Log on to ... Girls' youth work

The recent sellout UK Youth conference on the future of girls' work showed there is continuing concern that youth policy can sideline young women. There is a proud history in youth work of individuals and organisations struggling to keep this perspective alive and to come up with services that address the specific concerns of young women.

One online home for youth work that focuses on work with girls is www.feministwebs.com. This site is designed specifically to provide an archive and a resource for those working with young women. It has a self-declared bias towards work that encourages participation and has a feminist, rights-based perspective. Supported by a partnership of youth and women's organisations, mainly in the North West, it has created and collected hundreds of resources and session plans on topics including body image, caring, cultural expression, exploring difference, faith, motherhood, safety, sexuality and feminism. You can also find details of a physical archive on girls' work held at Manchester University and you can download a full catalogue.

The YWCA has been working with disadvantaged young women since 1855. Its website www.ywca.org.uk details its modern-day provision and campaigning, and includes resources in 25 categories ranging from alcohol and drugs to poverty, rural issues and self-harm. These are mainly useful briefings and policy statements rather than practical resources, although the young women's stories section provides discussion material and case studies of young women who have received help to overcome problems in their lives.

The Fawcett Society website www.fawcettsociety.org.uk currently opens to a picture of comedian Bill Bailey puffing on a pipe and wearing a T-shirt proclaiming "This is what a feminist looks like". Click on for further details of the work of the society that campaigns for "equality between men and women in the UK on pay and pensions, poverty, justice and politics".

It is not focused on youth work but it does have a lot of facts, figures and campaign material for those looking to do awareness-raising work or to make their case for targeted work with young women. The site includes facts such as that women working full-time are paid on average 17.1 per cent less an hour than men for doing work of equivalent value. Look at the research section for briefings on everything from lap-dancing clubs to women and the recession.

Geared towards expanding the potential of young women's lives is the site www.pinkstinks.co.uk - a combative site that seeks to fight the "culture of pink that invades every aspect of girls' lives". In the firing line are Barbie, WAG culture and the whole "princessification" of girls. Subtitled "the campaign for real role models", the site has useful material for work with young women, including details of inspiring role models from Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Adlington, to computer pioneer Ada Lovelace and award-winning television journalist Christiane Amanpour. There is some powerful material here (apparently more than 60 per cent of seven- to 10-year-old girls wear lipstick) and you can purchase campaign material with the "I think pink stinks" slogan. There is an associated site aimed at young women, www.cooltobe.me, which is currently under development.

The recommended interactive website for both young men and women www.respect4us.org.uk challenges violence against women, gender roles and stereotypes. Arriving on a street scene you register as a boy or girl and are taken through some initial questions to gauge your reaction to statements such as "if a person I was dating hit me I would dump them" or "a girl who won't have sex with someone she is dating doesn't really love them". It then presents scenarios exploring issues such as bullying at school, how to respond to a violent confrontation between friends, peer pressure in a nightclub and so on. Scores are based on knowledge, respect and skills.

Finally, there is the US holding page called Websites for Girls at www.umbc.edu/wmst/links_girls.html - a comprehensive annotated listing of resources for girls' work. Compiler Joan Korenman has put together the list, which has a special focus on sites that challenge the notion of girls as technophobic or unsuited to science and engineering.

WEB FILE

www.feministwebs.com - Provides an archive and resource for those working with young women

www.ywca.org.uk - Includes details about YWCA and its campaigns

www.fawcettsociety.org.uk - Useful facts, figures and campaign material focused on equality issues

www.pinkstinks.co.uk - Offers useful material and details for "real" women role models

www.respect4us.org.uk - Interactive questions and a game challenging violence against women and stereotypical gender roles

www.umbc.edu/wmst/links_girls.html - Lists the details of websites offering resources for girls' work