Girl energy makes the world go round – we need more of it today than ever

When my grandmother gave birth, and was told she’d had a girl, she said: “Poor thing.” When I had two girls, I greeted their little lives like hopeful presents. That boys are suffering because girls do well in school, ignoring the scourge of sexual harassment ruining girls’ educations, and the subsequent sexism that still keeps them out of jobs in science open image in gallery Sophie on the beach with her mum who, she says, brought her up to fight for a better world Abuse and harassment is rife online, where toxic social media influencers tell unconfident young men a way to secure their own futures is to bully and intimidate women. When I was a girl, I loved women in cinema who stood up to men: I sat up during Star Wars when Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia strode in and served; my favourite part of the Indiana Jones movies was the fighting, drinking Marion Ravenwood and throughout the Superman franchise Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane made me want to be the reporter, not the superhero. open image in gallery Laurence Fox made sexist comments about Ava Evans as he appeared on a GB News show hosted by Dan Wootton Of my two sisters, one loved Madonna, because: “She always looked like she didn’t give a s*** what anyone thought of her.” The other loved all the Spice Girls and all the wives of Henry VIII, explaining: “Girls don’t have to be just one thing.” These days my girls also admire women who defy criticism and challenge negative voices.