For ages, phrases such as  ‘Throw like a girl,’ and ‘Run like a girl’ had negative connotations attached to it. Running like a girl didn’t mean you ran well, on the contrary, you were bad at it. The same went for throwing like a girl. But where did this began?

As children, running like a girl meant running like you normally do. But when you ask adults to describe what running like a girl meant, most are met with exaggerated and satirical representations of running.

The 2014 ‘Always #LikeAGirl’ brought up this topic. The campaign divulges into the major discrepancy that exists between kids and young adults. The campaign shows several individuals ranging from small children to young adults. All of them are asked the same questions – What does it mean to run like a girl? To throw like a girl? To fight like a girl? The adults and teenagers, predictably, indulge in mockery while the children run, throw, fight as anyone would.

When the director of the experiment asks the teenagers and adults if they voluntarily insulted their sisters or themselves, they soon realize their mistake. The campaign further goes on to explain how once girls turn anywhere between 10 to 12, their confidence drastically deteriorates. They start associating negative feelings with their own gender and this is what the campaign wants everyone to realize and break.

The campaign ends with women having higher confidence of what it means to be a girl. What it means to be normal just like everyone else as one lady points out, “I am a girl and that is not something that I should be ashamed of.”

This campaign went on to be one of the most groundbreaking campaigns of the year and has become one of the most impactful campaigns on feminism and being yourself.