They have long been portrayed as dumb, stiletto-wearing blondes.
But now Essex girls are fighting back against their popular stereotype and have set up a charity to promote a more positive image.
Tired of being the butt of gags since the 1980s, the Essex Women’s Advisory Group argues that the image has left women of the county ‘disadvantaged and disenfranchised’.
So, the registered charity has put together a three-year plan ‘to empower’ women from the area.
The group has already raised £34,000 for projects including art and poetry competitions, sports events and fashion shows.
Project leader Daphne Field, 70, vice chairman of the Essex Princes Trust, said the image of ‘Essex girls’ as stupid, wine-swilling blondes has damaged their self-esteem.
She said: ‘A lot of the girls we were helping were suffering so much from this image so we decided to do something.
‘There are many successful girls in Essex and we wanted to promote this.’
The term became synonymous with the lead characters Sharon and Tracey in the BBC sitcom Birds Of A Feather that ran from 1989 to 1998.
Thanks to the rise of reality TV, it later became associated with celebrities such as Jady Goody, Jodie Marsh and Chantelle Houghton and the stereotype helped all in their quest for fame.
On the charity’s website, the group champions celebrities like Denise Van Outen, singers Pixie Lott and Alison Moyet and author Jilly Cooper as Essex Girls done good.
The project leader Daphne Field, 70, vice chairman of the Essex Princes Trust, said the image of Essex Girls as dumb, stiletto wearing, wine-swilling blondes has damaged their self-esteem.
She said: ‘A lot of the girls we were helping were suffering so much from this image so we decided to do something.
‘There are many successful girls in Essex and we wanted to promote this.’
Patron of the group Elizabeth Hart, chairwoman of Essex County Council, said: ‘I am sick and tired of people putting Essex Girls down.
‘Our girls are bright and fun but then you see them crumble when people start putting them down for where they come from.
‘When my daughter was 20, she told someone at a job interview she was from Essex and she could almost see him turn his nose up.
‘No-one talks about the Kent Girl or the Hampshire Girl – we just ended up with this tag.
‘But there is nothing wrong with being an Essex girl.
Funds raised by the group will be shared between women’s refuges in Essex, the Essex Prince’s Trust, Essex Girl Guiding and used to attract leading businesswomen and artists from the county to advise young girls.
Among those backing the project are assistant chief constable Sue Harrison and head of Essex Police criminal justice department Tricia Brennan.
Mrs Hart continued: ‘There has been considerable stereotyping of girls living in Essex and this has led to them feeling disadvantaged and disenfranchised at times when they reveal where they live.
‘Our primary aim is to empower the girls who live in Essex, to broaden their vision, self-worth and belief and hopefully to inspire them to reach further, higher and live the dream of an enhanced future regardless of their stereotyping.’
On its pink-fonted website, the organisers say: ‘There has been considerable stereotyping of girls living in Essex leading them to feel disadvantaged and disenfranchised at times when they reveal where they live. It is not unknown for them to answer that they come from East Anglia or outside London rather than from Essex.
‘The primary aim of the Essex Women’s Advisory Group is to empower the girls who live in Essex, to broaden their vision, self-worth and belief, and hopefully to inspire them to reach further, higher and live the dream of an enhanced future regardless of their stereotyping.’
Events organised by the group include a ‘Day for the Girls of Essex’ in July which, its website claims, will bring local businesswomen and celebrities and will be ‘a celebration of girls and women and the role they can play at all levels of society, and to publicise “Essex Girls” past and present as role models’.
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March 6th, 2010 at 11:17 amDenise Bradley says:
I am originaly from Essex and still sufer prejudice for where I came from. If this prejudice was directed toewards a Black person it woud be illegal.