MY 10-POINT MANIFESTO
1. Wear whatever you like, even if it means swopping outfits outside the house and changing back before your parents see you. 2. Only show flesh if you can deal with the attention. 3. Never drink without a friend who can help you get home. 4. Class A drugs are for losers – just don’t even bother with them. 5. Work like hell at school and make sure you pass every single exam you can. You’re doing it for yourself, not your teachers. 6. Ignore what boys say – they aren’t important. One day, you’ll find the one who thinks you’re brilliant. 7. Hold your head high – you are better than people who sneer. 8. Input is priceless. Swop TV trash and internet twaddle for books, exhibitions and live events. 9. Set your goals and keep them a secret. 10. Practise your interview skills – no one owes you a job. When you land one, make yourself indispensable. You’re on your way. her qualifications. Mom was bright, but she was denied the opportunity to exploit her talents, which made her deeply bitter.
Nor should modern women think that marrying the right bloke will help on their journey through life. I should know – I’ve tried it enough times.
Look on men as an optional extra – never let a man deflect you from your ultimate aim, which is to make the best of your talents.
That doesn’t mean running a big business, landing a record deal, or getting a part on a TV show, but charting a path – even if kids come along – that makes you feel happy and fulfilled.
Recently, the head of a British girls’ school association declared that they should be taught how to choose the right kind of husband, one who would support them in their career as well as helping at home.
Helen Fraser said that schools should limit the number of exams girls took and devote far more time to teaching life-skills. She wants them to switch off their cellphones and computers and read a whole book, absorbing ideas and making contact with another mind.
It’s great advice. I spent my teenage years working in the local library, and kept carefully annotated logs in the back of my teenage diaries listing all the books I had read – I was a singleminded self-improver.
But I profoundly disagree that finding a Mr Right who will encourage your career as well as cooking supper is a mission any young woman should devote one minute of her time to.
Let’s be realistic, these guys don’t exist. Or if they do, they’re extremely rare, and women could waste time fruitlessly searching for them.
Another headmistress, Dr Helen Wright, is worried that images of busty women such as reality TV star Kim Kardashian “sum up almost everything that is wrong with our society today”.
She says teenagers “really are soaking up a diet of empty celebrity and superficiality”.
But before we dismiss Kim and Co, let’s consider their net worth. Kardashian has made a career out of posing in her pants, but she’s now worth an estimated £22 million (R290m), £10 million (R132m) of which Forbes magazine reckons she earned last year. Not bad for a woman with a large backside and a double set of fake lashes.
We might sneer at Amy Childs and the over-tanned The Only Way Is Essex set, but they own boutiques and have created clothing and perfume ranges.
Tamara Ecclestone might have inherited millions from dad Bernie, but she’s also a canny property developer. Multimillionaire Katie Price has “written” 30 books and is launching a swimwear and perfume range. Cheryl Cole, a woman who admits her voice is not that great, tops the charts and fronts lucrative advertising campaigns.
All of the above does make it hard to tell young women that academic qualifications are important, that you should stay at school and acquire skills, and that long nails and perfect hair are not essential to success and admiration.
But don’t denigrate these women as evil influences, because when it comes to business they are infinitely cleverer than the average bloke their age. They have all made what little intellectual grey matter they possess go a very long way.
So are the soothsayers of doom who whinge on about the young being “obsessed with celebrity” really reflecting a true picture of today’s youth? I think not.
Last month, a survey found that young people had exactly the same values as the over-55s, placing a long-lasting marriage and raising children high on their list of aspirations, above wealth and possessions.
I’m optimistic about today’s young women.
Sure, Cheryl and Co have done well, but most girls realise they have to plot their own journey through life. At a time when so many young people are unemployed, it’s more important than ever to believe in yourself. – Daily Mail