Each year, the Girl Scout Research Institute releases the State of Girls report, examining girls’ health and well-being in the United States. This year, Indiana ranked 36th.

The report is based on national statistics focused on key issues such as health, safety, educational achievement and demographic trends.

According to the data, about 30 percent of girls in Indiana between the ages of 10 and 17 are overweight or obese. Twenty percent of school-age girls are living in poverty. Only about one-third of fourth grade girls are proficient in math.

Deborah Hearn Smith, the CEO of the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, says the most striking findings to her were in education, safety and poverty. Poverty can be an indicator of greater instances of neighborhood violence and obesity. These numbers go up in African American and Hispanic communities.

This report validates the existence of after school programs such as Girls Inc. and Boys and Girls Club, says Daisy Chew, the Director of Operations and Development for Girls Inc. of Monroe County. She says they provide a safe environment and an opportunity to keep girls mentally and physically engaged outside of the classroom.

“We provide hands-on, experiential learning to get your hands dirty and do some extracurricular activities that are so important to engage those minds so the kids aren’t going home, plopping down in front of the TV or playing X-Box or being on the internet just kind of fooling around for hours at a time,” Chew says.

Girl Scouts also does programs on imaging and representations of women and girls.

She says society has subconsciously made girls objects and people don’t stop to think about how women and girls are portrayed. She says toy commercials during the holiday season are a prime example of seeing boys as more active.

“Are we portraying that girls can be as active, as ingenious in their play as boys?” Hearn Smith asks. “It starts there.”

Hearn Smith recommends writing to advertisers about offensive portrayals of girls or women.

Kristin Garvey, the Executive Director of the Indiana Commission for Women says women need to advocate for themselves and voice their concerns to keep the dialogue for change going.

“One of the conversations that we need to have is how to get men and boys involved and make this a community so it’s not separate,” Garvey says. “Everyone has their unique abilities and we need to bring that out in girls and boys and help them respect each other.”