古埃及涅弗鲁利（英语：Neferure）公主在她母親，女法老哈特谢普苏特登基後成長古埃及的女性（英语：Women in Ancient Egypt）的社會地位較其他國家要高，法老的女兒也是如此。涅弗鲁利公主接受了最好的教育，她的私人教師是女法老最信任的顧問。涅弗鲁利公主長大後，她的媽媽是法老，但她執行了許多女王的職責[24]。古埃及時女性和男性已經相當平等，不過在性別角色上仍有重要的差異。例如男性擔任政府的文士，而女性擔任和家庭比較關的工作，例如農業、烤麵包和釀造啤酒等。不過也有許多的女性（尤其是上流社會中的女性）從事商業及貿易工作（例如調香師），也有些在神殿中工作。因此男孩和女孩的教育就有所不同。男孩可以在正式學校上課，學習讀、寫以及數學。女孩則在家中接受教育，學習她母親工作中的內容。不過也有一些女性識字，成為學者，例如希帕提婭[25][26]。
Plan International也發起了訂定國際女孩日的活動。此活動的目的是提高全世界對於女孩所面臨特別挑戰的認識，也讓全世界注意到女孩在面對大規模貧困以及發展挑戰上的角色。來自加拿大Plan International的女孩代表團在2011年2月時，在聯合國總部婦女地位委員會第55屆會議中向加拿大公共工程、政府服務及婦女地位部長羅娜·安布羅斯提出此一想法。加拿大議會在2011年3月一致性的通過動議，要求加拿大在聯合國中率先宣布國際女孩日[66]。聯合國大會通過在2011年12月19日通過国际女童日，第一個國際女童日是在2012年的10月11日。
PLAN International最近的研究發現需要有計劃來處理男孩在其社區中的角色，也要找到適合男孩，可以降低其性別歧視的活動。因為政治、宗教及社區領袖大多是男性，男人和男孩在在改善女孩生活以及提昇性別平等上都有非常大的影響力。PLAN International在2011年的年報中提出，男性有較大的影響力，在說服社區改變像是早婚或是残割女性生殖器（FGM）上的效果比女性更好。年報中引用了埃及宗教領袖Sheikh Saad的觀點：「我們已經決定不會讓我們的女兒接受這麼不好、不人道的行為[...]我是改變的一部份。」[67]
歐洲早期描繪女孩的繪畫有彼得鲁斯·克里斯蒂的《Portrait of a Young Girl》（約1460年）、胡安·德·弗兰德斯（英语：Juan de Flandes）的《Portrait of a Young Girl》（約1505年）、弗兰斯·哈尔斯1620年的《Die Amme mit dem Kind》、委拉斯開茲1656年的《宮女》、扬·斯特恩在約1600年的《The Feast of St. Nicolas》以及扬·弗美尔的《戴珍珠耳環的少女》及《Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window》。後來包括女孩的繪畫有艾伯特·安克爾（英语：Albert Anker）的《Girl with a Domino Tower》及卡米耶·畢沙羅在1883年的《Portrait of a Felix Daughter》。
印象派畫家瑪麗·卡薩特繪製許多強調女孩無邪以及母女關係的畫作[68]，例如她在1884年的作品《Children on the Beach》，而詹姆斯·惠斯勒的《Harmony in Gray and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander》及《The White Girl》也用類似的方式描繪女孩。
^Anderson SE, Dallal GE, Must A. Relative weight and race influence average age at menarche: results from two nationally representative surveys of US girls studied 25 years apart. Pediatrics. April 2003, 111 (4 Pt 1): 844–50. PMID 12671122. doi:10.1542/peds.111.4.844.
^Hamilton-Fairley, Diana. Obstetrics and Gynaecology(PDF) Second. Blackwell Publishing. [2013-11-09]. （原始内容(PDF)存档于2013-12-09）.
