anonymously, had a lot in common, Sacha found distinct differences based on the communities in which they live. The girls from Irvine made an impression.

“They were a great group,” says Sacha. “They were very informed about the world around them and very socially engaged. They have this really interesting mix of the insecurities that come with girls at that age, but also with a huge self confidence about their ability to go and change the world. I found that massively inspiring.”

Sacha wondered whether this confidence she observed in the girls from Irvine was, in part, due to the community in which they live.

“It was clear with this particular group that their friendships were an important part of their support network, and that they came from families who built on that support,” says Sacha. “They clearly had, in school and in their community, and in their environment, a lot of positive influences to help them develop. But they were also aware of that privilege.  I think for their age they were surprisingly aware that not the whole world was like Irvine. This goes back their social consciousness and quiet confidence in their own abilities, which was striking.”

In addition to the confidence Sacha observed in the Irvine friend group, she also noticed stress. She says the strain to succeed is seen in many, but not all, of the groups she spoke with.

“One way where girls in America were perhaps a little bit different from some of the girls here in the Netherlands is the pressures they feel,” says Sacha. “Not specific to this group, by the way, so I would be careful to not pick them out. I think it’s partly the education system. You do see this with some parts of England as well. The flip side of all the confidence and expectations is that they do pile quite a lot of pressure on themselves. It’s something you see with girls around the world but I think you see it particularly in America.”

Sacha sees the pressure girls feel as a byproduct of their expectation of future success. Planning to take over the planet would be daunting for anyone, and today’s girls are no exception.

“I’m of two minds about it,” says Sacha. “It is a little bit depressing and yet they’re doing phenomenally well. They’re doing better than boys in school, they’re going to go and rule the world and all of that. Maybe them feeling that expectation is the price. Helping them to navigate that without developing some crippling fear of failure is going to be the challenge.

“By the way,” adds Sacha, “for this particular group, I didn’t feel that they were crippled by it. It’s just something they were aware of.”

Through her exploration of girl life in 2020, Sacha naturally referred back to her own girlhood. She found that girls still face similar obstacles including gender stereotypes and limiting attitudes from parents or teachers, although less so than in the past. Today’s girls, however, see greater potential than ever before.

“I think the possibilities have changed,” says Sacha, who was born in 1983. “I grew up with the Spice Girls, so some of the lingo was definitely there. I had lots of opportunities as well but I think whereas then we sang and talked about girl power, now it seems like a much more broadly carried theme in girlhood. The possibilities have deepened and broadened. I’m simplifying a little bit here because there are plenty of challenges still, but on the whole, the barriers that might hold girls back have reduced since I was a girl. I think that’s terrifically exciting.”

It is this positivity in today’s girls which made Sacha’s work so personally rewarding.

Sacha Nauta is The Economist’s Public Policy Editor. Photo credit The Economist.

“It was so much fun to do this article,” says Sacha. “I’m not blind to the obstacles that still remain but the nice thing about zooming out and going back to what it was like to be a girl in the fifties, seventies, eighties, and comparing what it’s like to be girl now is that you can say, ‘Yes, there’s plenty more work to do, but my goodness what an exciting time to be a young woman. And what an inspiring generation this is.’”

Sacha’s work delving into the lives of girls is over for now. She has plans to resume, however, especially for the Irvine girls.

“It was such a joy to listen to that group of girls and to see them interact with each other,” says Sacha. “I very much hope in ten years time to reach out to them all again and see what became of them.”

For more, read “Awesome, weird and everything else,” Sacha Nauta’s article on girlhood and her companion piece on the effects of COVID-19 on girlhood, “Covid-19 threatens girls’ gigantic global gains.” Not an Economist subscriber? You can register for three free articles per month.