Do girls growing up in poverty have the same chance of making something of themselves as girls growing up rich?

As far as individual achievement goes, it’s arguable that girls born rich don’t necessarily have an advantage over girls born poor in the sense that whether rich or poor, a girl still has pretty much only three things to fall back on and those three things are qualities with which you are born. Money can’t buy beauty and we’ve seen enough plastic surgery mishaps to prove that point. Money also can’t buy smarts. A rich girl might be able to get into Harvard on her daddy’s money but that doesn’t mean she’ll excel academically just because she goes to Harvard; and while you can teach people to do things like dance and sing, you can’t teach natural talent.

Money provides numerous advantages where lack of money exposes a child to numerous disadvantages; but a girl born poor can still make something of herself if she has uncommon beauty, exceptional talent or exceptional smarts.

What does separate girls born rich from girls born poor is usually opportunity. Often girls born into poverty still have to fight for opportunities even while being beautiful, talented and smart. They might have an advantage over other poor girls who are not as attractive, talented or smart, but they don’t have equal access to opportunities as rich girls. The rich girls typically have the opportunities handed to them on silver platters.

Image: Balinese Daily by Ivan Peplov via Flickr