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G Day celebrates sisterhood

Madeleine Shaw expected her transition from girlhood to puberty to feel more momentous. She longed for an acknowledgement of her shift into adolescence.
Madeline Shaw
Madeline Shaw. photo supplied

Madeleine Shaw expected her transition from girlhood to puberty to feel more momentous. She longed for an acknowledgement of her shift into adolescence.

Fast-forward 30 years and the socially conscious entrepreneur has created an event called G Day for Girls that she hopes will eventually become a global rite of passage for fledgling teens aged 10 to 12.

“I feel like youth today… are heading into tough times socially,” Shaw said. “The more grounded they are in terms of themselves and feeling confident and seen and part of a community, and kind of welcomed into this world and welcomed onto this journey towards adulthood, the better.”

Shaw sees cyber bullying and the proliferation of highly sexualized images of girls and women making life even harder these days.

“There were no thong panties for sale for girls at department stores or padded bras [when I was growing up],” said the mother of a nearly nine-year-old daughter.

The inaugural G Day happens in Vancouver April 28.

The full-day affair starts with Shaw speaking to preteens about sisterhood.

“The game will quickly become who’s prettier, who’s more popular, who’s skinnier, who’s got more friends on Facebook, all these metrics that are about comparison with other girls,” she said.

Shaw wants girls from all different backgrounds to value themselves and each other.

“We can look in one another’s eyes and know that regardless of where we’re from in the city, what school we go to, anything, we’re going to have something in common because of what we’re going through right now,” she said.

Ish Jhaj will highlight how her love of soccer inspired her to start a non-profit organization that aims to help girls in rural India try the sport.

Local 19-year-old Zoya Jiwa will tell the girls how at age 15 she was diagnosed with Lupus, which affected her appearance, and how she grew to understand the importance of inner beauty, gratitude and courage.

“I chose those two speakers… partly because they’re very young,” Shaw said. “It’s not a great leap if you’re 12 to see someone who’s 19 and to really attach yourself to them as a role model.”

Shaw, co-founder of Lunapads and Pads4Girls, which provides pads to girls in developing countries, says G Day is presenting “real-life heroes” as alternatives to famous singers and models.

G Day includes sessions on overcoming self-doubt, yoga and mindfulness and songs and stories from indigenous ensemble M’Girl Music. The day will end with a ritual celebrating sisterhood.

“[G Day] could play a really powerful role in supporting youth at a really key transitional part of their lives to help them feel empowered and inspired and take them into the future with a nice big awesome hooray,” Shaw said.

She hopes to see G Day replicated globally, following in the footsteps of We Day, an event and a movement of young people leading local and global change.

Tickets are $75. Twenty per cent of the tickets were given to girls from low-income backgrounds and $10 from each regularly priced ticket will be donated to imagine1day, a Vancouver-based charity that works to further education for girls in Ethiopia.

For more information, see gdayforgirls.com

crossi@vancourier.com

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