Get them involved in all-female activities and environments, such as sports, Girl Scouts, academic clubs, Girls' Inc.

• Insulates against the pressures and conflicts from co-ed situations.
• Encourages them to try things they might be too embarrassed to try around boys, thus increasing their confidence.

Allow them to fail.

• Stops "learned helplessness": for girls, confidence and competence are linked. (If they think they can't do something, then, suddenly, they can't.)
• Lets them see themselves as able to succeed by learning persistence -- that it is okay to fail, get up and try again.
• Enables them to get over fear of public humiliation and see themselves as more able.

Praise girls for what they do, not how they look.

• Encourages girls to relate to each other about things other than appearance.
• Instills less self-consciousness about their own body image
• Builds confidence and self-esteem.

Parents should also take opportunities with both boys and girls to use non-sexist language and reverse stereotypes.

Communicate full information about their sexuality.

• Lessens the alienation they might feel from their own bodies.
• Helps them act out of their own interests instead of trying to please boyfriends.

Give them tools to express themselves.

• Teach them how to be confident and assertive.
• Helps them learn how to say "no."

Stay involved and on top of their education, particularly in non-traditional areas.

• Closes the gender gap in technology skills.
• Success in math, science and technology classes has a direct relation to a girl's financial future.

Consider mother-daughter technology classes, which both allows moms to model technology literacy and boosts girls participation in that area (it also may allow girls to become their moms' teachers, since we know that our kids are way beyond us in the computer world!).

Encourage them to participate in team sports.

• Builds self-esteem and better body images.
• Enhances academic confidence.

Alternatively (or additionally) parents might consider martial arts or self-defense training for girls. We teach boys to defend themselves, but not girls: we tell girls that the world is dangerous for them, yet give them no tools to fight back.

Remember the importance of a positive male role model. (If not fathers, then uncles, relatives, friends or teachers.)

• Gives girls strength to resist whatever sexism or obstacles she comes up against.
• Helps develop a healthy body image and a sense of competence Women who excel in non-traditional fields tend to credit their father for telling them they could break down barriers.

Contributed by Peggy Orenstein

Peggy Orenstein is an award-winning writer and speaker about issues affecting women and girls. Author of Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap