The Girls' Resiliency Program is a youth empowerment program for girls in a rural, economically depressed area of West Virginia. Girls develop leadership skills by participating in board meetings, discussion groups, recreational events, song writing and poetry workshops, action research, and school and community service projects. Evaluation…

This document describes research pertaining to adolescent females' perceptions of sexual desire. It analyzes 30 interviews of girls, 15-18 years old, who are juniors in suburban and urban high schools. The key finding was identified as the dilemma of desire. Girls responded to the dilemma in three ways: simply not feeling the desire, resisting…

There is widespread concern that the problems presented by troubled and troubling girls have not been well addressed by existing prevention, education, and treatment programs. Two professionals in the field of emotional and behavioral disorders discuss the grim image of at-risk girls that emerged after assembling articles by leading-edge…

Reports on a study of stories written by eighth graders in three very different schools, stories carrying powerful messages about how girls understand their place in the world. Finds that, in one set of stories, females control their lives only as long as they are "good," and in the other set, autonomous female protagonists fail (often for no…

The need to promote healthy active ageing in order to offset the impact of an ageing population on national resources and ensure a high quality of life in older age is well recognized. In 2001, the English Department of Health established a national pre-retirement health initiative involving the development of eight pilot projects. A national…

A physically active lifestyle can be empowering for young women in allowing them to resist many of the dominant and limiting discourses around femininity and gender. In finding pleasure in their physical state a positive sense of self is embodied and long-term engagement in a physical culture can be fostered. However, research repeatedly cites…

This paper uses Black Feminist Thought to explain the lived experiences of three Black female graduate students at a White Research I institution. Through mentoring from Black female professors, the students received instrumental and psychosocial support that helped them to navigate through their graduate level work. Common themes of identity,…

This bibliography provides a list of 65 selected works on the topic of adult literacy in developing countries. It is a contemporary list, including only works published in the last 15 years. The works are organized into subject categories. Works are listed only once; in cases where a work could be listed under more than one category, it is listed…

This article explores the challenges facing the South African National Department of Education in its commitment to provide equal educational opportunities for all. "The Story of Nothemba" is central to the theme of this paper. It describes the story of a South African girl born in eQebe, whose physical disability and systematic…

The Potential Reentry Opportunities in Business and Education (PROBE) counseling and referral system is intended to help single parents and displaced homemakers gain greater control over their own lives, careers, and futures. PROBE began in 1975 as a campus-based program at Pennsylvania State University and became community based in 1977. PROBE,…

The role of incarcerated women's writings as change agents for their communities was explored in a project during which 15 Anglo-American, African-American, and Latina women between the ages of 19 and 40 years voluntarily participates in three 10-week poetry reading and discussion sessions. The program was designed as a Freirian/humanities adult…

South African women in informal settlements lack access to education and employment opportunities, making them vulnerable to exploitation and poverty. A collaborative narrative inquiry was undertaken to compile the life histories of 16 women, identifying their participation in community building. The process combined popular education and feminist…

Private and personal literacy practices of reading and writing, which have typically been regarded as less important than the more visible and public literacies used by men, are important in the lives of women because they aid the development and empowerment of the self. Qualitative interviews were conducted with six women of diverse socioeconomic…

The effects of a group therapy program for teenage girls reporting child sexual abuse were evaluated by means of a pretest/post-test design with a control group. The psycho-educational intervention consisted of an average of 20 weekly two-hour meetings. Results of the repeated analyses of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant improvement in…

This paper chronicles the experiences of nine adolescent girls who participated in a 3-year science, mathematics, and technology program for Appalachian girls. The girls lived in two West Virginia communities (one rural, one urban). Most of the girls were poor; six were African American. Descriptions of the girls' neighborhoods and local…