Girl

However, girl can also be a professional designation for a woman employed as a model or other public feminine representative such as a showgirl, and in such cases is not generally considered derogatory.

In her case, as a child, she was in a precarious position as a possible heir to the throne, and her life was endangered by the political scheming of other powerful members of the court.

It is traditional in many countries for Catholic girls to wear white dresses and possibly a small veil or wreath of flowers in their hair to their First Communion.

Thus, where a girl's future well-being depended upon marrying her to a man who was economically self-sufficient, it was crucial to prepare her to meet whatever qualities or skills were popularly expected of wives.

In cultures ranging from Ancient Greece to the twentieth-century United States, girls were taught essential domestic skills including sewing, cooking, gardening and basic hygiene, and medical care such as preparing balms and salves, and in some cases midwifery.

A well-known reference to these important women's skills is in the folk tale Rumpelstiltskin, which dates back to medieval Germany and was collected in written form by the folklorists the Brothers Grimm.

In some parts of China, beginning in the Southern Tang kingdom in Nanjing (937–975),[13] the custom of foot binding was associated with upper-class women who were worthy of a life of leisure, and husbands who could afford to spare them the necessity of work (which would require the ability to be mobile and spend the day on their feet).

[13] Because of this belief, parents hoping to ensure a good marriage for their daughters would begin binding their feet from about the age of 5–8 to achieve the ideal appearance.

This coming-of-age custom, sometimes incorrectly described as "female circumcision", is being outlawed by governments, and challenged by human rights groups and other concerned community members, who are working to end the practice.

The gender imbalance in these regions is also blamed for spurring growth in the commercial sex trade; the UN's 2005 report states that up to 800,000 people being trafficked across borders each year, and as many as 80 percent are women and girls.

In response to the signals, the gonads produce hormones that stimulate libido and the growth, function, and transformation of the brain, bones, muscle, blood, skin, hair, breasts, and sexual organs.

[31][32] According to a 2010 Canadian study, the variation of age in which menstruation begins had a "statistically significant" relation to where the child was living, household income, and family type.

"[53] Author Judith Harris has said that aside from their genetic contribution, the nurturing provided by parents likely has less long-term influence over their offspring than other environmental aspects such as the children's peer group.

[54] In England, studies by the National Literacy Trust have shown girls score consistently higher than boys in all scholastic areas from the ages of 7 through 16, with the most striking differences noted in reading and writing skills.

"When girls take the exact same courses," commented Wayne Camara, a research scientist with the College Board, "that 35-point gap dissipates quite a bit."

At the time Leslie R. Wolfe, president of the Center for Women Policy Studies said girls scored differently on the math tests because they tend to work the problems out while boys use "test-taking tricks" such as immediately checking the answers already given in multiple-choice questions.

[63] Some critics contend that it is a violation of capabilities and human rights and can create economic inefficiencies and discrimination, while some supporters argue that it is central to certain religious laws and social and cultural histories and traditions.

"[76] It is practiced mainly in 28 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa, particularly Egypt and Ethiopia, and in parts of Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

[87] The ten countries with the highest rates of child marriage are: Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Bangladesh, Guinea, Mozambique, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, and Malawi.

[95] Risk factors includes family history, high-level athletics, bullying, social media, modeling, substance use disorder, being a dancer or gymnast[96][97][98] Gender influences the pattern of child labor.

[99][100] The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1988) and Millennium Development Goals (2000) promoted better access to education for all girls and boys and to eliminate gender disparities at both primary and secondary level.

[50] A number of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have created programs focusing on addressing disparities in girls' access to such necessities as food, healthcare and education.

PLAN International's 2011 Annual Report points out that men have more influence and may be able to convince communities to curb early marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) more effectively than women.

Egyptian religious leader Sheikh Saad, who has campaigned against the practice, is quoted in the report: “We have decided that our daughter will not go through this bad, inhumane experience [...] I am part of the change.”[103] Historically, art and literature in Western culture has portrayed girls as symbols of innocence, purity, virtue and hope.

Well-known children's books about girls include Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Nancy Drew series, Little House on the Prairie, Madeline, Pippi Longstocking, A Wrinkle in Time, Dragonsong, and Little Women.

[104] Literature followed different cultural currents, sometimes romanticizing and idealizing girlhood, and at other times developing under the influence of the growing literary realism movement.

Many Victorian novels begin with the childhood of their heroine, such as Jane Eyre, an orphan who suffers ill treatment from her guardians and then at a girls' boarding school.

Popular literary novels include Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird in which a young girl, Scout, is faced with the awareness of the forces of bigotry in her community.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden begins as the female main character and her sister are dropped off in the pleasure district after being separated from their family in nineteenth-century Japan.

In the Peanuts series (by Charles Schulz) girl characters include Peppermint Patty, Lucy van Pelt and Sally Brown.