Girl 1723133 224839843 2008-07-10T17:26:50Z Smitty 2773571 clean up using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]] {{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}} {{otheruses}} [[Image:Freundinnen.jpg|thumb|Two girls smiling.]] A '''girl''' is any [[female]] [[human]] from birth through [[childhood]] and [[adolescence]] to attainment of [[adult]]hood and may also mean a ''young woman''.<ref>dictionary.com, ''[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/girl girl]'', retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> ==Etymology== [[Image:Iraqi girl smiles.jpg|thumb|A smiling [[Iraq]]i girl.]] The word ''girl'' first appeared during the [[Middle Ages]] between 1250 and 1300 CE and came from the [[Old English language|Anglo-Saxon]] words ''gerle'' (also spelled ''girle'' or ''gurle''), likely cognate with the [[Old Low German]] word ''gör'' (sometimes given as ''kerl'').<ref>''Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary'' (1913), ''[http://dictionary.die.net/girl girl]'', retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> The [[Old English language|Anglo-Saxon]] word ''gerela'' meaning ''dress'' or ''clothing item'' also seems to have been used as a [[metonym]] in some sense.<ref>dictionary.com, ''[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/girl girl]'', retrieved 2 Jabuary 2008</ref> ''Girl'' has meant ''any young unmarried woman'' since about 1530. Its first noted meaning for ''sweetheart'' is 1648. The earliest known appearance of ''[[girlfriend|girl-friend]]'' is in 1892 and ''[[girl next door]]'', meant as a teenaged female or young woman with a kind of wholesome appeal, dates only to 1961.<ref>Online Etymology Dictionary, ''[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=girl&searchmode=none girl]'', retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> ===Deprecated meaning=== Although the word ''girl'' is sometimes used to describe a female of any age, such as in some casual social settings by women among themselves, when meant to describe a [[woman]] in professional or other adult contexts it might imply ''child'' or be otherwise misleading (as with the term ''[[boy]]'' when applied to an adult [[man]]), hence this meaning is often deprecated.<ref>dictionary.com, ''[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/girl girl]'', retrieved 2 Jabuary 2008</ref> ==Demographics== In 2004 there were more than one billion girls in the world. At birth girls are a slight minority although this changes with age. Since the 1700s the human [[sex ratio]] has been observed as about 1,050 boys for every 1,000 girls born and [[Sex-selective abortion and infanticide|sex selection]] on the part of parents further lessens the number of female births. Although the [[International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights]] has asserted "primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all" girls are slightly less likely to be enrolled as students in primary and secondary schools (70%:74% and 59%:65%). Worldwide efforts have been made to end this disparity (such as through the [[Millennium Development Goals]]) and the gap has closed since [[1990]].<ref name=UNICEF>[http://unicef.org/publications/index_18108.html The State of the World's Children 2004 - Girls, Education and Development ], UNICEF, 2004</ref> ==Gender and environment== [[Image:Girlgenderrole3.jpg|thumb|right|A girl plays with paper dolls. Biological gender interacts with environment in ways not fully understood.]] Biological gender interacts with environment in ways not fully understood.<ref>Salon.com, Kurt Kleiner, ''[http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2003/06/19/ridley/ A mind of their own]'' (book review of ''Nature via Nurture'' by Matt Ridley), 19 June 2003, retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> Identical twin girls separated at birth and reunited decades later have shown both startling similarities and differences.