Meet Our Girls and Young Women

Pictures by Iratxe Álvarez.com

This is a book about – and in part by – girls and young women. It is refreshing to read the spontaneous accounts of the eleven girls and young women we interviewed. They impress us with their strength, as they share their experiences, their dreams, and the lessons life has taught them thus far. The editors therefore wish to express our heartfelt thanks to Djenna (age 12), Jordana (13), Sidra (15), Shu Hui (17), Jade (19), Alicia (20), Lilian (21), Iza (24), Wen Ying (28), Ada (32), and Sietske (34) for telling us their life stories — and nine of them posing for our photographer. The parents of the minor girls have given permission to publish these pictures.

Djenna & Jordana

‘Boys in my class call girls cancer whores’. Jordana (13, left) & Djenna (12) are besties. They hate that boys at school call girls "whores" and make comments about their bodies. They are proud of their mothers who are always on their side. Continue reading their story in the book…

Sidra

‘Never stay silent about what makes you angry or sad’. Sidra (15) is in her first year of secondary school. She fled Syria with her family and came to The Netherlands via a long detour. Despite all the often difficult wanderings, she has remained positive. She has good memories of Aleppo and of Friesland, the quiet north of The Netherlands.

Jade

‘My sister, my mother and I, that is Us Against The World’. Jade (19) saw Kung Fu Panda as a preschooler and was hooked. She is a fantastic sprinter, but it is also possible to go too fast and push yourself too hard. A burnout taught her a lot about herself. Now she is the manager of a kung fu school.

Alicia

‘I teach girls that they can be role models too’. Alicia (20) is studying to become a pedagogical assistant. Her hobby is kickboxing and she trains other girls in the sport. After a traffic accident, too impatient to wait for the ambulance to arrive, she popped her kneecap back into place herself!

Lilian

‘Scouting gave me a lot of self-confidence’. Lilian (21) studies occupational therapy, but the higher professional education program does not make much effort to accommodate her disability. A conversation about scouting, breast reduction and all her plans.

Iza

‘As you get older, you are more okay with yourself’. Iza (24) had a happy childhood and learned the most about herself after she started living on her own. When her mother asked her at fourteen if she might be attracted to girls, she got angry. The happy ending is that she now lives with her girlfriend.

Ada

‘The ideal is for women's legs to be as thin as paper’. Primary care doctor Ada (32) from Hong Kong is doing her PhD in Amsterdam on Alzheimer's disease. She is part of the eighteen percent of expats living in our capital. Ada talks about sexism in East Asia, and the new freedom she experiences in The Netherlands.

Sietske

‘My profession is: going into the mountains with the girls’. Sietske (34) is leaving the armed forces after a career as an Air Force officer and is moving to Austria. She gives this video interview while walking through the mountains with her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter in a baby carrier. She is now going all out for her hiking company 'Girls in the Mountains'.