The core of the Morning Star Rising program is not gender specific. The program could easily be adapted to create a rite-of-passage program for boys. However, the founders of Morning Star decided to first focus on girls, since girls are often more severely impacted than boys when there is teen pregnancy.

A Vicious Cycle
Girls who become teen mothers often end up raising the children without the father's help. Because teen pregnancy can put women in a position of economic dependence, women can easily fall victim to physical abuse from a boyfriend or spouse. Children are sometimes at risk of being sexually or physically abused by a mother's partner. This scenario can set women up for serious depression, which can lead to substance abuse.

Morning Star's founders felt that by creating a program that would guide girls in making personally healthy and pro-social decisions, teen pregnancy could be significantly reduced and many of the common fallout effects could be avoided. In essence, Morning Star is a program that stresses prevention. It is much easier and less expensive to prevent a problem than to remedy it once it has occurred.

Beyond Teen Pregnancy
There are many other reasons why Morning Star Rising focuses on adolescent girls. For one, girls are much more likely than boys to suffer from body image problems, decreased self-esteem, and depression during adolescence. Much research has been done on the development of girls during middle school, asking "what happens to turn the assuredness of so many preteen girls to the profound self-doubt so common to young women in high school?"

Furthermore, girls sometimes do not realize their full academic potential, because they are encouraged to "dumb down" in an effort to impress boys. In adolescence, some girls haven't developed strong, independent voices to be heard over those of their male classmates. Also, girls often have questions about the changes taking place in their bodies that they cannot ask comfortably in front of boys. Morning Star firmly believes that, in most cases, it is important for girls to be educated in the same environment as boys, since the world is made up of both men and women from all different backgrounds.

The Morning Star Rising program provides an environment, separate from the classroom, where the special needs of girls can be addressed. Girls can ask those "uncomfortable" questions, be themselves, and develop the social and psychological tools necessary to make a successful transition to young adulthood.

Recommended Publications

If you would like to read more about girls, education, and adolescence, we suggest the following publications to get you started:

Growing Smart: What's Working for Girls in School. American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, Washington D.C.: 1995.

¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can: Latinas in School. Angela Ginorio and Michelle Huston, American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, Washington D.C.: 2001.

Girls Seen and Heard: 52 Life Lessons for Our Daughters. Carol Gilligan, et.al., Ms. Foundation for Women, Jeremy P Tarcher/Putnam, New York: 1998.

Women, Girls, and Psychotherapy : Reframing Resistance. Carol Gilligan, Annie G. Rogers, Deborah L. Tolman, New York: October 1991.

For All Our Daughters: How Mentoring Helps Young Women and Girls Master the Art of Growing Up. Pegine Echevarria, Chandler House Press, Worchester, MA.: May 1998.

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. Mary Pipher, Ballantine Reader's Circle, New York: March 1995.

Brave New Girls: Creative Ideas to Help Girls be Confident, Healthy, and Happy. Jeanette Gadeberg, Fairview Press, Minneapolis: September 1997.

Facts and Figures About Adolescence

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