How Girls Achieve

“Nuamah presents extensive research on the educational challenges that still exist for girls… Her solution is ‘feminist schools,’ designed to foster ‘achievement-oriented identities’ in all students and teach skills like self-confidence, moral fortitude and bravery. Nuamah’s earnest writing style and persuasive research will leave you wondering not why, but when we should start constructing such schools.”—Ms.

“Research shows that schools are the most important institutions for improving life trajectories of the disadvantaged. How then,…Nuamah asks, can we transform schools to more equitably serve girls? …Her clear prose and approachable style make this a book for a broad audience.”—Booklist (starred review)

“[An] incisive work that examines how schools could become safer and more equitable places for black female and nonbinary students.”—Library Journal

“This book is a must read for every woman.”—Bruna Morais, Girly Book Club

“Makes a compelling case that, to achieve the prosperity that comes with effective school environments, girls deserve feminist schools that aim to diminish the unequal experiences girls endure while endeavoring to simultaneously construct and achieve a solution to gender inequality.”—Megan Sullivan, Journal of Youth and Adolescence

“Deeply inspiring. Nuamah introduces us to exceptional schools in the United States, Ghana, and South Africa, takes us into the lives of determined Black girls, and shows us how to produce hope through teaching the key skills of confidence, strategy, and transgression. This book holds profound lessons for students, parents, and educators.”—Jane J. Mansbridge, author of Why We Lost the ERA

“This book provides a timely and much-needed discussion on the status of girls’ education. The recommendations and strategies that Nuamah provides throughout are concrete actions that scholars, practitioners, and policymakers can take up to support girls’ learning and positive life trajectories.”—Charlotte E. Jacobs, coauthor of Teaching Girls

“How Girls Achieve makes an urgent case for feminist schools: anti-sexist and anti-racist schools in which the most marginalized are encouraged not only to do well academically, but also to transgress social norms and to disrupt the status quo. Drawing on ten years of research across three countries, Nuamah demonstrates the limitations of educational solutions that emphasize individual resilience and provides compelling examples of institutional changes that can dismantle systemic racial and gender barriers and make schools safe and empowering places at which girls can become agents of social change.”—Dara Z. Strolovitch, Princeton University

“Sally Nuamah’s How Girls Achieve blazes new trails in the study of the lives of girls, challenging all of us who care about justice and gender equity not only to create just and inclusive educational institutions but to be unapologetically feminist in doing so. Seamlessly merging research with the stories and voices of girls and those who educate them, this book reminds us that we should do better and inspires the belief that we can. It is the blueprint we’ve been waiting for.”—Brittney C. Cooper, author of Eloquent Rage

“If you’re not already conscious about how gender shapes life outcomes and access to opportunity, then this book will help you. Sally Nuamah is a fierce advocate for girls’ educational rights and access to quality schooling without the reproduction of narrow gender constructions that marginalize them and impede their chances to step into their full realization as beings. How Girls Achieve is on a dynamic mission that reveals and compels.”—Prudence L. Carter, author of Keepin’ It Real: School Success beyond Black and White

“Nuamah makes a compelling and convincing case for the development of the type of school that can not only teach girls but also transform them. In so doing, she offers not only a chronicling of problems but also a vision forward. An essential read for all educators, policymakers, and parents invested in a better future.”—Joyce Banda, former President of the Republic of Malawi

“When girls achieve, economies, global systems, and institutions achieve, making winners of us all. This is the crux of this carefully analyzed, inspirational book informed by Nuamah’s passion to tell girls’ stories. This book will impact education, equality, and the exigencies of life for girls worldwide.”—Beatrix Allah-Mensah, Senior Country Operations Officer, The World Bank–Ghana