Editor's note

Do princesses lead? Not in cartoons, they don’t. Studies have found that female characters in most animated series play secondary roles, and that in all Disney films made between 1989 and 1999, male characters speak three times as much as the female ones.

While things have got a little better since then, writes Virginia García Beaudoux, model leadership for girls is still limited in children’s entertainment.

Catesby Holmes

Global Commissioning Editor

Top story

Disney’s retrograde princesses have seen some improvements in recent years, but they still send mixed messages about what female leadership looks like. JLinsky/flickr

Teaching little girls to lead

Virginia García Beaudoux, University of Buenos Aires

Princesses are not great role models if we want to raise empowered daughters.

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