<ref>BBC, Jane Beresford, ''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7152762.stm Twins reunited, after 35 years apart]'', 31 December 2007, retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> In 2005 Kim Wallen of Emory University noted, "I think the 'nature versus nurture' question is not meaningful, because it treats them as independent factors, whereas in fact everything is nature and nurture." Wallen said gender differences emerge very early and come about through an underlying preference males and females have for their chosen activities. Girls tend to like toys and other objects they can interact with, while boys will more likely prefer "things that they can manipulate and do things to." According to Wallen, expectations will nonetheless play a role in how girls perform academically. For example, if females skilled in math are told a test is "gender neutral" they achieve high scores, but if they are told males outperformed females in the past, the females will do much worse. "What’s strange is," Wallen observed, "according to the research, all one apparently has to do is tell a woman who has a lifetime of socialization of being poor in math that a math test is gender neutral, and all effects of that socialization go away."<ref>Emory University website, ''[http://www.emory.edu/ACAD_EXCHANGE/2005/sept/wallenqa.html Women's work?]'', September 2005, retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> 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]].<ref>PBS.org, ''[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec98/naturenurture_10-20.html Nature vs. nurture]'', 20 October 1998, retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> [[Image:Girlgenderrole2.jpg|thumb|right|A girl pretends to drive a toy car. Gender differences emerge very early and have to do with underlying predispositions which are shaped by experience.]] In England, studies by the National Literacy Trust have shown girls do better than boys in every area of learning before they are 5 and girls score consistently higher than boys from the ages of 5 through 16, with the most striking differences noted in reading and writing skills. Moreover, girls tend to outperform boys at GCSE and A level in the UK.<ref>literacytrust.org, ''[http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/database/stats/genderstats.html Literacy achievement by gender]'', 2007, retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> Historically, girls lagged on standardized tests. In 1996 the average score of 503 for US girls from all races on the [[SAT]] verbal test was 4 points lower than boys. In math, the average for girls was 492, which was 35 points lower than boys. "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. Wolfe said girls are steady and thorough while "boys play this test like a pin-ball machine." Wolfe also said although girls had lower SAT scores they consistently get higher grades than boys across all courses their first year in college.<ref>New York Times, Katherine Q Seelye, ''[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DE0DE1F39F937A25750C0A961958260 Group Seeks to Alter S.A.T. to Raise Girls' Scores]'', 14 March 1997, retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> By 2006 girls were outscoring boys on the verbal portion of the [[SAT]] by 11 points.<ref>ABC News, John Berman, ''[http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2376202 Girls Achieve Rare SAT Scores]'', 30 August 2006, retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> A 2005 University of Chicago study showed that a majority presence of girls in the classroom tends to enhance the academic performance of boys.<ref>harrisschool.uchicago.edu, ''[http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/about/publications/research-report/rr2006/classrooms.asp Girl-Dominated Classrooms Can Improve Boys’ Early School Performance]'', retrieved 2 January 2008</ref> ==Art and literature== [[Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 003.jpg|thumb|''Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window'', [[Jan Vermeer van Delft]] ([[1657]]).]] [[Art of Ancient Egypt|Egyptian murals]] included sympathetic portraits of young girls who were daughters of royalty. [[Sappho]]'s poetry carries love poems addressed to girls. In Europe, some early paintings featuring girls were [[Petrus Christus]]' ''Portrait of a Young Girl'' (about 1460), [[Juan de Flandes]]' ''Portrait of a Young Girl'' (about 1505), [[Frans Hals]]' ''[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Frans_Hals_004.jpg Die Amme mit dem Kind]'' in 1620, [[Diego Velázquez]]' ''[[Las Meninas]]'' in 1656, [[Jan