PROGRAM CURRENTLY UNDER RE-DEVELOPMENTThe vision for our G.I.R.L. program is committed to bringing about a positive change in the mindset, thoughts and actions of our girls and young ladies. Our goal is to help them to become healthy, confident, ambitious and respectful members of society and command respect and equality in all facets of life.
Pelican State Youth Movement organization's hope for this program hinges on the following goals:
  1. raise the self-esteem of our young ladies and help them to realize that they're just as important as their counterparts(young men) in all facets of their development. Whether it be social, educational, spiritual, etc., the choices that they make will profoundly affect their lives.
  2. Bring awareness to issues facing our young adolescent ladies and the give them a forum to voice their social or personal concerns in a group setting, or one on one with mentor.
  3. Challenge them to to value themselves, command respect from boys and young men in their lives, thus influencing better more respectful and responsible behavior in our young men.

In today’s society, our young women face a myriad of challenges in their development into adulthood.  There are issues with regard to being victims of violence (physical and sexual abuse) both domestically and socially.  Being subject to these types of abuse can take its toll.  The pressures of measuring up to perhaps their mothers or their male counterparts are all too common.  Society’s conflicting and unrealistic expectations about how women and girls are supposed to look, the pressure to be perfect wives and mothers while at the same time give 100% to their kids, and 100% to their jobs, are simply unfair.  There are also the ever present adolescent pressures of fitting in, wearing the latest fashions, having the coolest boyfriend, dealing with a zit attack, or avoiding the dreaded “getting fat” syndrome.

All of the above distractions can totally consume the thoughts of young ladies and prevent them from focusing on their education, family and other important areas.  The self-esteem suffers and has the potential lead to an avalanche of self-depriving behaviors.  Individuals with low self-esteem are more likely to do things that harm their health, like smoke, drink too much, abuse drugs, and so on. Low self-esteem also has implications for society, and has been identified as a major factor in crime and violence, teen pregnancy and poor school achievement.
We feel that by establishing this platform, our young ladies can begin healing themselves, start feeling better about themselves, become mentors by helping and encourage girls and young ladies to aspire to be more.  If you're interested in donating or volunteering for this program, please visit click the donation button to the right, or visit our volunteer page for more information.  Thank you in advance for your support.

As to the 3rd point above, an article from LDS.org states that young women are the real guardians in terms of grooming, if you will, the young men of tomorrow: "Young ladies have a profound influence on young, masculine behavior.  Young men wear clothes they think you like.  Their hair will be cut to please you.  You can control how fast they drive their cars if you want."  "Young men--maturing, learning, and forming habits--have ideals and special persons they admire.  You must be such a person."

As the following comment to another article from Young Ladies Christian Fellowship - entitled "Encouraging Boys to Manhood" dictates, young ladies have a powerful influence on young men: "As a guy, I can attest that you women have a great influence on our lives -- spiritual, emotional, and mental. The influence is almost scary in its power."
Another comment contends that young ladies within a family context are partially responsible for how the men in their families behave towards women: "If you talk and laugh loudly...if you are rude and indifferent in your manners, so will he be." "If your standard of morals is not high, he will measure all other girls by the girl he knows best. He will think they are no better than you; and one of the worst things that can befall a boy is for him to lose his respect for the character of women; and if your brother does not revere women, you could be responsible for it.

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