Sign up to receive tips, advice and activities to help support girls in your life.
Let’s Empower Girls
See our program in action
Together, we can equip girls to lead their way
Our Lean In Girls curriculum is designed to help girls embrace their leadership superpowers and reject limiting stereotypes about what girls can’t do. In addition to focusing on the skills that are important for girls to build, we speak directly to the biases and barriers girls face in an age-appropriate way. This combination of strength building and real talk is protective and empowering for girls1.
Inside the Curriculum
Our Lean In Girls curriculum is designed for girls and young teens who identify with the girlhood experience (ages 11 to 15). The complete curriculum includes 15 one-hour sessions on topics critical to equipping girls to be self-assured, resilient, and inclusive everyday leaders, such as:
Introducing them to a more expansive and inspiring definition of leadership
Helping them identify and celebrate their unique identities, values, and strengths
Teaching them to set bold but healthy goals and reframe failure
Giving them the tools to identify and push back against bias and unfair treatment
Teaching them what they can say and do to practice allyship
What makes lean in girls different
Rigorously Developed and Tested
The curriculum is rooted in ethnographic and social science research and developed in collaboration with a braintrust of experts in gender studies, leadership, childhood development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition, we spent the last 12+ months testing and iterating the lessons to ensure they are inclusive, culturally responsive, and resonate with facilitators and participants.
Designed to Engage Girls
The curriculum is designed specifically to support girls by addressing the challenges they face. We worked with a panel of girls and nonbinary teens who identify with the girlhood experience to develop the core lessons, and we made sure they’re fun and create authentic opportunities for participants to share and connect.
Adaptable and Customizable
The curriculum is organized into four parts that can be used separately or mixed and matched, so you can choose which material makes the most sense for your community and available time and resources. And because the experience of every girl is distinct, sessions include a range of optional scenarios and discussion prompts to allow facilitators to tailor the content.
Free and Easy to Use
We provide facilitator guides, online trainings, and regular support to set your team up for success. And because we want to collaborate with you to reach as many girls as possible, these materials will always be available at no cost.
what girls and facilitators are saying
More than 350 teens across almost two dozen cities have participated in a Lean In Girls pilot program at their school or through a community organization. The results speak to the strength of our curriculum combined with the power of girls coming together to learn and grow.
94%
of girls would recommend Lean In Girls to a friend2
94%
of girls would recommend Lean In Girls to a friend2
100%
of facilitators felt prepared to run the program and would recommend it to others2
100%
of facilitators felt prepared to run the program and would recommend it to others2
91%
of girls learned something new about how they can lead2
91%
of girls learned something new about how they can lead2
100%
of facilitators said participants had fun2
100%
of facilitators said participants had fun2
I love how [Lean In Girls] made me feel more confident in who I am and I love how we always support each other.
I’ve learned that just because someone says you are something doesn’t mean that you are it.
Special thanks to our pilot partners
BRING LEAN IN GIRLS TO YOUR ORGANIZATION
Run the curriculum
Our curriculum is designed so that any caring adult can facilitate a Lean In Girls session with a group of girls. Find everything you need to get started in our curriculum download! Need extra guidance on how to kick things off? Attend one of our virtual Lean In Girls program information sessions for additional support.
Natasha Duell and Laurence Steinberg, “Adolescents take positive risks, too,” Developmental Review 62 (2021); Natasha Duell and Laurence Steinberg, “Positive Risk Taking in Adolescence,” Child Development Perspectives 13, no. 1 (2019): 48–52; Christia Spears Brown, Sharla D. Biefeld, et al., Gender in Childhood, Elements in Child Development (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020); Judit Alcalde et al., “Building Strong Girls Evaluation Report: Final Results,” Canadian Women’s Foundation (2017); Richard F. Catalano et al., “Positive Youth Development in the United States: Research Findings on Evaluations of Positive Youth Development Programs,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 591, no. 1 (2004): 98–124; Richard F. Catalano et al., "Positive Youth Development Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review of Efficacy,” Journal of Adolescent Health 65, no. 1 (2019): 15–31.
These efficacy findings are based on the results of a pilot study conducted in partnership with KIPP Public Schools across four states (New York, Georgia, Texas, and California) from April through June 2023.