Steen]]'s ''The Feast of St. Nicolas'' (about 1660) and [[Johannes Vermeer]]'s ''[[Girl with a Pearl Earring]]'' along with ''[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Jan_Vermeer_van_Delft_003.jpg Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window]''. Later paintings of girls include [[Albert Anker]]'s portrait of a ''[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Albert_Anker_001.jpg Girl with a Domino Tower]'' and [[Camille Pissarro]]'s 1883 ''[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Camille_Pissarro_033.jpg Portrait of a Felix Daughter]''. American paintings featuring girls include [[Mary Cassatt]]'s 1884 ''[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Cassatt_Mary_Children_on_the_Beach_1884_.jpg Children on the Beach]'' and [[James McNeill Whistler|Whistler]]'s ''Harmony in Gray and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander'' and ''The White Girl'' (shown at right). Many novels begin with the childhood of their heroine, such as ''[[Jane Eyre]]'' who suffers ill treatment or Natasha in ''[[War and Peace]]'', who is sentimentalized. Other novels include Harper Lee's ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'' in which a young girl is protagonist. [[Vladimir Nabokov]]'s controversial book ''[[Lolita]]'' (1955) is about a doomed relationship between a 12 year old girl and an adult scholar as they travel across the United States. ''[[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. ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' by [[Lewis Carroll]] featured a widely noted female protagonist. Moreover, Carroll's photographs of girls are often cited in histories of photographic art. ==Popular culture== European [[fairy tale]]s have preserved memorable stories about girls. Among these are ''[[Goldilocks and the Three Bears]]'', ''[[Rapunzel]]'', [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s ''[[The Little Match Girl]]'', ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'', ''[[The Princess and the Pea]]'' and the [[Brothers Grimm]]'s ''[[Little Red Riding Hood]]''. Children's books about girls include ''[[Little House on the Prairie]]'', ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'', ''[[Pippi Longstocking]]'', ''[[Dragonsong]]'' and ''[[A Wrinkle in Time]]''. Books which have both boy and girl protagonists have tended to focus more on the boys but important girl characters appear in ''[[Knight's Castle]]'', ''[[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'', ''[[The Book of Three (novel)|The Book of Three]]'' and the [[Harry Potter]] series. There have been many American comic books and comic strips featuring a girl as the main character such as [[Little Lulu]], [[Little Orphan Annie]], [[Girl Genius]] and [[Amelia Rules]]. In superhero comic books an early girl character was Etta Candy, one of [[Wonder Woman]]'s [[sidekick]]s. In the [[Peanuts]] series (by [[Charles M. Schulz|Charles Schulz]]) girl characters include [[Peppermint Patty]], [[Lucy van Pelt]] and [[Sally Brown]]. In [[Japan]]ese [[anime|animated cartoons]] and [[manga|comic books]] girls are often protagonists. Most of [[Hayao Miyazaki]]'s animated films feature a young girl heroine, as in ''Majo no takkyūbin'' ([[Kiki's Delivery Service]]). There are many other girl protagonists in the [[Shōjo]] style of manga, which is targeted to girls as an audience. Among these are ''[[The Wallflower (manga)|The Wallflower]]'', ''[[Ceres, Celestial Legend]]'', [[Tokyo Mew Mew]] and ''[[Full Moon (manga)|Full Moon o Sagashite]]''. Meanwhile, some genres of Japanese cartoons may feature sexualized and objectified portrayals of girls. ==References== {{reflist}} ==See also== {{Wiktionarypar|girl}} *[[Female infanticide]] *[[Girl group]] *[[Girl Guide and Girl Scout|Girl Guides]] *[[Girl Power]] <!--Categories--> [[Category:Women]] [[Category:Childhood]] <!--Other languages--> [[ar:بنت]] [[az:Qız]] [[br:Plac'h]] [[da:Pige]] [[pdc:Meedel]] [[de:Mädchen]] [[eo:Knabino]] [[fa:دختر]] [[fr:Fille]] [[ga:Cailín]] [[gd:Caileag]] [[ko:소녀]] [[hu:Lány]] [[cdo:Cṳ̆-niòng-giāng]] [[nl:Meisje]] [[ja:少女]] [[no:Jente]] [[nn:Jente]] [[nds:Marjell]] [[pl:Dziewczyna]] [[pt:Menina]] [[ru:Девочка]] [[scn:Carusa]] [[simple:Girl]] [[sk:Dievča]] [[sv:Flicka]] [[tg:Духтар]] [[tr:Kız]] [[yi:מיידל]] [[zh-yue:女仔]] [[zh:女孩]]