^Salon.com, Kurt Kleiner, A mind of their own （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） (book review of Nature via Nurture by Matt Ridley), 19 June 2003, retrieved 2 January 2008
^Vetterling-Braggin, Mary "Femininity," "masculinity," and "androgyny": a modern philosophical discussion
^Worell, Judith, Encyclopedia of women and gender: sex similarities and differences and the impact of society on gender, Volume 1 Elsevier, 2001, ISBN0-12-227246-3, ISBN978-0-12-227246-2
^Thomas, R. Murray. Recent Theories of Human Development. Sage Publications. 2000: 248. ISBN 0761922474. Gender feminists also consider traditional feminine traits (gentleness, modesty, humility, sacrifice, supportiveness, empathy, compassion, tenderness, nurturance, intuitiveness, sensitivity, unselfishness) morally superior to the traditional masculine traits of courage, strong will, ambition, independence,assertiveness, initiative, rationality and emotional control.
^Witt, edited by Charlotte. Feminist Metaphysics: Explorations in the Ontology of Sex, Gender and Identity. Dordrecht: Springer. 2010: 77. ISBN 90-481-3782-9.
^Tyldesley, Joyce. Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt. p.98 Thames & Hudson. 2006. ISBN0-500-05145-3
^Salomone, Rosemary C. "Are Single-Sex Schools Inherently Unequal? Same, Different, Equal: Rethinking Single-Sex Schooling." "Michigan Law Review." 102(6):1219-1244
^The World Bank. 2012. "Gender Equality and Development: World Development Report 2012." Washington, D.C: The World Bank.
^Nussbaum, Martha C. 2003. "Women's Education: A Global Challenge." "Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society" 29(2): 325–355
^Wilkinson-Weber, Clare M. Embroidering Lives: Women's Work and Skill in the Lucknow Embroidery Industry. SUNY Press. 1999-03-25: 74. ISBN 9780791440889（英语）. Purdah regulates the interactions of women with certain kinds of men. Typically, Hindu women must avoid specific male affines (in-laws) and Muslim women are restricted from contact with men outside the family, or at least their contact with these men is highly circumscribed (Papanek 1982:3). In practice, many elements of both "Hindu" and "Muslim" purdah are shared by women of both groups in South Asia (Vatuk 1982; Jeffery 1979), and Hindu and Muslim women both adopt similar strategies of self-effacement, like covering the face, keeping silent, and looking down, when in the company of persons to be avoided.
^World Health Organization, Female genital mutilation: an overview. 1998, Geneva: World Health Organization
^William G. Clarence-Smith (2012) ‘Female Circumcision in Southeast Asia since the Coming of Islam’, in Chitra Raghavan and James P. Levine (eds.), Self-Determination and Women’s Rights in Muslim Societies, Brandeis University Press; ISBN978-1611682809; see pages 124-146
^Goodkind, Daniel. Should Prenatal Sex Selection be Restricted?: Ethical Questions and Their Implications for Research and Policy. Population Studies. 1999, 53 (1): 49–61. JSTOR 2584811. doi:10.1080/00324720308069.
^A. Gettis, J. Getis, and J. D. Fellmann (2004). Introduction to Geography, Ninth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 200. ISBN0-07-252183-X
^France MESLÉ; Jacques VALLIN; Irina BADURASHVILI. A Sharp Increase in Sex Ratio at Birth in the Caucasus. Why? How?. Committee for International Cooperation in National Research in Demography. 2007: 73–89. ISBN 2-910053-29-6.
^"An update on WHO's work on female genital mutilation (FGM)" （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）, World Health Organization, 2011, p. 2: "Most women who have experienced FGM live in one of the 28 countries in Africa and the Middle East – nearly half of them in just two countries: Egypt and Ethiopia. Countries in which FGM has been documented include: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen. The prevalence of FGM ranges from 0.6% to 98% of the female population."
Rahman, Anika and Nahid Toubia. Female Genital Mutilation: A Guide to Laws and Policies Worldwide. Zed Books, 2000 (hereafter Rahman and Toubia 2000), p. 7: "Currently, FC/FGM is practiced in 28 African countries in the sub-Saharan and Northeastern regions."
Also see "Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation" （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）, World Health Organization, 2008, p. 4: "Types I, II and III female genital mutilation have been documented in 28 countries in Africa and in a few countries in Asia and the Middle East."
「少女」重定向至此。关于其他用法，请见「美少女」。
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