Course Description

Girl Power has emerged as the subject of much popular, policy and scholarly interest as we move further into the millennium. This interest has been sparked by competing debates about girls and young women whose lives have long been shaped by male-dominant societies, and yet, who have, with the rapid changes resulting from a globalizing political economy, recently experienced a surge of new opportunities and challenges. These range from choices about personal health, sexuality, education and occupations to changes in their roles in their interactions with family, peers, and colleagues. Boys and men have also had a significant role in “Girl Power”. The relevance of girls’ empowerment – the emerging opportunities, the traditional demands, and the choices created – clearly extends beyond the borders of developed countries. Indeed girls’ and women’s issues are core to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that specify targets to be attained by 2030 to end poverty, mitigate inequality, and protect our planet. Against this background this course considers (i) notions about girlhood from its early biological emphasis to contemporary frameworks that are informed by anthropology, psychology, economics, sociology, and politics; and (ii) the cultural meaning and consequences of girl power in both developed and developing societies, paying particular attention to the ways in which the male dominant world has both assisted and hindered girls’ development.

Course Learning Outcomes

On completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Explain and apply key theories and concepts relating to how we define girlhood from both historical and contemporary perspectives.
2. Demonstrate understanding of how a myriad of modern disciplines – such as anthropology, psychology, economics, sociology, medicine and politics – shape our perception and definition of girlhood.
3. Apply a holistic comprehension of girlhood on a multiplicity of dimensions (e.g. social, economical, political) that embrace the human condition both locally and globally.
4. Analyze the immediate and long-term social issues that emerge when societies limit how girl power is both explicitly and implicitly defined.
5. Analyze the role that culture plays in normatizing girlhood, taking examples from both developed and developing societies.
6. Critique how girl power is both assisted and hindered by patriarchal-oriented social norms, and critically understand the complex relationship between girl power and masculinity.
7. Demonstrate a broad perspective of the issues defining girlhood and how these insights impact the daily lives of students – both male and female.

Offer Semester and Day of Teaching

Second semester (Wed)

Study Load

Assessment: 100% coursework

Required Reading

Selected required readings:

• Chan, A. K. W., & Cheung, A. K. L. (2021). Exploring the masculinities of young men in Hong Kong. Final Report. Hong Kong: The Women’s Foundation. 
• Gonick, M. (2006). Between “girl power” and “reviving Ophelia”: Constituting the neoliberal girl subject. NWSA journal, 1-23.
• Heise, L., Greene, M. E., Opper, N., Stavropoulou, M., Harper, C., Nascimento, M., …, & Gupta, G. R. (2019). Gender inequality and restrictive gender norms: framing the challenges to health. The Lancet, 393(10189), 2440-2454.
• Jackson, S. (2018). Young feminists, feminism and digital media. Feminism & Psychology, 28(1), 32-49.
• Kam, I. C. P. (2020). Being bitchy and feminine: unfolding the postfeminist account in Hong Kong’s CosmoGirl! Journal of Gender Studies, 29(4), 431-442.
• Koffman, O., Orgad, S., & Gill, R. (2015). Girl power and ‘selfie humanitarianism’. Continuum, 29(2), 157-168.
• Lee, T. K. (2020). Disciplining women in Hong Kong: The discourse of ‘Kong girl’in the media and daily life. East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, 6(1), 9-25.
• Liben, L. S. (2016). We’ve come a long way, baby (but we’re not there yet): Gender past, present, and future. Child Development, 87(1), 5-28.
• Lok, R. H. T., & Law, Y. W. (2025). Men’s mental health service engagement amidst the masculinity crisis: towards a reconstruction of traditional masculinity. SSM-Qualitative Research in Health, 8, 100596.
• Mao, C. (2020). Feminist activism via social media in China. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 26(2), 245-258.
• Rao, N., Weber, A. M., Ranganathan, N., & Ip, P. (2020). Creating equality for girls: On the right track but still a long way to go. The Lancet. Child & Adolescent Health, 4(7), 490-491.
• Shannon, G., Jansen, M., Williams, K., Cáceres, C., Motta, A., Odhiambo, A., …, & Mannell, J. (2019). Gender equality in science, medicine, and global health: where are we at and why does it matter?. The Lancet, 393(10171), 560-569.
• Wu, A. X., & Dong, Y. (2019). What is made-in-China feminism (s)? Gender discontent and class friction in post-socialist China. Critical Asian Studies, 51(4), 471-492.

Course Co-ordinator and Teacher(s)