The girls from our photo gallery

'Boys in my class call girls cancer-whores'

Djenna (12, left) and Jordana (13) are best friends and have just started secondary school. They hate the way boys call girls whores and comment on their bodies. They are proud of their mother, who always stands up for them.

Read their story further in the book…

'Never stay silent about what makes you angry or sad'

Sidra (15) is in her first year of secondary school. She fled Syria with her family and reached the Netherlands by a long, roundabout route. Despite the upheaval she has held on to her optimism. She has fond memories of Aleppo and of Friesland, the quiet north of the Netherlands.

'My sister, my mother and I — that is Us Against The World'

Jade (19) saw the film Kung Fu Panda as a toddler and was hooked. She is the fastest sprinter around — but it is possible to go too fast. A bout of burnout taught her a great deal about herself. She now manages a kung fu school.

'I teach girls that they can be role models too'

Alicia (20) is training to become a paediatric care assistant. Her hobby is kickboxing, and she coaches girls. After a road accident she could not wait for the ambulance — so she put her own dislocated kneecap back in place.

'Scouting gave me a lot of self-confidence'

Lilian (21) is studying occupational therapy, but her college makes little effort to accommodate her disability. A conversation about scouting, breast reduction and all her plans.

'As you get older, you grow more at ease with yourself'

Iza (24) had a happy childhood and learned most about herself after she began living on her own. When her mother asked her at fourteen whether she might be attracted to girls, she was furious. The happy ending: she now lives with her girlfriend.

'The ideal is for a woman's legs to be as thin as paper'

Ada (32), a primary-care doctor from Hong Kong, is doing her PhD in Amsterdam on Alzheimer's. She is one of the eighteen per cent of expats in the capital. Ada talks about sexism in East Asia and the new sense of freedom she has found in the Netherlands.

'My job is taking girls into the mountains'

Sietske (34) is leaving the armed forces after a career as an Air Force officer and moving to Austria. She gives this video interview while walking through the mountains with her eighteen-month-old daughter in a baby carrier. She is now throwing herself into her hiking business, 'Girls in the Mountains'.